Re: The Last IIgs Users on Earth [Was Re: Marinetti Applications]

[Joe Kohn <joko@NoMoreSpam.net.invalid>]

Iosaef the Irascable! <rummikub32@yahoo.com> wrote:

>      You know, I feel exactly the same way most of the time.  Outside
> of reading CSA2 and getting the occasional bemused chuckle from the
> roomie, I'm the only one I know who still cares enough to keep his
> IIgs and enhanced IIe operational, much less sitting next to the PC he
> reads the newsgroup with.

In recent years, old friends of mine have "felt sorry for me" (their
words, not mine) because I was still using an Apple IIGS, and actually
gave me complete Mac and PC systems. The Mac was a $20 one from a garage
sale, and the PC was a result of dumpster diving.

But, I hardly ever use them, and I'm typing this message on the same IIGS
that was used to post to csa2 10-12 years ago. The modem is newer than the
IIGS...it's a speedy 14.4 and I'm still content with it.

So, like I said yesterday, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm the last
person on earth to still be using a IIGS in 2003. Of the 3 different
systems, the IIGS is the only one that's turned on daily. I might go
months and months without even looking at the Mac or PC. 

Or, to word it another way...Resistance is not futile ;-)

I love my IIGS just as much today as when I first dragged it home, brand
new, gulp, 15 years ago. I guess you could say that I didn't think that
"Apple II Forever" was just some clever marketing ploy ;-)

Seriously though, I was just in touch recently with a guy who was written
about in the old NAUG Journal. At the time, Jack Friedman was running the
largest watch repair company in the US. Using AppleWorks Classic on a
IIGS. For a while, he switched to Bernie, but when I talked with him just
2-3 weeks ago, he was proud that he'd gotten rid of the Macs and gone back
to a real IIGS.

We joked about being the last 2; the last of our kind. Well, not entirely,
as he's the only one still running a successful business with his IIGS ;-)

He'd just gotten some super-duper new LaserJet and needed a reminder about
how to get it all working with AppleWorks on his IIGS. It was a real
pleasure to tell him. Years ago, I got those types of questions routinely,
but since no one (or so it seems) uses real IIGS hardware anymore...
well...my IIGS question-answering skills are getting a little rusty.
 
Joe Kohn
http://users.foxvalley.net/~joko

What along, strange trip it's been!