Steve Wozniak: The Accidental Trailblazer

8/10/2019 Steve Wozniak: The Accidental Trailblazer

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Jade Cuevas

Professor Rose Rodriguez-Rabin

WRC 1013-024

25 November 2013

Steve Wozniak: The Accidental Trailblazer

Some people set out to become leaders, visionaries, innovators, or heroes.

Through hard work and dedication, these people accomplish great feats that are

normally thought of as impossible. For other people, becoming a trailblazer just simply

happens. This is not to say that these lucky people do not work hard or face obstacles

either, but they have not purposely set out to become a leader or innovator until they

are in the thick of a revolution. Different events and people clash together in almost

perfect timing and help propel a person to become something more than they may

have ever imagined. Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple computers, is one of these

people. Through the domino effect of Steve Wozniaks life such as his childhood,

building his first computer, meeting his co-founder Steve Jobs, starting up the Apple

computer company, and building the Apple II personal computer, Steve Wozniak is a

true influence to not only the realm of technology, but to the world.

The first main cause of Steve Wozniak becoming a visionary starts with his

childhood. Wozniak childhood occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. His father was a big

influence to him with his job as an engineer at Lockheed Martin, an aerospace company

(Picarille 54). Wozniak wished to be like his father and become an engineer. During his

youth, his interest in electronics only grew. Wozniak received his Ham Radio operator


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license at age eleven purely for the fact that he wanted a transistor radio, which he

incorporated into his fifth grade science project. He enjoyed creating things with

technology and especially explaining it. From there, Wozniak came to the conclusion

that he wished to someday be a teacher. Once Wozniak reached high school he knew,

"the computer was going to be the most important thing in his life" (Diekmann 14).

Overall, his childhood resulted in Steve Wozniak becoming an electronic hobbyist, which

would propel him into the next step of his life.

Due to Steve Wozniaks increased interest in electronics, it led him to build his

own personal computer throughout the 1970s. Wozniak was attending college at the

University of California at Berkley when he was hired at Hewlett-Packard (HP) and

became an engineer (Wozniak). On the side, Wozniak used the extra time he had to

start building his own personal computer. It was a slow process that relied on little bits

and pieces he would pick up here and there. Wozniak states in his interview with BYTE

magazine, I was in a very hobbyist realm. I wasnt designing a product, just something

that would work at home on my own TVI didnt want to pay to use somebody elses

computer, so I decided to design my own. What made the computer Wozniak was

working on so different to the ones that were coming out at this time dealt with the fact

it was hooked up to a video terminal, or a TV screen (Wozniak). The fact that you could

see what you were working on, while you were working on it was unheard of at the

time. With the Apple II, which Wozniak decided to build as a hobby, that would later be

the basis for the Apple I computer, the very first computer for the Apple Company.


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The second main push Steve Wozniak would receive in becoming a visionary

would be his friendship with Steve Jobs, his co-founder of apple. While Wozniak was

working for HP, Jobs was also working for Atari. Jobs was looking for a break within the

company and promised a breakout game. So he enlisted the help of Wozniak. Though

there was no set deadline for the game, Jobs promised it early. From there, Wozniak

was the main designer and engineer of the game (Wozniak). Though it may seem to

people as Wozniak taking on all the work for Jobs, he never once has bashed him for

being lazy. The two of them simply were different visionaries for different things. What

makes the Wozniak-Jobs partnership so effective was how different they were. While

Jobs focused on business, Wozniak had focused on building the product. Suffice to say,

the two balanced each other out perfectly, ones yin to the others yang. It would be

this partnership that would summersault into one of the most influential companies in

the world.

Though when they Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first met, building a company

together was not at the fore-front of their minds. It wasnt until Jobs saw the computer

that Wozniak was working on that he saw an opportunity that had to be seized. From

there, they started up their business of building personal computers. They based the

design off of Wozniaks computer and dubbed it as the Apple I computer. Though

Wozniak has always reported he didnt want to start a company, he wanted to be an

engineer. Later during the Apple II, he would decide to quit his Job at HP to become

the Vice President of Apple computers. Wozniak explains the decision to become VP as

"My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers. I only started


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the company when I realized I could be an engineer forever" (Boudre). As the company

began to sell the computers they were set out to do even nigger things and more

versions of their computer.

The last main cause of Steve Wozniak becoming a visionary was his design and

engineering of the Apple II, the follow-up computer from the Apple I. Still going off the

idea of the TV screen to see what you were working on, the Apple II was approached

differently than it had been the first time. Wozniak was designing a computer for

himself with the Apple I, so they had to think about what a customer would want for

the Apple II. Something that may seem menial, like color, was put at the forefront for

the Apple II. Simplicity was key to the design and high resolution graphics were

implemented. At this time, Jobs had found better funding for the company, which led to

the shoot-off of the Apple IIs success. Wozniak even stated And it was really the

Apple II that both of us knew was- it was time, this machine would be the leadership in

the world. This one could be a big company (Steve Wozniak, Apple Co-founder,

Interviewed on Bloomberg TV). Wozniak was correct; the Apple II was most in

demand computer for apple until the Macintosh would be released in later years.

The effect of the Apple II changed the world. It made the idea of having your

own personal computer put into reality. In fact, The Apple II is considered by many

industry watchers as one of the most important developments in computer history. It

was the first time that the power of a computer was made available to individual users

(Picarille 54). The fact that Apple now has an almost cult-like following to where any

new release causes breaking news nation-wide says that Steve Wozniak created so


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much more than a computer. He created opportunity, education, and innovation for

future technology. In an interview he said, I was just doing something I was very good

at, and the thing that I was good at turned out to be the thing that was going to

change the world. That wasn't my plan. I didn't think, 'I'm going to change the world.'

No, I'm just going to build the best machines I can build that I would want to use in my

own life (Boudreau). This quote meaning, Steve Wozniak started a computer revolution

on accident. He never meant to do it, it just happened.

There are some people that strive for greatness, like Steve Jobs. They work to

their limit to prove the unthinkable. Other people are born into this greatness that they

sometimes dont even realize they have. They simply find themselves in something

bigger than they ever imagined themselves in. This person would be Steve Wozniak. As

the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak invited the first ever personal computer- a

technology in the modern world that most people would be unable to effectively live

without. The domino effect of the events of Steve Wozniaks life from his youth, to

building his own computer, meeting Steve Jobs, forming the Apple company, building a

second computer design, and revolutionizing the world, all contribute to him being a

visionary.


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Works Cited

Boudreau, John. Q&A with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak." The Calgary Herald.

Canwest MediaWorks Publication Inc., 10 Apr. 2006. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Diekmann, Frank J. "An Apple, A Way." Credit Union Journal12.20 (2008): 14. Business

Source Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

Kehoe, Louise. "Apple to the Core." FT.com27 Feb. 2002: n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 25

Nov. 2013.

Picarille, Lisa. "Apple's Engineering Genius: Steve Wozniak." Computer Reseller News

816 (1998): 53-4. ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Steve Wozniak, Apple Co-Founder, Interviewed on Bloomberg TV."Analyst Wire6 Oct.

2011: n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

woz.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

Wozniak, Steve. The Apple Story Part 1: Early History - An Interview with Steve

Wozniak. BYTE MagazineDec. 1984: n. pag. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

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Steve Wozniak: The Accidental Trailblazer