“Ron Avitzur knew his project was doomed. By the time his bosses cut the cord in August 1993, his team was actually relieved,” Julia Dahl reports for World’s Strangest. “The graphing calculator program they’d been working on for new mobile devices had finally been shelved, and they could all move on.”
“Most of his fellow programmers were reassigned to other projects within Apple. The company offered Avitzur a job, too, but it didn’t interest him,” Dahl reports. “Avitzur, then 27, had been freelancing at tech companies since he was a student at Stanford—to him, the work wasn’t worth it if it wasn’t interesting. And what interested him was finishing the graphing calculator program that had just been canceled.”
Dahl reports, “But his ambitions were greater than that—Avitzur wanted to make the graphing calculator work on the new PowerPC computer that Apple planned to ship in early 1994… His Apple gig had paid well, and Avitzur lived simply. He could work for almost a year without a paycheck. Plus, Apple had lots of extra offices and computers— who would it hurt if he just kept coming in? It would be the perfect crime.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: Cult of Mac.]
I recall the calculator, and yes, it came in handy on many occasions! Many thanks to those selfless folks at Apple!
Great story about working to fulfill a passion, not just to fill 40 hours and take home a check…
Ah, the days before security cards, when companies weren’t afraid to just open the front door and let you in…
——RM
Oh, never mind. Looks like he used a trick to make his badge keep working.
——RM
Has Apple ever put Graphing Calculator on an OS X system? It’s not on any of my Leopard, Snow Leopard, or Lion machines.
Look in the Utilities Folder..Grapher.
Cool, very Cool
I sure hope they did something for him after showing that level of dedication!
The product still exists as Graphing Calculator, from the company Pacific Tech. I use it as a math tutor all the time. Go to http://pacifict.com/ for the home page, and http://pacifict.com/Story/ for the story. I am using version 4.0 on OS 10.7.4. It is an amazing product, and graphs an amazing amount of 2D and 3D mathematics.
Thanks Rad – that one was way better than the article.
Extra points for them naming their company after the school from “Real Genius”!
Apple in the old old days also allowed Microsoft engineers who were working for MS Word and other programs (for Apple operating systems) access to Apple with few restrictions …
… result: Windows.
sorry for cynicism but for one selfless dude there are 50 out there to take advantage of the situation. That’s why Apple has so much security now.
Still driving his 87 Corolla??? Wow..that’s some nasty wheels.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/03/junkyard-find-1987-toyota-corolla-fx16-gt-s/
Nasty? Actually, the Corolla GT-S from that model year is one of the most coveted cars with the tuner crowd — lightweight, easy to modify, and rear-wheel drive. Simple, sporty little car with great road feel that’s equally at home on a rally course or drifting circuit. The newly introduced RWD Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ is the modern incarnation of the Corolla GT-S.
http://www.insideline.com/scion/fr-s/2013/2013-scion-fr-s-vs-1985-toyota-corolla-gt-s.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_AE86
Shades of George Costanza!
Apple inspired people to do great things, even when Steve Jobs wasn’t around (and the bean counters were in charge)…
Should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law-trespassing, theft, etc.
Being unemployed does not give you the fight to steal.
But what gives you the right to be such a self-righteous asshole?
Jeeze, get a frackin’ life!
Oh, but it does give you the fight to steal…
He didn’t steal anything.
Recycling a very old article.
The graphic calculator app was most definitely a mind-blower for a lot of folks at the time it debuted – hugely impressive 3D animations and the like. More than a few Mac users employed this in their activities in enlightening PC users, despite the fact that few Mac users actually knew how to input a formula beyond the absolute basics. An excellent little piece of software.
Didn’t I read this story, oh, about ten, fifteen years ago?
Hmmm, seems that the young chap had the same drive, determination, and brashness of another Apple employee, Steve Jobs.