MovieChat Forums > Jobs (2013) Discussion > Incorrect premises; Steve Wozniak didn't...

Incorrect premises; Steve Wozniak didn't invent the P.C. Xerox did.


In this film, it seems as if Steve Wozniak came up with the design for the computer all on his own. In the original film they tell the truth. They got all the research & development from Xerox Corp.

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That's not accurate. It's true Woz didn't invent the home computer (there was a lot of them on the market), his primary invention was the Apple II, which was the first mass marketed and commercially successful home computer. Prior to the Apple II, computers were seen to have a market limited to government and large corporations. The Apple II changed the entire paradigm.

And Xerox did not invent the home computer. It successfully produced the first model with a Graphic User Interface (GUI), which is the concept of pointing and clicking on computer graphics using a mouse. Xerox didn't believe there was any commercial use for the technology, but Jobs immediately realized it was the future of computing. Apple and Xerox made a business deal which allowed Jobs' team access to the technology. In exchange, Xerox was given an advance opportunity to invest in Apple (tech companies were anxious to get their hands on a piece of Apple before it went public).

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Nowhere in this film or any of the Jobs' biopics does it say or even imply that Wozniak or Apple invented the PC. They invented a better PC.

The Altair was available before Apple was a company. It just did not do much. The Apple 2 was a huge improvement.

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There were already other computer companies making home computers. They were one of a handful of people doing this. They had success.

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1959! The first PC was much bigger. Spacewar was the first graphics game.
https://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/c4b2f25ad9314006e441c6fc00320005/

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