On-Line with Steve Wozniak

Steve Knouse sent a printout of the "on-line with Woz" session you may have heard about.  Some intriguing Woz-words:  

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About ProDOS use of >64K memory:  "Our enhanced //e family is headed toward 16M bytes in short time with a revolutionary 6502-based processor."

About software for extended RAM cards:  "I promise an alternative solution soon (6 mo?) for direct addressing of 24-bit address."

About MAC:  "...look at LISA.  Then imagine slightly fewer resources and memory but advantage taken to make it faster and better with fewer resources (sound familiar //e world?).  Mouse, no color, no slots, finest software (BASIC and Pascal are finest ever done too).  MAC will use its own op-sys which was developed to handle the user interface of LISA more directly with better performance.  Such good software has been written for MAC (128K bytes in ROM) that it will be transferred to LISA soon!"  "Initially MAC won't displace the PC as a small business machine but is intended to be a more finished product for the bulk of the personal market -- assuming which peripherals and features they would want and supplying them at lower cost than if they have slots to make their own choices.  Interesting."  "I believe that MAC is the most revolutionary computer of all time -- not that what it does hasn't been done before, but that it hasn't been done at a price which will wind up with millions experiencing it."  "The MAC unfortunately is so perfect that we didn't leave much room for hackers to do hardware 'for themselves' or 'their own way' -- we feel there were no alternatives.  The philosophy on software is different -- open, access the hardware at various levels."

About larger ProFILEs:  "...yes, plans for larger ProFILEs.  Pretty the minimal hard disk for small business has grown to 10MB, soon 20."

About the Apple:  "The Apple II was not built to be a product for sale.  It looked like the best thing available in 1976.  The first computer ever (low cost) with color, hi-res, Basic in ROM, plastic case, switching power supply, dynamic memories, paddles, speaker, cassette, etc, all STANDARD.  Look at virtually every "personal" computer since.  We needed $250,000 to build a thousand--where do you get that kind of money when you're a couple of kids with no business experience?  We sought venture money and Mike Markkula agreed to HELP us write a business plan.  He realized we were onto something that happens once a decade -- a huge market expanding out of nothing.  He joined us (equal partner) and loaned $250,000.  He told me I had to quit HP and go 100% Apple.  HP is a good company and it's hard to leave any company for anything when you believe it's good to its employees.  I said "NO" on my ultimatum day and we were not going to do Apple.  Steve Jobs was (in tears) and got relatives and friends of mine to call me at work and tell me why I should start Apple.  Finally I realized I could have a great time doing the one important thing in my life -- design computers for myself and start the company to make money and in my head they didn't have to be dependent.  So I turned around.  Markkula decided that he and Jobs had better have 52% of Apple combined -- I realize now that they were probably afaid I was a little unpredictable.  A true story."

About a faster //e:  "The Accelerator [Saturn, 3.58MHz 6502 with 64K RAM] is my favorite card, largely because without any fancy jumpers EVERYTHING ran with it.  The only exception with the software I use is Word Juggler under ProDOS.  The current Accelerator should have problems with the //e extended memory usage once software uses it.  I heard that they are working on a new one to get around this.  Its amazing to see everything work faster.  My main direction on return to Apple was to get 3.6 MHz built in.  Look for it someday.  Saturn has shown it's possible."
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