Throughout his life, Steve Jobs reinforced many of his own philosophies, such as his “rule of three” or his many inspirational phrases that are still repeated today as a mantra in certain sectors. But he was also called a tyrant, despotic attitude and irresponsible father. The relationship with certain subordinates was special to say the least. This was the case with the ephemeral hiring of Michael Geary.
Unlike Bill Fernandez, Michael Geary wasn’t even hired. Michael Geary has an impressive resume: He has worked in collaboration with leading programming companies, as an assembler, developer and director, in virtual reality, ethical hacking, at Microsoft, Google, Adobe, even for television companies. His relationship with Steve Jobs, however, was short-lived but marked for more than forty years.
Michael Geary, the first Apple employee fired when he wasn’t even hired
Michael Geary in 1976. Property of Michael Geary
Michael Geary was one of the first pros to approach an Apple computer that didn’t even exist yet. when Steve Jobs and Wozniak met every afternoon in that garage to shape the first Apple I. Geary described himself as “a scruffy-looking hippie” who met another “smelly scruffy-looking hippie”. Yes, the second was Jobs. United by their love for electronics, the two quickly hit it off.
At the time, Geary was working as a computer scientist in Palo Alto. In fact, he’s still influenced by Silicon Valley, consulting for IBM nearly 50 years later. Jobs told him he was trying to start his own computer company, so a profile like his wouldn’t hurt: “I need a disassembler for the 6502 chip“.
The problem is that Geary had never worked with these tools before. And, in those days, buying a microprocessor like the 6502 would cost you a fortune. He worked as a clerk with mainframes, huge computers comparable to today’s data servers. So if you wanted to understand chip assembly language, you would have to write your own disassembly program using emulation. Geary would use a mainframe of his work and an emulator to program the 6502 chip without having to get rid of it. A good plan.
That same week, Geary got to work and began writing the code for the disassembler. But even before sending it to Jobs, Steve called him and fired Wither: “You only work with mainframes and that’s for a microprocessor. […] Forget it.” A shot Geary took as a personal challenge: could program and would show
The success that earned him a contract
Shortly after this event, Geary searched for a phone to appear in “the offices” of Apple Computer. When he managed to find the address, he came across a garage. And there were the two Steves, working among their pots and pans. It sounded like a joke to him. “These guys are flakes“, he came to say, referring to someone disappointing, losing, someone who generates expectations but does not meet them. “They will never get there.” There, he was completely wrong.
On his own, a few years later, Geary met Jobs at a grocery store in Los Gatos, California. They talked and relived their first meeting, laughing and catching up, but Geary didn’t tell him that he had finally succeeded in writing this program.
Geary never considered the first relationship with Jobs for his resume. In fact, in his huge map of collaborations and projects, there is only one temporary contract in 1986. He spent a few months developing a gateway for Diplomat, a messaging tool for the Macintosh. He wrote “scripts in a FORTH-based language” for a few weeks. And it was no more. But if He left an important mark in his memory, penetrating his point of view on Steve Jobs.
It took Geary many years later to find Jobs. It was at a restaurant in Menlo Park, California, and Jobs was sitting at a table next to him. Apparently, he already looked clearly ill from his pancreatic cancer. And Geary didn’t want to interrupt or be rude. “I should have said hello to him. I should have told him that I wrote this show. I didn’t have the guts to talk to him at the time. Deep down, I will always regret not talking to her that night.“, he recalled. Steve died shortly after.
Home | Original by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (April 8, 2010, Cupertino, CA).
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