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GK · Feb 10, 2002, 07:59 PM

Anybody know what SJ did before meeting Woz and working on the first Macs ? Also, where did he go to school ?

beb · Feb 10, 2002, 08:06 PM

Wasn't he a porn star?

Apple Pro Underwear · Feb 10, 2002, 08:07 PM

Yeah, he was famous. For not making girls cum.

MacManMikeOSX · Feb 10, 2002, 08:16 PM

he new woz since 9th grade before that he was basicly a normal vally kid

yukon · Feb 10, 2002, 08:26 PM

adopted or something, other unimportant stuff. why, got a report to do?

GK · Feb 10, 2002, 08:34 PM

, got a report to do?

no, just curious

JayTi · Feb 10, 2002, 09:22 PM

Heh, I actually have a research paper to do on him. Yeah, he was adopted..he and his dad actually found dead cars in junkyards and fixed them up and sold them at a profit. He went to two junior high schools, hated the first one...I'd write more, but I'm busy writing it for my paper

cpt kangarooski · Feb 10, 2002, 10:52 PM

Check out the book "Infinite Loop," it's pretty good up through the iMac.

KaptainKaya · Feb 10, 2002, 11:08 PM

Just get the book "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs". Goes into great detail about his life before, during, after and then back again at Apple.

usedmac · Feb 10, 2002, 11:55 PM

He attended Reed College for one semester before dropping out, I know that much. (check my sig.)

KaptainKaya · Feb 11, 2002, 12:13 AM

Well, not officially...he did convince a prof. to let him 'sit in' on lectures. Man, Steve could talk his way through anything...damn that RDF!!

usedmac · Feb 11, 2002, 12:19 AM

Originally posted by KaptainKaya:
Well, not officially...he did convince a prof. to let him 'sit in' on lectures. Man, Steve could talk his way through anything...damn that RDF!!

I know but that's close enough

Synotic · Feb 11, 2002, 01:29 PM

Did he not also work for Atari? He was a horrible student. Had a girlfriend named Colleen. Was a jerk (duh

) He went to India, full name is Steven Paul Jobs. And some other crap

mitchell_pgh · Feb 11, 2002, 01:34 PM

did some cool drugs...

eep! · Feb 11, 2002, 04:22 PM

Apparantly he thought he could avoid showering if he only ate apples!
personally, i don't think that happened, but that's what i read.
he must have been really wierd (not to mention smelly) if he thought that!

surfacto · Feb 11, 2002, 04:48 PM

He attended Reed College for one semester before dropping out, I know that much. (check my sig.)

Sheesh, what is it with Reedies? Everywhere I go, there's another one. They are among us.....

marusin · Feb 11, 2002, 04:59 PM

JayTi, maybe you should post a rough draft so we can see what you've got so far... I'd be interested to hear what you've found on Mr. Jobs.

Originally posted by JayTi:
Heh, I actually have a research paper to do on him. Yeah, he was adopted..he and his dad actually found dead cars in junkyards and fixed them up and sold them at a profit. He went to two junior high schools, hated the first one...I'd write more, but I'm busy writing it for my paper

beb · Feb 11, 2002, 05:19 PM

Way back when he was on the spaceship...

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: beb ]

Jesus, Did I just say that? Or think it?

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: beb ]

juanvaldes · Feb 11, 2002, 05:20 PM

adopted
meet Woz
Did drugs
Attened Reed for 1 semester
Hung around, sat in on classes, did odd jobs, did more drugs, ended up going to a "farm" baiscly a cult from what I read. Only ate apples there.
Went home (not sure of order here)
Sold PhonePreaking noise maker with Woz
Got a job @ Atari, made woz make Breakout in 4 days(nights really)
Traveled the world for a year, basicly hung out in India getting stoned.
Came home and founded apple...

That about sums it up off the top of my head.

beb · Feb 11, 2002, 05:27 PM

I feel like I just watched A&E's Biography on fast forward.

cpt kangarooski · Feb 11, 2002, 06:10 PM

Feh. He's weirder than that.

At one of the computer shows... the West Coast Computer Faire, maybe... Steve got tired of standing on his feet all day, so he would periodically take breaks, go to the bathroom, stick his feet in a john and flush repeatedly.

dawho9 · Feb 11, 2002, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by Synotic:
Did he not also work for Atari? He was a horrible student. Had a girlfriend named Colleen. Was a jerk (duh

) He went to India, full name is Steven Paul Jobs. And some other crap

I read in my local paper about three months ago that both Steve and Bill Gates worked at Atari at the same time.

Gates was working on the next programming language for the Atari, which they didn't like and let him go.

Steve worked in the games division and programmed to first Breakout game. Go figure, its not specific if steve just programmed it or actually came up with the concept.

I was looking for a link to this article, but could not find one their website as the search button is "down for scheduled maitenance"...

dw9

cpt kangarooski · Feb 11, 2002, 07:08 PM

'Fraid not. If I remember correctly...

Steve came back down from Oregon to California in '74. That year, he got a job working the night shift at Atari, having lied like... well, Steve Jobs, on his interview. (he more or less pretended to be the Woz; it wouldn't be the last time)

Meanwhile, that year, Bill Gates was an undergrad at Harvard, mostly skipping classes and playing poker, which he was bad at. However, in 12/74 he found out about the Altair, hooked up with his high school friend Paul Allen (who was working at Honeywell), called up MITS, in New Mexico, and told them they had a working BASIC for the Altair, lying like... well, Bill Gates. Neither of the two had a bit -- literally -- of code, or had ever seen an Altair personally. A couple months later, Allen went out to MITS and demo'ed the code.

Meanwhile, Jobs has taken a few months off to go to India. He comes back, scams the Woz into making Breakout for him, as Jobs is more or less incompetent, and then leaves Atari to go back to farming again.

Bill never even makes it to California. MS is founded in New Mexico, because it's essential that he be in proximity to MITS.

There may be an Atari/Gates connection, but not at the same time as Steve is there. More likely, their first meeting was at one of the computer shows in the 70's... although to be honest, it's entirely possible they've never been face to face. I've never heard anything about that either way. (though that seems unlikely)

dawho9 · Feb 11, 2002, 10:14 PM

That is a much better story than I had read. Plus I think yours is much more factual than what I read.

The Pioneer Press had an article about Atari and they just mentioned Steve and Bill for about two paragraphs.

I don't know about you...but BreakOut was a great game!

dw9

JayTi · Feb 11, 2002, 10:22 PM

I think I will keep this thread alive...my research paper will be some 10 pages, I've got the first page handwritten...once I type it I'll post it up. It's a college paper, so any comments/suggestions would be more than welcome

ironknee · Feb 11, 2002, 11:01 PM

Steve was the Mad Hatter once

Loved(s) Dylan

Dated Joan Biez

And ironiclly, he probably chose beige for the Apple II color, (more human)

and has what we all wish for...not only F-U money, but just F-U to everybody!

my hero

yukon · Feb 12, 2002, 12:07 AM

yeah, he was pretty insane. Try citing that movie...pirates of silicon valley, for technical inaccuracies and misconceptions

research about captan crunch. good story. you could try steve's personal life (children and marrage), what he did to get kicked out of apple. remember nextstep, pixar, the other one...

try looking for a book "apple confidential". interesting info on the third founder of apple, the lisa, and other, more insider stuff.

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: yukon ]

beb · Feb 12, 2002, 12:17 AM

Bill was lucky because he had mom sitting on IBM's board. He was and still is a really neat guy in some ways. Most Mac folks (me included) miss that about him. He certainly is more normal than Steve Jobs.

In the long run, I think that I would rather know Bill than Steve. At least Bill will say "that's the stupidest thing I ever heard" and argue the point with you. Steve just gets mad and leaves. Either way, both are apt to steal a good idea.

I think if there were measureable levels of assholedom Bill and Steve would be about equal. However, Larry Ellison's assholedom level would be touching the lunar surface.

Point is these guys have their faults. Bill has the monopoly obsession. Steve must hold the idealistic and perfect product high ground. And Larry probably thinks he's God.

In terms of true heros, they're not really ones to admire.

[ 02-11-2002: Message edited by: beb ]

ironknee · Feb 12, 2002, 12:22 AM

Originally posted by beb:
Bill was lucky because he had mom sitting on IBM's board. He was and still is a really neat guy in some ways. Most Mac folks (me included) miss that about him. He certainly is more normal than Steve Jobs.

In the long run, I think that I would rather know Bill than Steve. At least Bill will say "that's the stupidest thing I ever heard" and argue the point with you. Steve just gets mad and leaves.

That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!

ironknee · Feb 12, 2002, 12:24 AM

Originally posted by beb:

I guess I admire community builders, thoughtful neighbors, church friends, my Granparents. I look at all of them and think" well damn, I wish I was a better person."

err.....seriously,,,church builders?

THAT is the stupidest thing I heard,,,,,LOL

beb · Feb 12, 2002, 01:06 AM

"Never cook bacon without a shirt on."

-I like getting burned. Seems to happen a heck of a lot around here.

cpt kangarooski · Feb 12, 2002, 01:24 AM

I have to agree with that sentiment. All of the real leaders in the industry seem to have been somehow flawed in ways that detract from actually wanting to have interacted with them.

There are exceptions of course. For example, I was fortunate enough to meet Doug Englebart some time ago, and he was awesome. Unfortunately he's not really doing as much cool stuff these days as he used to. Turing, of course, is dead. Seymour Cray was by all accounts very cool. (if uninterested in anything but making faster and faster systems) I'd like to meet Alan Kay, Tog, Danny Hillis... maybe some others. (many from the HIG)

I generally like Raskin and JLG, but I wouldn't want to get too close w/o protective armor, I suspect.

But on the other hand, even someone who everyone seems to love -- the Woz -- wasn't productive at Apple from around '78/79 on, was lousy at seeing designs through to completion, and had a penchant for incredibly annoying pranks. He's awesome, he did a great favor for me a few years ago, and I love the big lug, but I bet I couldn't stand working with him.

If only I could travel to parallel worlds: it could be very cool to see an Apple founded by three Steves -- Jobs, Woz and Steve Ballmer. Sure, he dances around like a sweaty monkey on acid, but he's an effective businessman, and he was around at the time, having been involved with MS since early on. Perhaps he could've kept Markkula from taking an active role, and taken over the reigns from Mike Scott. (who, for his many faults, was the best damn person to ever run Apple)

Incidentally, Bill Gates' mom... Mary Gates, IIRC... was on the board of United Way with some big muckety muck from IBM. A woman (especially one who'd had to commute from Seattle to Armonk, NY) on the board of IBM at that time would've been weird.