The Woz

A few weeks ago I received notification of an event taking place at Concordia University. I immediately thought, "sweet!" and then promptly forgot to register for it. And so, after standing in the 'hopeful but unregistered' line for an hour while they let the responsible people in, I managed to get into the first half of a talk given by Steve Wozniak in Montreal this morning. He spoke for an hour or so about business, computers, and his own experiences with the genesis of Apple.

He responded to general audience questions about start ups, computers, and venture capital with general answers, but one in particular was interesting. He was asked how he, having been one of the original "architects" of the relationship between humans and computers, saw or hoped to see that same relationship evolving.
"I would ask we take a few steps back in the past and see that the human relationships get copied very well," said Wozniak. He stressed that we needed to make sure that technology works the way humans do, and not to force humans to work the way technology does.

I found this interesting because it led me to ask, to what extent have we started out, with computers, with that relationship in mind, and to what extent should we? And considering how the computer has changed just about everything about how we go about life, to what extent is the relationship reciprocal?
Tangentially, I also thought about Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux et al., and how the proponents (and engineers) of each would value the relative weight of user-friendly ease. But that's a whole other debate.

Elsewhere in his talk, Wozniak spoke against the myth that computers make kids antisocial, saying that the computer led the early-adopting kids to social interaction, news and information, not extreme isolation as was often the perception. He also advised young entrepreneurs to have as much of a prototype as possible before involving venture capitalists, to ensure greater share and control in the future. He said, "Don't try to raise money with just an idea."