Woz Interview

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, April 11, 2006, 09:30 AM EDT

There is an interesting Q&A posted on the Seattle Times web site with Apple co-founder, and personal idol of mine, Steve Wozniak. If you want to learn more about Woz, and gain some insight into the beginnings of Apple Computer and his relationship with the other Steve, take some time and check this out.

"Q. You were working at Hewlett-Packard while you and Steve Jobs were creating Apple Computer. Did HP know about your Apple work?

A. Yes. As soon as Steve Jobs suggested, "Why don't we sell a PC board of this computer," I said, "I think I signed something, an employment contract, that said what I designed belongs to Hewlett-Packard." And I loved that company. That was my company for life. So I approached Hewlett-Packard first. Boy, did I make a pitch. I wanted them to do it. I had the Apple I, and I had a description of what the Apple II could do. I spoke of color. I described an $800 machine that ran BASIC (an early computer language), came out of the box fully built and talked to your home TV. And Hewlett-Packard found some reasons it couldn't be a Hewlett-Packard product."

I happen to still own a functional pair of Apple IIGS computers -- one is a "standard" version and the other is a limited "Woz" signature edition.

Tags: Interview, view, Woz, IE

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com