Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I by himself motivated by the desire to make something he could show his geek buddies. Steve Jobs was able to sell 50 of the machines to a local computer store (one of the only ones in the country at that point), and Apple Computer was born.
Back to CNBC: The Woz was being interviewed from his office with a 21" Studio Display and the default Mac OS X desktop sitting off in the background. He and the CNBC anchor discussed changes in the industry since the Apple I. In light of the fact that Mr. Wozniak designed the Apple I entirely by himself and the Apple II almost entirely by himself, he said the days of a single person being able to design an operating system were long gone. He also discussed the Napster issue and used it as an example of new ways in which technology can change our environment.
One CNBC viewer asked if the Woz was working on anything the rest of us should know about. The CNBC anchor added "Are you inventor days over?" Mr. Wozniak replied with "Oh, I hope so," with a big grin.
One side note: Another CNBC viewer wrote in talking about the Apple //e (with *two*, count iem, *two!* built-in floppy drives) that she had in her school "before Microsoft even existed." That was sort of passed over in the rush of conversation by the CNBC anchor and Mr. Wozniak, but we caught it. For the record, Microsoft was well on its way to its hegemony with Intel when the Apple //e was released.
The interview was, generally speaking, excellent. Itis great to see The Woz get more of the credit he so deserves (even if he hasnit added The Mac Observer to his Cool Mac Sites Web page :-), and we found it very informative. The History Channel special airs this week. You can find more information on Steve Wozniak at Woz.org.