Re: _Infinite Loop_ by Michael S. Malone

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Greg Buchner <nobody@wavetech.net> wrote:

> In article <374AA45A.4A09B17B@swbell.net>, rubywand@swbell.net wrote:
> 
> > II users did not buy the IIgs to run old software. We bought it to
> > run _and_ create super-res, super-sound IIgs software. We wanted the
> > best hardware possible.
> 
> If the IIgs wasn't backwards compatible, I don't think any of the IIgs
> purchasers I know (me included) would have bought one.

I'll second that.

The IIgs was the first computer I actually owned, but I had several
years of extensive experience on the IIe (at high school), right down to
the nuts and bolts level.  Most of that knowledge transferred instantly
to the IIgs, and I learned about all the new features as I went along.

I got the IIgs in mid 1987 and barely touched 16-bit software until
about a year later (at which time I went crazy and bought a hard drive,
memory expansion and lots of software).

The main points that attracted me to the IIgs rather than a Mac or PC
were:

1. I knew a lot about the machine already (the 8-bit side).

2. It could run all the software I had previously used, and everything
I'd written myself.

3. It was a relatively "open" machine, in the same vein as the earlier
Apple II models, and was easy to play with at the hardware and firmware
level.

4. It was a better Apple II (speed and memory expansion, mainly).

5. Plenty of room for hardware expansion.

6. It had interesting new graphics modes for me to play with.

7. The price wasn't out of reach.

I had little exposure to either Macs or PCs at the time.  I had been
using a CP/M machine at work for a while, so it wouldn't have been much
of a stretch to move to MS-DOS.  We switched to using PCs at work some
time around 1988.

Macs were either dull and limited (Mac Plus and SE) or far too expensive
(Mac II).  I now have three of them (SE/30, 7600 and 8600), and do most
of my day-to-day computing on the 7600.

The IIgs has been demoted to a piece of nostalgia which I haven't quite
had the heart to remove from its position of honour on my desk (though
the RGB monitor has been replaced with a composite one to save its last
few hours of life for something important).

About the only reason I ever turn it on now is to check a detail for a
post in comp.sys.apple2, or to play an old game.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand