Re: Apple II: 5th Most Important Economic Event...

[Charles Hobbs <transit@primenet.com>]

Forrest wrote:
> 
> ...of the last 100 years, as ranked by The Dismal Scientist, economic
> analysis house, www.dismal.com :
> 
> http://www.dismal.com/top25/t25_apple2.stm
> 
> Criteria:
> 
> http://www.dismal.com/top25/introduction.asp
> 
> "The Apple II changed everything."

Well, as the article says, more or less, it was the first "real"
home computer--one that you didn't need to be an electronics 
expert to use, one that you could take home, type letters on, 
play games, etc.

> 
> The IBM-PC and Mac are not ranked.

Let's dispense with the IBM-PC first--it was essentially a souped
up Apple II, with a faster processor, a few other improvements, and
most importantly, three letters that legitimized the microcomputer
in the world of mainstream business.

As for the Mac, let me put it this way. The Apple II was to computing
what the Model T Ford was to automobiles; we moved from the chaos of
the realm of do-it-yourself, put-it-together piece by piece and 
see-if-it-works to take-it-home, plug-it-in, and let's-go-somewhere.

The Mac was to the Apple/IBM/other computers before it what the
automatic transmission was to the manual transmission in automobiles.
It made computing, and driving, easier for many people once they were
freed from the extra responsibility of typing in commands/shifting.
It wasn't as much of a world changing event as much as a democratizing/
enhancing effect on something that had already changed the world.