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Comment by rajayonin | Hacker News Reader

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rajayonin

Only one Woz? What about Scott?

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As someone who never heard Steve Wozniak being called "Woz", Scott was the only Woz on my mind.

Same here hahaha

There would be no Scott were it not for Woz (or even Avi.)

The fact that you have to be more specific than "Scott" says a lot.

That’s more likely just you.

Anyone who knows Apple knows who “Scott” is referring to. Scott Forstall.

Heh, I assumed he was referring to "Scott the Woz" Scott Wozniak, a vintage-gaming youtuber. I assumed that the GP took a more literal attack on "only one 'Woz'", hile you took a more symbolic "only one engineer of such quality". In the context of Apple, sure "Scott" is Scott Forstall, but that's not necessarily the context.

I could be wrong then if that was their reference. I was in the mindset of foundational Apple leaders, not other Woz’s outside the Apple hemisphere.

EDIT: reading this again, now thinking you are right and they are just being snarky about the “one Woz in the world” existing.

Woz is not just "some guy at apple". He's a force in his own right to the point of being bigger than Apple in some ways.

"Woz" is googlable. His name doesn't need context. "Larry" could be Ellison or Page. "Scott" could be Forstall or Adams.

Who played Scott Forstall in the movie?

Anyway, other comments proven it's not just me, too.

That's crazy because I assumed they were obviously talking about Apple's first CEO.

For "Scott Apple" search string, Google agrees with me and the forstall guy is just a secondary mention.

For me he will always be “Scotty”. “Scott” at Apple will almost always imply Scott Forstall.

My first computer was an Apple IIGS and everything since then has been a Mac. "Scott" doesn't bring anyone specific to mind for me. Maybe that connection is automatic for newcomers who immediately think "iPhone" when they hear "Apple."

I had a very long career at Apple. I have also met and spent time with Woz on multiple occasions. I have some bias here.

Possibly my assumption was incorrectly based more on people who actually worked at Apple vs what the normal public thinks of when they hear “Scott” and “Woz” in the context of Apple.

It would make sense that people on the inside would be a lot more aware of him. Forstall was obviously a pretty big name in the community but not to the point of getting a shorthand name like that. And he was mostly forgotten pretty quickly after he left.

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