Woz, meet Jack Tramiel

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak talking to Commodore founder Jack Tramiel. It was the first time the two had met.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--"Hi, we've never met before."

With those words to Commodore founder Jack Tramiel on Monday evening, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak ended what may be one of the most improbable non-relationships in the history of computers.

It's hard to imagine how Woz and Tramiel could have possibly not ever met before, given that the two were such important figures in the early years of personal computers. With Woz's Apple II and Apple IIe and Tramiel's Commodore Vic-20 and Commodore 64 dominating the personal computer age of the early 1980s--along with the Atari 800--there are probably more people who have used those machines today than could ever be counted.

Yet, despite their prominence, the two had never met. Amazing.

They came face to face at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Commodore 64 at the Computer History Museum here.

And they proceeded to have the kind of conversation that any two computer geeks would have, talking about chips and processors and the like.

But as a witness, and a user of their respective computers way back in the day, it's still mind-boggling to me that in the tight-knit world of personal computing, Woz and Tramiel had never met.

Better late than never, I suppose.

[ekai]

The line of the evening

...was when Tramiel turned to Woz during the panel discussion and said "we made computers for the masses, you made computers for the classes." This was in reference to the Apple II going for $600, while the C64 was $200.