Where are they now?

Steve Capps
An instrumental part of the early Macintosh programming team, Capps later led the charge to develop the handheld Newton operating system. Already honored with the title "Apple Fellow," Capps's defection this year to Microsoft was akin to the Prince of Wales pledging allegiance to Jacques Chirac. Working from his home near San Francisco, Capps is now designing the Web experience for Microsoft's Active Desktop, the project that will integrate Web browsing with the Windows operating system.

Steve Jobs
Cofounder of Apple in 1976, Jobs's mantra of "insanely great" and overbearing management style succeeded in driving a lot of people at Apple insane. After losing a 1985 power struggle with John Sculley, the ex-Pepsi chief who had become Apple CEO at Jobs's request, Jobs left the company to start Next Computer. The company's all-in-one hardware/software system was a commercial failure, and the company scrapped the hardware to become Next Software in 1993. Three years and a $400 million-dollar deal later, Next is now part of Apple, and Jobs is a consultant for the company that was born in his garage.

Steve Wozniak
Known to most as "Woz," the other founder of Apple got out of the game in 1985 just before Jobs left. Much less driven than Jobs, Woz left to tinker, teach guitar, and develop his Unuson Corporation, which stands for "Unite us in Song." Woz's Web page updates his whereabouts through the Woz Cam and details his latest projects.

Michael Spindler
Almost a year ago, Spindler, the former head of Apple Europe, was dumped as CEO in favor of current CEO Gil Amelio. He was reportedly paid by Apple for relocation to France, but friends say that he never received any money and stayed in California, save for a vacation with family. Spindler still serves on the board of directors of some German companies and is being recruited by a number of venture capitalists to come to work in Silicon Valley start-ups. The word on the street though is that so far he hasn't committed to any new projects. Spindler is currently working on a national project to improve information technology in public libraries and spending time with his family.

Regis McKenna
In May of 1977, McKenna's advertising company launched Apple's first ad campaign. McKenna's marketing and consulting firm also drew up the first marketing plan for the Apple and later for the Macintosh--he was even involved in publishing the first ever Apple-only magazine. What's more he recruited the initial round of venture capital for the fledgling company. McKenna sold off his publishing and advertising ventures but still has his marketing and consulting firm and is currently a partner in the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. McKenna is also writing a book for the Harvard University Press on marketing in the information age.

John Sculley
Sculley was supposed to be the first grown-up to run Apple, a true-blue corporate man who in 1983 jumped the Pepsi ship for Apple. But he immediately proved to be too much for Jobs, who spoke bitterly of him in the recent public television special Triumph of the Nerds. Sculley will be back at Macworld Expo this week to promote the efforts of his company Live Picture, which is expected to announce an alliance with Apple to do research and development in digital photography and to announce software for the Mac that lets consumers edit their photos online.

A.C. "Mike" Markkula
The longest-running Apple-ite of the bunch, Markkula joined Apple during the company's first year as chairman and has since held various posts. As chairman of Apple's board of directors in November 1995, Markkula gave then-CEO Michael Spindler a vote of confidence despite indications of a financially disastrous 1996. Two months later, Spindler was bounced in favor of Gil Amelio, who also took over Markkula's seat as the head of the board. Markkula is currently vice chairman.

Jean-Louis Gassée
After leaving his post as head of Apple Products in 1990, Jean-Louis went into start-up land to found Be and--much like Steve Jobs--to create an all-new computing platform. Until last month, the still-unfinished Be operating system was in the running to be the outside fix for the ailing Mac OS, but a possible Apple-Be deal was reportedly scuttled when Gassée asked too much money for his company. Did he shoot himself in the foot? Or was the "failed" deal merely the first round of courtship from interested parties? The swirling rumors and media spotlight have certainly made Be a household name--at least in Silicon Valley.

Ronald Wayne
By some accounts, Ronald Wayne is Apple's equivalent of the fifth Beatle. Steve Jobs, who worked with Wayne at Atari, recruited the chief field service engineer reportedly as a "tie-breaker" between himself and cofounder Steve Wozniak. Wayne became a partner for ten percent stock in Apple, according to the Mac Bathroom Reader, but relinquished his stake for $800 only two weeks after the company was founded. He now holds an engineering position with a defense contractor in Salinas, California.

Photo of Ronald Wayne courtesy of Owen Linzmayer