Tribute to Steve Jobs @ C2SV

By Steve Wozniak, x-Apple & Nolan Bushnell, x-Atari

from SJ Mercury News 29 Sept 13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz

There were a lot of forward-looking panels at the inaugural Creative Convergence Silicon Valley — the music & tech festival also known as C2SV — but my favorite featured two guys who were once the valley’s young whiz kids, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak & Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell.

It’s all about Having Fun !!!
They covered a lot during an hour-long conversation before a packed room at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center on Friday afternoon, from Steve Jobs and data encryption to the early days of Silicon Valley and the future of robots & computing as machines get smarter & smarter. But the sense you got from both of these valley pioneers is that, for the most part, they had a lot of fun building the future and the idea of having fun still figures into their decisions. Sounds like a far cry from many of today’s bottom-line-conscious tech workers.

Remembering Steve Jobs.
Back to Woz’s now-legendary partner in founding Apple, Steve Jobs. Both Bushnell & Woz said they never really saw the negative, blustery Jobs that people talk about, though they heard about it. Woz did tell an amusing story about developing the game “Breakout” for Atari on Jobs’ suggestion. He jumped at the chance to create a single-player version of Atari’s popular “Pong” for Bushnell. “Then he said you have to do it in four days,” Woz recalled. Bushnell laughed at the comment. “I didn’t tell Jobs four days,” he said. Woz said he was pretty sure that Jobs was trying to buy into a farm in Oregon and needed the money to do so in four days, so he set Wozniak on that insane schedule (a deadline Woz hit, by the way).

Comments: What impressed you most about Steve Jobs?