
Apple's first employee: The remarkable odyssey of Bill Fernandez - hoggle
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/apples-first-employee-the-remarkable-odyssey-of-bill-fernandez/
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ddellacosta
This is how you tell what kind of guy Woz really is:

 _Around the time of the Apple IPO in late 1980, Woz decided to give away
stock options to the earliest Apple employees who had never gotten options --
including Randy Wigginton, Chris Espinosa, Kottke, and Fernandez. He gave them
each a stock grant out of his own chunk of shares. It was a generous move,
especially towards Wozniak 's old neighbor and friend with whom he'd built his
first computer and helped become Apple's first employee._

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wallflower
If you have not yet already read JL's interview of Wozniak in Founders at
Work, the Floppy drive story is priceless.

[http://www.foundersatwork.com/steve-
wozniak.html](http://www.foundersatwork.com/steve-wozniak.html)

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hoggle
Also great retelling by Andy Hertzfeld on the 3.5" Sony floppy disk drive:

"Quick, Hide In This Closet!"

[http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Hide_Under_This_Desk.txt)

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melling
You don't hear too many stories like this about Steve:

"Steve swallowed his pride and thanked them for disobeying him and doing the
right thing."

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MCRed
Actually you do. There are many cases of Steve realizing he was wrong and
changing his position. In his Eulogy Jonny Ive talked about it as one of his
best known features.

But this doesn't fit the "steve jobs is a tyrannical asshole and apple's
success is only a fluke of marketing and apple is evil" narrative that is so
popular among google worshipers.

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frou_dh
Who mentioned Google? Stop making technology companies your sports teams.

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canes123456
That person was arguing against the simplistic story lines that are created
when we treat tech companies like sports teams. It came off some what badly
but I believe it was correct. There are tons of stories of steve jobs
swallowing his pride and admitting he was wrong but they are not spread as
widely because they don't fit the public perception of him.

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keithpeter
>> _He said Omnibotics will "build smart home electronics and I'm hoping that
we can finally make it possible to make your house more responsive to you, to
give your house a user interface other than mechanical switches and knobs."_

Wondering how that vision loops back to his childhood in the Japanese styled
home. What kinds of interface? What definition of simplicity?

