Re: Apple II seen on PBS

[irsman@subzero.winternet.com (Ian Schmidt)]

In article <4psaqg$12tk@useneta1.news.prodigy.com>,
Josh Spatz <MJKV57C@prodigy.com> wrote:
>That show was very misleading. They made it seem like Bill Gates was 
>responsible for the entire computer inidustry's existence, and didn't 

Bill Gates DID write some of the actual Applesoft BASIC code that's in every
Apple II.  That's decently important :)

>even mention the importanc contributions of some people who did more than 
>Gates (i.e. Jack Tramiel, Nolan Bushnell, and a bunch more). They also 

I'm not a big fan of Tramiel...he just finished putting Atari out of business,
let's see what he can do next...

>made Steve Jobs look pretty bad. And they did'n realize how screwed up 

Making Steve Jobs look bad isn't all that difficult.  Were he not kicked out
of Apple, the Mac would never have gotten beyond the 128 (he refused to 
allow it to have more RAM or expansion slots, as they were 'too technical').
The NeXT optical drive was somewhat bozotic as well.

>the computer industry has gotten over the last 5 years because of 
>Microsoft.

The computer industry is in very good shape, or will be once Macintosh, Inc.
finally kicks the bucket.  I mean, for less than most of us paid for a basic
IIgs system 9-10 years ago, you can now have a decently configured Mac, PC,
or low-end workstation with about a zillion times the power and usefulness.
That's Progress with a capital P, and Microsoft has nothing to do with it.

--
Ian Schmidt - irsman@winternet.com - http://www.winternet.com/~irsman/
    "Where would I be without IBM?" - P. Robb, Information Society