Steven Wozniak (known as Woz) and Steven Jobs had been very good friends in high school. They were often messing about together. They had both been interested in electronics, and both had been generally perceived as outsiders in school. They kept in touch after graduation, and both ended up dropping out of school early and getting jobs working for various different companies in Silicon Valley. (Woz for Hewlett-Packard, Jobs for Atari)

Wozniak had been dabbling a little in computer-design for some time when, in 1976, he designed what would eventually become the Apple I and built it basically in his garage. Jobs, who had an eye for the future and a vision of how this future could come about, insisted that he and Wozniak try to sell the machine, and on May 1, 1976, Apple Computer was born.

The next few years were full of surprise's, twists and events too numerous to go into here but Apple began to grow as a company with Jobs as the main driving force at the helm. The creation of the Apple II by Wozniak that was a truly inspirational machine allowed this driving force to mould the beginnings of a great company.

In 1981, IBM released its first Personal Computer. With the power of Big Blue behind it, the PC quickly began to dominate the playing field. Jobs' team would have to work hard and very quickly if they hoped to compete with IBM in the personal computer market. Jobs began to realise that Apple would have to become a "grown-up" company, and realised he was maybe not the man for the job. He began to look for help from other sources.

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