Re: Bob Bishop to keynote KansasFest 2011

[joltenjoe <joltenjoe@gmail.com>]

On Dec 17, 12:35 pm, Ken Gagne <kga...@gamebits.net> wrote:
> KANSAS CITY, MO -- December 17, 2010 -- Bob Bishop, co-founder of
> Apple's R&D lab, will be the keynote speaker at KansasFest 2011. Bob
> is part of the early history of the Apple computer and has developed
> numerous commercial software titles, worked side-by-side with Apple co-
> founder Steve Wozniak, written a book on assembly language
> programming, and published articles in most Apple II magazines. Bob
> has lived what most of us only dream about, and he has the stories to
> prove it.
>
> In 1976, Dr. Bishop knocked on Steve Jobs' door and ended up owning an
> Apple I. Soon, he bought one of the first Apple II computers. A few
> months later, the first graphical Apple II games, like Rocket Pilot
> and Star Wars, came from Bob's keyboard before Apple had even finished
> the documentation. Later, Bob brought speech to the personal computer
> with Apple-Talker and Apple-Listener. In 1978, Bob and Steve Wozniak
> founded Apple's research and development division. His program Apple-
> Vision was included on DOS 3.3 master disks, demonstrating the audio
> and video capabilities of the Apple II. Even after retiring in 1981,
> he continued using, programming, and writing about the entire Apple II
> line.
>
> The stories do not end with the Apple II. Bob has hosted a radio show
> using the "Mr. Logic" personality, written essays, founded a comic
> book club, designed a computer programming language, and written
> online riddles. Alas, Bob has not yet founded the fanciful "Subroutine
> Shack" stores "for supplying software components." Today, he lives in
> California, still "plays with computers," and laments that his Web
> site is forever under construction.
>
> KansasFest 2011, the 22nd annual Apple II conference, is set for July
> 19th through July 24th at Rockhurst University in Kansas City,
> Missouri. KansasFest was originally hosted by Resource Central and has
> been brought to you by the KFest Committee since 1995. Any and all
> Apple II users, fans, and friends are invited to attend this year's
> event. Registration details will be announced on the KansasFest Web
> site in early 2011. For photos, schedules, and presentations from past
> year's events, please visit the event's official Web site athttp://www.kansasfest.org/
>
> CONTACT:
> KansasFest 2011http://www.kansasfest.org/http://twitter.com/kansasfest/

When I found Bob's email address last year, I wrote to him. Mostly, I
wanted to thank him.  Circa 1981, I tried typing in one of his games
from Micro or Compute! and couldn't figure out why it didn't work.  I
wrote a letter to him and he called me to try to help.  I didn't
really understand the difference between integer basic and Applesoft
basic at the time (it was integer and I was using Applesoft).  I was
more excited that the guy who wrote Applevision took the time to call
me.  He's the true epitome of what things were like back then and why
the Apple II community was and still is so special.  Users helping
users.