January 28, 2026
Woz worship meets wallet shock
There's only one Woz, but we can all learn from him
Internet crowns Woz the wholesome genius—then argues about credit and a $500K Apple relic
TLDR: Steve Wozniak received a major humanitarian award, and commenters turned it into a celebration of his humble, efficient engineering. The thread split between praising Woz’s lean design ethos, a cheeky “What about Scott?” credit check, a $500K Apple I auction flex, and open‑source fans broadening the love to community builders
Apple cofounder Steve “Woz” Wozniak just snagged a humanitarian award in San Jose, and the internet responded with a full‑blown Woz lovefest. Fans gushed that he’s a humble legend who changed the world and still shows up with heart. Meanwhile, the event itself spotlighted feel‑good tech—like a brain‑computer interface (a device that lets people with disabilities communicate), a patient forum guiding ethics, an ultrasound headset treating mental health, and a gadget helping people with Parkinson’s walk more confidently—prompting Woz to praise building things that solve real problems.
But the comments quickly turned spicy. One camp romanticized Woz’s elegant, less‑is‑more engineering, dunking on today’s “throw more servers at it” culture. A user cheered “Let’s make it shorter and punchier,” citing Woz’s famed floppy‑disk controller trick that did in software what others needed expensive hardware for—translation: smarter, not heavier. Open‑source diehards jumped in to say respect should also go to community builders like those at FOSDEM (a big free‑software meetup). Then a curveball: “Only one Woz? What about Scott?”—the classic comment‑section record scratch. And for dessert, someone dropped a link to an Apple I prototype auction with a $500K price tag, turning the thread into museum‑piece envy. The vibe: warm fuzzies, mild bloat shaming, and retro‑collector flexing—all in one scroll
Key Points
- •Steve Wozniak received The Tech Interactive’s James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award on January 16 in San Jose.
- •The event included an on-stage conversation between Wozniak and comedian Drew Carey.
- •Several organizations were honored for humanitarian technologies, including a BCI communication tool, a patient-led BCI forum, an ultrasound therapy headset, and a mobility device for Parkinson’s.
- •Wozniak praised the honorees’ focus on solving real-world problems as a driver of effective products.
- •He compared their ingenuity to his 1977 Apple II color graphics innovation, which outpaced many contemporaneous microcomputers.