Steve Wozniak, A True Hacker Made Millionaire

Even as a child, Steve Wozniak was enthralled with mathematics and computers. He would often become so engrossed in mathematical ponderings that his mother would have to physically shake him back to reality. Later, in high school, he and a friend, Alan Baum, would sneak into a computer room at Sylvania and program the computer to perform tasks that only a true hacker would think of. After dropping out of the engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley, to work for Hewlett-Packard, he became a member of the Homebrew Computer Club, a group of similar-minded hackers who met regularly to exchange ideas, information, and hardware. It was there that he got together with Steve Jobs to create what would be the fastest-growing start-up Fortune 500 company in history.

Wozniak was eighteen when he first met Steve Jobs, then thirteen, and long before creating Apple, the two put toghether numerous electronic toys, one of which, a blue box was sold to a few hundred people before the two ceased production for reasons of potential arrest. The two went their separate ways for a few years; Wozniak designed calculators for Hewlett Packard and Jobs dropped out of Reed College to experiment with various lifestyles, drugs, and religion. It was in 1976 that Wozniak finally finished designing his first computer and a BASIC programming language interpreter for it. Jobs, the silver-tongued salesman with an eye for profit, convinced Wozniak to market the ground-breaking motherboard named the Apple I. In order to finance the venture, Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak sold his Hewlett Packard programmable calculator. Between the two of them, they raised $1,300.00 and production began first in Jobs's parents' living room and later in Jobs's garage. They sold one hundred fifty Apple I boards at $666.00 each and managed a profit of $95,000.00 in less than a year. This astounding financial success attracted investors such as Mike Markkula who,in May 1977 became Apple Computer's first president.

Wozniak, meanwhile, forever trying to find a more efficient, better way to do things, began design on the Apple II, which contained not only a better motherboard than its predecessor, but also a keyboard, power supply, video terminal, and memory. It was the first computer to be sold ready-to-use and user friendly. Along with the success of this second computer came a difficult decision for Wozniak; to quit Hewlett Packard and work for Apple full time. This decision was made with some sadness, for he knew that such a decision meant his pure hacking days were over. Apple Computers Inc. became a real company in March 1977, only one year after its inception at Steven Jobs's house.

The next two years were unbelievable for Apple Computers as sales of the Apple II skyrocketed. Of course, competitors, specifically IBM, were not far behind in the creation of the portable computer. In 1985 a major reorganization of Apple was undertaken, an event which resulted in Jobs giving up his control over the Macintosh division (Apple's new release at the time) and simply maintaining his title of chairman. Among the casualties of the reorganization was Steve Wozniak. He left the company of his own accord in February 1987 due to unhappiness over the overly corporate structure of the company. He, a true hacker who did things for the fun of it, was no longer having fun. Steve Jobs was not far behind on the way out of Apple. He also resigned in September of that same year to form NeXT Computers due to personal differences with the executive he had himself hired only a few years before.

Now, out of Apple but living off the royalties, Steve Wozniak is fulfilling the second of his two life-long desires: teaching. (The first was to be an engineer.) He is presently enjoying life in Los Gatos, teaching computers to teachers and students alike. And happily hacking again.

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