Re: Steve's new book "IWOZ"

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

"PZ" (skierpaul@yahoo.com) writes:
> I saw Woz at Kfest a couple years ago, and he gave a very solid
> speech/presentation.  Sure he's a bit quirky, you've got to expect
> that.  Unfortunately, last night he stumbled though everything, it was
> hardly coherent.  Thats why I was shocked about his interview last
> night.
> 
He was "Coast to Coast" a while back (or maybe it was a repeat I
heard), and he fit in well, though interestingly the guest host
that night was Kevin Mitnick.  There may be a difference being
on radio rather than tv (at least on the interviewee who might
feel less intimidated by radio), or by having a host that can actually
converse with him on the technical issues.

Likewise, a technical presentation to an audience of insiders
may be far different from trying to give a speech to a general
audience, where you may not have a real sense of whether they
are following or not.  Performers certainly rely on feedback
from the audience to give a good performance, so I suspect it
would be the same case here.

As for the book, it sounds like bad editing (or bad ghost writing,
if that's the case).  If he couldn't supply a polished product,
then it should have been others to fix it.

  Michael

> - Paul
> 
>> Woz's personal presentation is an acquired taste (but isn't that
>> the case with most "geeks"? ;-).
>>
>> He's not "media friendly", and I'm frankly surprised that he doesn't
>> yet seem to realize this about himself.
>>
>> I'm pretty ambivalent about even reading the book...  After all, I
>> doubt that there will be illuminating revelations or great ideas
>> about technology.
>>
>> He did a wonderful thing, for his own peculiar reasons, and happened
>> to fall in with others who used it to make him, and themselves, rich.
>> That's it.
>