You're misreading what he is saying. He didn't say he did it at work, merely that he was still employed by HP. It's not likely he brought it to work to do the wiring, etc. Most likely he did it at home."The prototype was hand-wired while I was still an engineer at Hewlett-Packard's Advanced Product Division, where I was involved in the design of hand-held calculators."
Queue the lawsuits
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Steve Wozniak Schematics for Prototype Apple II Computer Sell for $630k at Auction, Apple-1 goes for $737k
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You would need to switch over to low tier Android for the rest of your life. With the price difference saved, you have a good chance of reaching your goal.
The iPhone in 2050 is going to cost $9999.
I don't have that kind of bling to throw around, but these are some pretty cool nostalgic items.
Woz stated that the documents were circa 1975, Apple was officially founded April 1st 1976 so the schematics can't be the property Apple as there was no Apple computer in 1975.
And well deserved. Steve was a good sales person but I kind of admire the work of Woz more.
I agree, Woz is hugely overlooked by the Apple community, the fact is without Woz there would be no Apple today
Ahhh yes but here is the snag, if Woz specifically used those schematics to help build the Apple II, which was introduced in 1977, one year after the formation of the company, then the information on those pieces of paper is the property of Apple under IP (Intellectual Property) BUT the actual pieces of paper the schematics are written on belong to Woz because it was done on paper before the company was formed.
Apple could claim that the drawings are protected under Apples IP but not the physical paper.
The circuit design of the Apple ][ is very impressive and innovative. The way Woz implemented the color graphics and video output was especially clever iirc.
When you purchased an Apple II the Reference Manual contained the complete schematic of the entire computer's circuitry so I don't think they're going to worry about a few prototype drawings from before the company was founded being sold in 2020.
It's not that simple. If the reference manual contains the words such as 'Property of Apple' or 'Copyright 1977' (when the Apple II was released) or words to that effect then the reference manual and everything in it is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without the express permission of Apple.
The hand drawn schematics are not something Apple might worry about BUT if they wanted to, the law would be on their side on this one, in my opinion.
It should not have been auctioned. It should have gone into some Smithsonian archive..... the schematics are part of computer history.
You need engineering and marketing to succeed. The Woz's of the world could sit in their basements building genius inventions that nobody sees. The Jobs' of the world could spend their lives pedaling snake oil. They need each other.
And the floppy drive controller gets a lot of attention as well. I can't remember the component count off the top of my head, but it was a massive savings just from looking at it differently.
HP is out-of-luck. He offered his designs to HP, but they turned down the stuff designed by a mere technician without a degree, and gave Woz a full IP release."The prototype was hand-wired while I was still an engineer at Hewlett-Packard's Advanced Product Division, where I was involved in the design of hand-held calculators."
Queue the lawsuits
Apple has since completely torn down the old HP Cupertino complex where Woz worked, and replaced it mostly with trees (except for the old barn). But they probably paid some sad sorry remnant of HP a nice price for land.
I think that came later— it, well, integrated Woz’s controller onto a single chip.
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Statue of limitations does not apply here because the limitation only comes into affect when a violation has been discovered, in this case, the taking of photo's of the documents. Now the documents have been photographed and displayed online, Apple now have a 3 year time limit to make a claim IF they want to.
I've never understood it either. Posterity and such but just goes to show there's a subtle difference between what something is worth and what it actually costs.