Steve Jobs receives a lot of credit for the
incredible things he accomplished at Apple, and rightfully so. But not as many people give Steve Wozniak
the credit he deserves for actually building the computers that made Apple a viable company
to begin with. And that’s in large part due to his decision
to give up his leadership position at Apple in 1985. So in this video, I’m going to explain why
he left Apple, and the events that led to that decision. This is Greg with Apple Explained, and today’s
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feed. Alright now I have to start off the video
with a disclaimer. Technically speaking, Wozniak never left Apple. Since he remains an employee to this day. He actually still receives a $50 paycheck
every week. But practically speaking, his presence and
decision making power over the company was given up in 1985. And that was a big deal considering his influence
over their products in the early days. He was responsible for building the Apple
I, the first computer that featured simple plug-and-play connectivity with keyboards
and television sets. Wozniak didn’t even think about trying to
make money off the computer, that idea came from Steve Jobs. The money they made from the Apple I led to
the creation of the improved Apple II. Which was also designed and engineered by
Wozniak. One of the greatest technical achievements
of the Apple II was its eight expansion slots, powered by just two chips. Instead of the industry standard forty chips. This allowed the computer to be smaller, cheaper,
and more capable than its competition. But Jobs didn’t like the idea. He told Wozniak, “Make this computer with
two slots. All you need is a printer and a modem.” Woz was stunned. He knew that computer hobbyists like himself
wanted as much expandability as possible. So intentionally limiting the Apple’s II’s
capabilities made no sense to him. Woz responded by saying that if the Apple
II didn’t ship with eight slots, he’d walk away and take his computer with him. Jobs eventually relented, and the Apple II
went on to become one of the most successful computers in history. Boosting Apple’s annual sales from $775,000
to $118 million. But this argument over the Apple II was a
perfect representation of the two Steve’s differing philosophies. Wozniak believed in a totally open approach
to technology, while Jobs believed in making it as closed off as possible. But don’t take it from me, here’s Wozniak
explaining it himself. He said, "That’s one of the big drives that
Steve had, to keep things closed, and self-defined, and not really expandable on the outside so
much. We started a company with the Apple II, and
it was totally open, everything. We published our schematics, our designs,
the things people could look at and modify and improve their way. So I’m totally into that open source thinking.” And I think that’s exactly why Wozniak eventually
left his leadership position at Apple. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that,
as Apple’s products became more closed off, Wozniak became more frustrated with the company’s
direction. For example, when they were creating the Apple
III, Jobs again imposed arbitrary limitations to the product that Wozniak opposed. Jobs insisted that the computer have no fan
or air vents, which required the use of an aluminum base to dissipate heat. But manufacturing the aluminum took time,
requiring the design to be finalized before the actual motherboard. After the design was submitted, it turned
out that the motherboard was too small to fit all the necessary components. This required an engineering workaround that
wasn’t proven to be reliable. But due to time constraints, the product shipped
regardless of its questionable quality. Wozniak looked back on the computer with discontent. Saying, “There was way too short a time
frame in manufacturing and development… The case of the Apple III had long since been
set in concrete, so they had a certain size logic board to fit the circuits on... Apple swapped out the boards. The problem was, at this point there were
other problems, things like chips that didn't fit. There were a million problems that you would
normally take care of when you do your preproduction and pilot run. Basically, customers were shipped the pilot
run.” Wozniak ended up being proven right. With the Apple III suffering from countless
hardware issues, like overheating, dislodged chips, melted disks, short circuits, and component
failures. In fact, one of official solutions from Apple
to reseat dislodged chips, was to tilt the front of their computers six inches off their
desk, and simply drop it. It was an embarrassing misstep for Apple,
and severely damaged their brand reputation. But Wozniak still felt like they could recover
with their next big computer, the Macintosh. He’d actually been leading the design and
development of the product until 1981, when he experienced a tragic airplane crash that
left him with severe face and head injuries along with temporary amnesia. Due to the accident, Wozniak was absent from
Apple for two years. Coming back in 1983 to help with product development. But by that time, Jobs had already taken over
the Macintosh project and implemented some of his signature touches. Like a fanless cooling system and a completely
closed design. In fact, customers needed a special screwdriver
to physically open the plastic case. Something that made no sense to Wozniak. Looking back, he said, “the original Macintosh
‘failed' under Jobs, it wasn’t until he left that it became a success.” And according to the sales numbers, that does
appear to be true. While Jobs was around, the Macintosh never
generated enough revenue to keep Apple afloat. By 1985, almost a year after the computer
was released, the Apple II still accounted for 85% of Apple’s sales. Despite this, Jobs often failed to mention
or include the Apple II team in events and meetings. Something that understandably frustrated Wozniak. So in early 1985, he left Apple for good. Saying that the company had been going in
the wrong direction for the last five years, that he missed the fun of the early days,
and that Apple had become the bane of his existence. He enjoyed engineering, not management. And he believed Apple was preventing him from
being the person he wanted to be. After leaving, Wozniak went on to create his
own company called CL 9, where he developed the first programmable universal remote control. He also fulfilled his lifelong goal of becoming
an educator, by teaching a computer class for students from fifth to ninth grade. It was worlds away from the path Steve Jobs
took, but no less meaningful. Alright so that is why Steve Wozniak left
Apple, thanks for watching till the end, and don’t forget to subscribe to help decide
which topics I cover next.
