25 May
2020
25 May
'20
7:48 p.m.
Some things are easy to check, like the fact that the
Z80 came out in 1976 when Woz was already finishing the Apple II so he couldn't have
considered using it for the Apple I.
I haven't personally looked into whether he considered using the Z80,
but your statement there is oversimplified. Define "came out". If you
mean "announced in public" or "officially went on sale", then that
doesn't prove anything. It is quite plausible that anyone in/around
Silicon Valley and/or in the Homebrew Computer Club knew about the Z80
before it officially "came out".
But, yes, history IS hard for exactly these kinds of reasons. Too many
people are concerned with "first" and "invent", etc., when what really
matters is generations of tech and overall impact.