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Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

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Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#101

Post by snowwrestler »

phaus wrote: post #89
jimbokun wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Jobs was good at recognizing when the right time to bet on a technology was. When you are filthy rich, you can turn this talent into a license to print money. When you aren't already rich, it just makes you the average person on HN." Jobs recognized the right time to bet on the personal computer when he had almost no money, and started Apple. You seem to be inferring Jobs always had a lot of money, which just isn't…

The conversation was under the hypothetical context of Apple not existing.

Yes but the point is that Apple only existed because Jobs worked to make it exist, despite not having any money of his own.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#104

Post by leelin »

mrtksn wrote: post #34

Unlike "The Pirates of Silicon Valley", "Jobs" was painful to watch and it was not only because it was a bad movie but because I've already red the biography by Isaacson. It felt like somebody was lying to me to things I know that are not that way. It was like a creationist teaching me the evolution theory. I don't claim that The Pirates of Silicon Valley is completely accurate but but Jobs(movie) was out of line. It…

In Steve Wozniak's interview with Emily Chang, he says "I loved Pirates of Silicon Valley... but it wasn't more truthful."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ciNXc_4OQ (at approximately 12:10)

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#105

Post by gooble_flop »

ArcticCelt wrote: post #77
abritishguy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bill gates said "the pirates of Silicon Valley" is pretty accurate in his reddit AMA.

I think Woz said more less the same. Something like it was maybe not 100% of the story but at least things where mostly true and the essence of the characters right. EDIT: Watch him say it : http://macmothership.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=226

>>>it was maybe not 100% of the story but at least things where mostly true and the essence of the characters right.Which is more important in my opinion. I care about the people more than I care about the sequence of events.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#106

Post by wpietri »

Dn_Ab wrote: post #54

Sidenote: You can tell Woz is an amazing genuinely good person with no hint of pretension or self importance. A lot can be discerned about famous personalities by who they choose to follow. For example, you can tell whether the person has little utility for social networks but maybe started out following a scattering of experts relevant to their interests. Usually though, the personality is using their handful of fol…

I volunteered at a conference series where Steve Wozniak was a regular attendee.

As anybody who has ever worked a generic job knows, some people treat you like people, and some treat you like a used tissue. This particular conference had an amazing volunteer crew that had been together for years, many of whom had serious day jobs: brilliant designers, high-tech executives, etc. Knowing that the volunteers were gems, I knew that how the famous conference speakers treated them was all about the speakers. I didn't think famous people would really do the, "Do you know who I am?" thing, but I saw it happen.

Anyhow, Wozniak was one of the best. Warm, friendly, genuine. I remember one year he showed us a magic-shop gizmo he had just acquired, delighted by the cool effect they had contrived. Since I had grown up hacking on my Apple ][+ and kinda idolizing him, it was both a pleasure and a relief to learn that he was just as swell to everybody as you'd expect him to be.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#107

Post by larrys »

tomasien wrote: post #100

I hate the "Great Man" theory of history. It misses everything. Hitler was responsible for NAZIsm in Germany lets SO many people off the hook (including people in the US, UK, etc.) and "Jobs made Apple" takes credit away from so many others who not only deserve it, but in aggregate deserve ALL of it. I'm a Jobs fan in many - but a fan of what he actually did (minus being a douche), not the myth.

Agree. One thing missing from Wozniak's comment is that in the end Jobs did whatever he had to and created great products that many of us use. Woz doesn't seem to want to acknowledge the fact that creating great things in life or in business involves stepping on some toes and doing all sorts of shenanigans. Woz certainly didn't have the stomach to be Jobs but Jobs did. And with that you get credit perhaps you don't deserve. But it doesn't matter to many of the daily users of the Mac what Woz did they just want a product that is great that solves a problem that they have.

It's interesting thought that someone can be a Woz and still get jealous as if they need more notoriety and attention for what they have done.

By the way if you look at David Geffen you will see many artist who were made by him in one way or another. Geffen became quite wealthy and more wealthy than I believe any of the artists he managed. But they seemed to be happy with their success and aren't looking to say things like "hey if it wasn't for my talent Geffen who could play an instrument (actually I think he could play something) wouldn't be a billionaire." While it is debatable what Jobs would have been without Woz there is no doubt in my mind that Woz would have been a regular talented engineer if he never met Jobs.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#108

Post by phaus »

snowwrestler wrote: post #101
phaus wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The conversation was under the hypothetical context of Apple not existing.

Yes but the point is that Apple only existed because Jobs worked to make it exist, despite not having any money of his own.

>The conversation was under the hypothetical context of Apple not existing.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#109

Post by wpietri »

ricardobeat wrote: post #91
jpmattia wrote: post #64

> Woz: And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I'm surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time. I have to say: That speaks volumes. And Woz, if you ever happen to read this: It's still a pile of dough in the year 2014.

$28,409,090.91 corrected for inflation.

That's CPI, yes, the general inflation indicator?

Tech salaries were lower then relative to other salaries, so if you look at it in terms of how much money it would have meant to people, it would probably be more than that. I believe people were also much stingier about equity then, so I expect they saw it as a kingly bonus.

Another way to compare it would be to look at what would have happened if they had, as many did, bought houses in Silicon Valley. That's a much higher inflation rate.

But the most fun way to think about it (and in some ways least accurate as well) is asking, "What if they kept the stock?" Google shows shares of Apple trading then for three bucks and change, so call it 3 million shares of today's stock. So that's $1.6 billion of Apple stock in today's market.

Re: Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”

#110

Post by Falling3 »

ricardobeat wrote: post #91
jpmattia wrote: post #64

> Woz: And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I'm surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time. I have to say: That speaks volumes. And Woz, if you ever happen to read this: It's still a pile of dough in the year 2014.

$28,409,090.91 corrected for inflation.

I think he meant even if Woz had given away $10 million today, it would still be impressive.
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