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Celebrating 26 Years of the Apple ][

jgoeres writes "June 5th is the 26th Anniversary of my first favorite fruit-flavored computer. In honor of this, the Baltimore Sun is running Part One of a two-part interview with Steve Wozniak. When The Woz speaks, I listen. Perhaps it's blind hero-worship, but he seem to embody everything good & stable that his partner lacks. Don't forget to give the man props for his mad Tetris sk1llz, too."

28 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. PacMan by traskjd · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm not sure if the Apple2E counts here but...

    Am I the only person who still finds himself humming the tune to pacman on the Apple even though it's been like 12 years since I last played it? :-) Ah, the memories!

  2. Woz was a drop out? by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wozniak, who had dropped out of the University of California at Berkeley to get a job

    Sweet!! Looks like I'm on my way to fame and fortune!!
    1. Re:Woz was a drop out? by bhtooefr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not a great idea... You don't want to be like Bill Gates, who also dropped out of college, right?

  3. Not necessarily the Apple][, but... by nurightshu · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was 1983, we'd just moved to Hawaii, and my father had bought $2,000 worth of off-white plastic called the Apple //c.

    "Dad," I said, as I walked into the living room, "what's that?"

    "It's called Captain Goodnight," he said without turning away from the 12" color monitor. "It's like Pitfall on the Atari, but funnier. You want to play when I'm done?"

    The last 20 years have been a blur -- Star Control II, Wolf3D, X-Wing, Quake II, Uplink, and lately UT2K3. All because Woz and Jobs decided to slap together an affordable home computing system. Damn them both for all the time I've wasted. :-)

    Disclaimer: I know, if I'd stuck with Apple exclusively these past 20 years, I wouldn't have to worry about a gaming addiction at all! Except maybe to that slide-puzzle-world-map-thingie...

    --
    They that would sacrifice their .sig space for that cliched Franklin quote deserve neither.
    1. Re:Not necessarily the Apple][, but... by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, Macintosh has a lot of good games! Like Warcraft 3 and umm.....photoshop!

    2. Re:Not necessarily the Apple][, but... by Bull999999 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can you tell me how to beat the lost level boss in photoshop?

      --
      1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
  4. Doh by exspecto · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried giving my teacher a 26 year old apple to celebrate and she flunked me...

  5. From the article by Dylan2000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wozniak, who had dropped out of the University of California at Berkeley to get a job, was five years older than Jobs

    Wha..? I just dragged my ass out of bed and I'm still sleepy and I'm expected to understand a sentence like that?

    I need another coffee...

    --
    Build your own website - full service homepage system your m
    1. Re:From the article by lyonsden · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wozniak...was five years older than Jobs

      Has this changed????

  6. Re:I hate the Apple ][... by Malfourmed · · Score: 2, Funny
    You can't blame Apple for Commodore's marketing failures, though.
    But you can blame Microsoft for Linux's marketing failures! ;-)
  7. Re:So this means that by MrLint · · Score: 2, Funny

    Rememember, Steve may be a psycho, but hes*our* psycho.

  8. Mad Tetris skillz. by asb · · Score: 5, Funny

    My dad used to play a lot of Microsoft's Tetris. So I had to play too just to keep my initials on the top spot. I once had a really good game going. I was in the zone. I was playing comfortably on the fastest level. I had way over 32k points.

    And then the score rolled to -32k. I've never hated Microsoft as much as I did that day (and I hate them a lot). I was dumbfound. They can't code AND they can't play Tetris. And they call themselves professionals... I eventually took it as a quest to get the top score as close to 32767 as possible. IIRC I got it within 28 points. My dad never beat that score.

    This doesn't have anything to do with Wozniak or Apple. But hey, they mentioned Tetris.

    --
    Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
  9. Re:So this means that by tbone1 · · Score: 1, Funny
    Remember, he may be evil, but he uses it for good. He's the Swamp Thing of the tech industry. "Do not bring your VB in here!"

    --

    The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
  10. Re:I would like to thank my Dad.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    my father took out a load so that he could by me an Apple 2+

    i'm guessing that educational software didn't include spelling or grammar tutorials ;)

  11. Re:26 years? by Ghoser777 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure they were thinking of it being a sum of tens (30) minus a power of 2 (4) aka 26. That's far more geeky.

    Matt Fahrenbacher

    --
    James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
  12. You young whippersnappers by jlanthripp · · Score: 2, Funny
    ...with your fancy-schmancy Apple ][ computers with 4KB of RAM...

    Why, when I was your age, I ran a BBS on an abacus hooked up to two tin cans and a piece of string! And we liked it that way!

    --
    "Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
  13. buttoned down... by Diamondback · · Score: 3, Funny

    of course he wasn't buttoned down. jobs wears turtlenecks.

  14. Re:I would like to thank my Dad.. by BTWR · · Score: 3, Funny

    in 1977 my father took out a load so that he could by me an Apple 2+ computer

    Does this mean that your dad became a gay porn star to afford the Apple ][? (j/k)

  15. Re:Also by micq · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am 22 - I was 8 = That means it was 12 years old when I used it. Go Oz public schools.

    I think your school system is more screwed than you know...

  16. Re:I hate the Apple ][... by Scholasticus · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Inferiorness?" I think the word you want is "inferiority."

  17. The Woz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you EVER get a chance to hear Woz speak, GO! He has some hilarious stories.

    For example, when he was in college, he designed and built a small device that would cause interference on a TV. Woz loves pranks, so he would take his little device to frat houses when the guys were watching the tube. He would sit in back & make the interference fade in & out. Meanwhile, some poor guy would try to adjust the antennae while everyone was yelling at him to move it here or there. In the end, Woz would finally stop the interference when the guy was in some bizarre contorted position.

    He told one story after another. It was great!

  18. Re:I hate the Apple ][... by Zixia · · Score: 2, Funny

    Commodore 64 I NEVER was personaly a fan of.

    No, but Yoda a fan of are you.

  19. Re:Woz is a good man by jwilcox154 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine a Beow.. *Whack*

  20. Woz likes his Segway by stankyho · · Score: 3, Funny

    Woz also has a good reason to get a Segway.

    --

    ---
    eeww, I'll have a crab juice.
  21. Re:APPEL IS TEH SUX!! USE LUNIX by bhtooefr · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, use Lunix! It's available for the C64 and C128, and it is being ported to the Apple II!

  22. Re:Same here! by Drakonian · · Score: 3, Funny
    I was fortunate to be the child of well off parents (until the mid 80's).

    At which point you switched parents right?

    --
    Random is the New Order.
  23. Re:my first comp by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've got Zork II running in the vacant desk at my office, though it's not my original computer. (This is an Enhanced //e from the neighbors moving-day trash)
    I was one of those Franklin scum, since my folks didn't know the shame it would bring on my head.

    --

  24. Re:Comparing Linus and Bill by El · · Score: 3, Funny
    Plus, Tove could kick Melinda Gates' ass.

    Now THERE is a matchup we'd all like to see on Celebrity boxing!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney