Nosce te ipsum

The good folks over at the Digital Barn have posted an interesting interview with Wendell Sander (father of the Apple III). Perhaps it's just the late hour or the fact that I've been sick with a fever for the last few days but as soon as the interview page loaded and I saw Wendell Sander for the first time, I would have sworn that he has a past working on network television of the past, specifically as Tom Bosley from Happy Days - Aka Mr. Cunningham (albeit a slightly younger version). I always admired the Apple ///, mainly because it was one of the few early Apples that I never really got to spend much time with. A good child hood friend of mine (Eric Scheir)'s father owned one but it was pretty much off limits to us kids (if memory serves, those machines were insanely expensive for their day).

Back to our story - it's interesting to see many of these long forgotten faces of technology briefly re-emerging (in part to the Macs 20th anniversary from 2004). With MacWorldExpo just over a week away, the anticipation builds which I'm trying to starve off by reading the brand new book Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertzfield detailing what went on behind the scenes during the creation of the very first Macintosh.

To a developer like myself, it's a very inspiring read - to see what a group of very young and dedicated programmers can really accomplish. I don't know about you but how many of us get a chance in our daily lives to really work on something that is truly going to change the world? I enjoy what I do but honestly, that kind of offer would be mighty tempting! I only wonder, are there still opportunities like that today? I have to think they do. Just don't tell guys like Tim Berners Lee, Adam Curry, Dave Weiner, Steve Jobs, etc.. that all the cool stuff has already been invented. No great ideas ever came from small minds and I wish that as a society we rewarded those with the rare genius to work their magic for the benefit of all mankind. How many inventors do you personally know today? Not enough I'd have to say. My absolutely favorite thing about these kinds of people is that without exception, they definitely walk to the beat of a different drummer in just about everything they do.