hanging out in Dallas, and the impact of Apple // on humanity

[Dan Bethe <dtm@netcomi.com>]

Hey there.  I live in the Dallas area and was wondering how many of you
are around here.  Perhaps anyone from the Apple Corps of Dallas?  I'm
not in any user groups but would consider joining if they have an apple
// community.
	I just went to the Apple Corps of Dallas meeting at the Infomart, where
Apple debuted the iMac.  These people would believe anything the
announcer told them.  It's as if they were in general addicted to having
their hands held.  I know this information is not useful to a lot of you
who weren't there, but my point is that I'm not going to deal a whole
lot even with *nice* people who are ignorant of their heritage.
	They had displays all around because it was Apple Corps' 20th
anniversary.  There was an Apple ][, a ][+, a //gs, a ///+, a Mac512k, a
MacTV, iMac, and many more.  One dewd was doing machine language on the
][.  Apple's original thermal printer was there; it was about 4" wide
like a point-of-sales receipt printer, and reminded me of when Apple's
stuff was hand made with care by people who would pass as a real human
being.
	I ***loved*** that stuff even if I didn't know what it was, or even if
it was broken.  I could tell that it was made by a very creatively
intelligent person.  Psychology shows that is a minority combination :)
	People would walk up and say "HAVE YOU TRIED THAT NEW EYE MACK, IT'S
GRATE.  IT'S LIKE, HI-TECK OR SOMETHING."  And I'd say "It's not
proportionately as good as an Apple //.  There's nothing wrong with
those machines, and if you want a 'cheap low cost entry' computer, how
does $100 sound?  Either Apple // or the Newton should be there."
	And they'd say ".....SYSTEM HAS RETURNED ERROR 11, UNKNOWN TYPE.  THOSE
PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED.  NECESSARY STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN; THE
HIVE MUST EXECUTE PRUDENT MEASURES TO ENSURE SURVIVAL.  $1200 IS CHEAP."
	And I'd say "Yes, well it didn't need to be done that way.  That iMac
is weird."
	After they'd reboot their brain, they'd say "......TYPE 11 ERROR.  THIS
IS WHAT WE HAVE NOW AND IT IS BEST TO JUST LIVE WITH IT."

	This conversation is paraphrased based upon talking with Dallas's
regional Apple rep of CompUSA, and various others standing around.
	One guy asked the official-from-Apple iMac evangelist "so it has no
SCSI, no ADB, no internal slots....will it work with _anything_ i
already have?"  And the guy rambles on about HOW YOU DONT NEED THOSE
THINGS and it's better this way, you'll see.  And I said "In short, NO,
you have to THROW EVERYTHING AWAY without any promise of peripherals." 
The Apple droid claimed to not speak for any other manufacturer, but it
might be possible to get compatible USB peripherals to replace your past
investment Real Soon Now(tm).
	And this other dude standing next to me goes "NO YOU DON'T!!"  I
thought, "oh boy i can't wait to hear this."  he says "THAT'S WHAT
ETHERNET IS FOR.  YOU JUST USE YOUR EXISTING MAC, TO PLUG THE
PERIPHERALS INTO."

	Friends, the Apple // community already has a better proportionate
blend of these features than most other stuff:

* compatibility and availability of hardware, software, and data
	(thanks to SCSI, ADB, kick-ass developers, loving users, and other
common standards)
* ease of use
* looooow price
* best balance of performance -- performance is predictable, so features
are already tuned for your favorite platform
* ability to do the most of everything that most people would want to do
* not going obsolete within itself
* community integrity based upon the very high likelihood that any
product you buy has the very best quality and functionality possible
* creativity
* longevity
* life
* fun

	I can think of more things that I *CAN* do with Apple //, than things
that I CANT.  And I throttle this platform pretty hard.  //gs is the
embodiment of true legacy support, elegance, performance, and the best
blend of backward-and-forward compatibility I've ever seen, in a mass
market computer.  It's more hardware compatible than iMac!!!!
	We have strength in numbers!

	And forget the comparisons; that's useless in the end.  I love and
respect all users of all machines who are happy and productive and true
to themselves, and I think Macintosh and Apple and LOTS of other
platforms are great.  I have jobs with them and I want certifications in
them.  I'm wearing my free Apple tshirt right now!  Nobody's even heard
of all platforms in existance.
	Aside from the comparisons ....  this machine has soul and heart -- it
reflects each of us, who we are, and who we *can* be.  It begs to be
used..for *each* of us to use, mold, extend it.  For the love of the
machine and its designers and for the love of each other.  Thanks to Woz
and all those who led and followed.  This thing is saturated with love
and potential, from each one of us.  It's been lovingly pursued by
educators, artists, techies, geeks, and just plain hapless, wayward,
inspired, talented -- but personally motivated -- individuals.
	Many people bought this platform just for specific applications, whose
origin was inspired by the machine.  
	Those individuals -- no group, no company, no laws, no trends, no
standards, no riches, no RULES -- are the driving identity of this
machine.
	This little box -- whatever type of Apple // you have -- is love, art,
and inspired creative energy.  I say that the technical miracles come
second.  The comparisons are irrelevant.
	Material things like linear performance benchmarks, market value,
popularity, and corporate support occasionally superficially ease the
individual's support.  But even if only a handful of these machines had
been built, or even only in schematics, I would have studied it and its
creators from afar.
	In my life, most technology I care about in the world shares Apple //'s
roots.  Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES share much hardware
design with Apple //e and //gs, for example.
	I don't yet know how or why this core technology, like cpu's and i/o
gates and graphics and computer science languages and storage technolgy,
developed in such a way to foster Woz's inspiration of Apple at the time
that it did.  And I'm not sure of how to compare this phenomenon to
events and individuals of other times and cultures.  I wonder if it can
be described as American somehow.
	Well this is why, even though I don't know how to design hardware or
write great programs, I've been inspired to use my original //gs years
ago to write and post to AOL a similar glorious essay about Stephen
Wozniak on his birthday.  And it's why I've read every novel I've found
relating to Apple or the techno-social origins of hackers.
	I'm into computers and information technology because this type of 
individualized global power is the ONLY way for us humans to clean up
our personal, global, and historical mistakes.  It's one step past
teaching someone to read.
	I hope that this comp.sys.apple2 community can sustain my eccentricity
-- read it or delete it, eh?!  :)  Write to me via email, or post your
own!!!!
	I'm waiting to hear from you, especially if you're female ;)

APPLE // FOR-AS-LONG-AS-ANYONE-WANTS-IT

	p.s.  I suppose someone could be using Apple //'s all the time these
days just because they're totally obsessed, but I haven't seen that yet!