Jobs’s desire for control and disdain for authority was destined to be a problem with the man who was brought in to be his regent, especially when Jobs discovered that Scott was one of the only people he had yet encountered who would not bend to his will. “The question between Steve and me was who could be most stubborn, and I was pretty good at that,” Scott said. “He needed to be sat on, and he sure didn’t like that.” Jobs later said, “I never yelled at anyone more than I yelled at Scotty.”

喬布斯喜歡控制別人，但不喜歡被控制。這注定會成為他跟斯科特之間的一個問題——因為斯科特就是被派來管束他的——尤其是當喬布斯發現，斯科特是他遇到的少數幾個不會屈服于他的意志的人之一時。“史蒂夫跟我之間的問題就是，我們誰更頑固，這可是我的強項。”斯科特說，“他必須受到管制，但他顯然不喜歡那樣。”正如喬布斯后來所說：“我朝斯科蒂吼的次數是最多的。”

An early showdown came over employee badge numbers. Scott assigned #1 to Wozniak and #2 to Jobs. Not surprisingly, Jobs demanded to be #1. “I wouldn’t let him have it, because that would stoke his ego even more,” said Scott. Jobs threw a tantrum, even cried. Finally, he proposed a solution. He would have badge #0. Scott relented, at least for the purpose of the badge, but the Bank of America required a positive integer for its payroll system and Jobs’s remained #2.

早期的一次爭議出現在員工編號的分配問題上。斯科特把“1號”給了沃茲,“2號”給了喬布斯。不出所料，喬布斯要求當“1號”。斯科特說：“我不會讓他得逞的，那樣只會讓他更加自負。”喬布斯大發脾氣，甚至痛哭流涕。最終，他提出了一個解決方案。他想要當“0號”。斯科特在員工編號這件事上妥協了，但美國銀行的工資系統中要求員工編號必須是正整數，所以喬布斯還是“2號”。

There was a more fundamental disagreement that went beyond personal petulance. Jay Elliot, who was hired by Jobs after a chance meeting in a restaurant, noted Jobs’s salient trait: “His obsession is a passion for the product, a passion for product perfection.” Mike Scott, on the other hand, never let a passion for the perfect take precedence over pragmatism. The design of the Apple II case was one of many examples. The Pantone company, which Apple used to specify colors for its plastic, had more than two thousand shades of beige. “None of them were good enough for Steve,” Scott marveled. “He wanted to create a different shade, and I had to stop him.” When the time came to tweak the design of the case, Jobs spent days agonizing over just how rounded the corners should be. “I didn’t care how rounded they were,” said Scott, “I just wanted it decided.” Another dispute was over engineering benches. Scott wanted a standard gray; Jobs insisted on special-order benches that were pure white. All of this finally led to a showdown in front of Markkula about whether Jobs or Scott had the power to sign purchase orders; Markkula sided with Scott. Jobs also insisted that Apple be different in how it treated customers. He wanted a one-year warranty to come with the Apple II. This flabbergasted Scott; the usual warranty was ninety days. Again Jobs dissolved into tears during one of their arguments over the issue. They walked around the parking lot to calm down, and Scott decided to relent on this one.

除了個人性格外，他們兩人之間還有更加實質性的分歧。杰伊·埃利奧特（JayElliot）是一次在餐廳偶遇喬布斯后被蘋果公司雇用的，他注意到了喬布斯的顯著特點：“他的執著是一種對產品的激情，對于完美產品的激情。”而邁克·斯科特從不會讓對完美的追求凌駕于產品的實用性之上。AppleII箱子的設計便是例證之一。蘋果曾經在潘通公司（PantoneCompany）的幫助下確定所用塑料的顏色，該公司有超過2000種不同的米黃色。“沒有一種能讓史蒂夫滿意，”斯科特對此感到十分驚訝，“他想要創造一種全新的顏色，我不得不阻止他。”在調整箱子設計的過程中，喬布斯花了好幾天時間，苦苦思索邊角應該多圓潤。“我根本不關心它到底多圓潤，”斯科特說，“我只想趕快確定下來。”另一場爭論是關于工程師使用的工作臺。斯科特想要標準的灰色，而喬布斯堅持要定制純白色的。這一切最終導致兩人在馬庫拉面前攤牌，爭奪采購訂單的簽署杈。馬庫拉站在了斯科特這一邊。喬布斯還堅持要改變對待顧客的方式。他想讓AppleII帶有一年保修期。這個想法讓斯科特目瞪口呆，因為保修期一般只有90天。在他們對此問題的一次爭論中，喬布斯又一次潸然淚下。他們在停車場散步以平復心情，斯科特再次屈服了。

Wozniak began to rankle at Jobs’s style. “Steve was too tough on people. I wanted our company to feel like a family where we all had fun and shared whatever we made.” Jobs, for his part, felt that Wozniak simply would not grow up. “He was very childlike. He did a great version of BASIC, but then never could buckle down and write the floating-point BASIC we needed, so we ended up later having to make a deal with Microsoft. He was just too unfocused.”

沃茲尼亞克開始反感喬布斯的處事風格。“史蒂夫對別人太苛刻了，”他說，“我想讓我們公司像一個大家庭一樣，大家都能愉快工作，分享自己的勞動成果。”而喬布斯則覺得，沃茲尼亞克就是個長不大的孩子。“他非常幼稚，”喬布斯說，“他開發出了一個很棒的BASIC版本，但之后就是沒能認真編寫我們需要的浮點BASIC，最后我們不得不和微軟做交易。他太不專注了。”

But for the time being the personality clashes were manageable, mainly because the company was doing so well. Ben Rosen, the analyst whose newsletters shaped the opinions of the tech world, became an enthusiastic proselytizer for the Apple II. An independent developer came up with the first spreadsheet and personal finance program for personal computers, VisiCalc, and for a while it was available only on the Apple II, turning the computer into something that businesses and families could justify buying. The company began attracting influential new investors. The pioneering venture capitalist Arthur Rock had initially been unimpressed when Markkula sent Jobs to see him. “He looked as if he had just come back from seeing that guru he had in India,” Rock recalled, “and he kind of smelled that way too.” But after Rock scoped out the Apple II, he made an investment and joined the board.

但性格上的沖突暫時還沒有到失控的地步，主要是因為公司的運營狀況不錯。身為一名分析師，本·羅森（BenRosen）撰寫的通訊報道對科技界產生了深遠的影響，他也成為了AppleII的熱情歌頌者。一名獨立開發者編寫出了第一款供個人電腦使用的電子制表和個人財務程序VisiCalc，在一段時間內，這款程序只能在AppleII上運行，這使得AppleII成為了企業和家庭有理由購買的一樣產品。公司開始吸引有影響力的新投資者。風險投資界的先驅亞瑟·羅克第一次見到馬庫拉派來的喬布斯時，并未被他打動。“他看起來好像剛從印度見了他的導師回來，”羅克回憶說，“聞起來也是。”但在仔細考察了AppleII之后，羅克投資了，并且加入了蘋果的董事會。

The Apple II would be marketed, in various models, for the next sixteen years, with close to six million sold. More than any other machine, it launched the personal computer industry. Wozniak deserves the historic credit for the design of its awe-inspiring circuit board and related operating software, which was one of the era’s great feats of solo invention. But Jobs was the one who integrated Wozniak’s boards into a friendly package, from the power supply to the sleek case. He also created the company that sprang up around Wozniak’s machines. As Regis McKenna later said, “Woz designed a great machine, but it would be sitting in hobby shops today were it not for Steve Jobs.” Nevertheless most people considered the Apple II to be Wozniak’s creation. That would spur Jobs to pursue the next great advance, one that he could call his own.

在接下來的16年中，各種型號的AppleII共售出了接近600萬臺。相比其他電腦，AppleII真正開創了個人電腦產業。沃茲尼亞克理應得到歷史的贊譽，因為是他設計出了AppleII上令人贊嘆的電路板和相關的操作軟件，這是20世紀最偉大的個人發明之一。但是，是喬布斯把沃茲的電路板整合成了一臺完美的機器，加上了電源和漂亮的箱子。也是他創辦了這家依靠沃茲的電腦而迅速崛起的公司。正如里吉斯·麥肯納后來說的：“沃茲設計出了一臺偉大的機器，但如果沒有史蒂夫·喬布斯的話，這臺機器到今天還只能陳列在業余愛好者的商店里。”盡管如此，大多數人還是將AppleII看做是沃茲尼亞克的發明。這激勵著喬布斯去追求下一次偉大的革新，屬于他自己的革新。