苹果之父的自白
2013-09-01
谈及苹果公司，人们总想到Steve Jobs，却鲜有人提及Steve Wozniak。诚然，倘若缺少乔布斯天才般的营销能力和人格魅力，苹果难有今日的成就，然而如果缺少woz，苹果根本不可能诞生，更遑论成长了。在书中，woz就谈及这点，外界盛传其与乔布斯合作创造了苹果早期的产品，然而真相是苹果一代与二代都出自其人之手。就这点而言，woz才是名副其实的苹果之父，乔布斯不过是顺带沾光罢了。
Paul Graham曾规劝，不要一味追求带给你地位和金钱的工作，而是跟随心意去挑战更难的事情。在书中，woz也提到了这种看法。
But I also thought at the that it didn't mean as much to me at that point, just winning the science fair, because I knew, and my dad knew, that I had actually built this fairly complicated logic machine and it worked. I mean, even as a kid it was obvious to me what the important thing really was.
父母是woz成长的榜样，尤其是父亲的诚实和严谨，更成为了其人的人生准则，书中woz多次提及对父亲的感谢，此可见其人真诚。也因为父亲的影响，他早早就确立自己的人生方向——成为一名工程师，更从小就习得了作为工程师的价值观和原则。
Sometimes I thing, man, I lucked out. It seems like I was justed pointed in such a lucky direction in life, this early learning of how to do things on tiny little step at a time. I learned to not worry so much about the outcome, but to concentrate on the step I was on and try to do it as perfectly as I could when I was doing it.
流水线般的教育造就了一批毫无个性的学生，对此woz也提出了自己的看法。
Now I mean a bit more cynical after seeing too many cases when intelligence in students is defined as everyone reading the same thing, including the same newspaper and magazine articles, and having the same answer, and agreeing with the way is presented. If you read the same things as others and say the same thing the say, then you're perceived as intelligent. I'm a bit more independent and radical and consider intelligence the ability to think about matters on your own and ask a lot of skeptical question to get at the real truth, not just what you're told it is.
随着成长，很多人都失去了从前的求知欲望和天真，工作的目的只为了钱财，对于这点，woz给我们提供了一个有趣的视角。
Working on projects was something I did on my own time to reward myself, even though I wasn't getting rewarded on the outside, with money or other visible signs of success.
一句reward myself，就足够回答大部分人的困惑了。
对比两个steve，我在woz身上看到的是他对这个世界的善意，但jobs身上却难以发现这点。
苹果早期，两人曾合作做过一些简单的产品，通过卖给零售商来赚些小钱。本来说好的五五分账，最终jobs独吞了大部分却并不告知woz，后来woz得知此消息也只是淡淡的一句，他仍是我最好的朋友。
对于自己的前两任妻子，woz表达了自己的情深意切，虽然最终还是以分手结局，但好聚好散，也确是难得，更为难得的是，提及前妻，他的言辞依旧温柔和充满爱意。所谓有情郎，当是如此。
至于其人的恶作剧和玩笑话，也可见其天性浪漫，并非如人们想象中的木讷。至于玩笑中仍不失真诚，这是我最欣赏他的一点。woz曾发明过一个名为blue box的设备，用以免费打电话。对于他而言，这仅是为了了解技术，而非为了获利，因此私人电话他一直坚持付费。他还提及后来因为和jobs贩卖过blue box，所以认为自己在某程度上确实助长了违法行为，这又可见其人真诚直率。
其人提及美国政府在越南战争时的行径，也是愤慨至极，此事让他再也难以相信官方的言论。
此前，笔者认为理工男多是木讷呆板、不解风情之人，可woz给我提供了一个新的想象空间。对这本书，我不想作过多的评价，如果你看腻了自吹自擂式的自传，不妨看看这本少有的，充满善意和真诚的书，也许你会有不一样的体会和收获。
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