45 years after the launch of the Apple II personal computer, the technology industry has undoubtedly moved away from several key principles that launched Apple and the personal computer into the mainstream. We spoke with industry lights Tim Sweeney, John Romero and Steve Wozniak about what the Apple II did right — and what else we can learn from it today.
Apple II: A computer for everyone
Released in June 1977, the Apple II made waves as an easy-to-use computer for the average person. The original model included a 1 MHz MOS 6502 CPU, 40 × 24 character text resolution, color graphics, composite video output, cassette storage interface and eight internal expansion slots. It was originally sold in variable configurations ranging from $ 1,298 with 4K RAM, to $ 2,638 for 48K RAM (that’s about $ 6,223 until $ 12,647 adjusted for today’s dollars).
In 1978, Apple released a 5.25 ″ floppy disk drive for the Apple II that could store 143 KB per disk, and the launch of VisiCalc in 1979 made the Apple II a key purchase for small businesses. He also gained a strong foothold in education thanks to the efforts of Steve Jobs, and computer labs in elementary schools in the United States were often full of Apple II computers, which represented them for generations. Over time, Apple released at least 8 models of computers in the Apple II series and continued to support it until 1993 – 16 years.
Like the Apple I before it, the Apple II specifically integrated a “terminal” with keyboard and video output directly into the computer itself, so there was no need for a separate teletype or CRT terminal interface. This has made the entire Apple II system more compact and cheaper than other complete personal computer systems up to that point, although many computers will soon follow the same integrated I / O formula.
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How the Legends Began
The Apple II has been known since the 1970s, but much has changed in the technology industry since then. So we wondered: is there anything that Apple II has done well that computers have recently lost sight of? To get some answers, we spoke with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (with whom we interviewed separately). We also asked two legendary game developers who started their careers in software development by programming on the Apple II.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, programmed apps and games on Apple II before founding Epic in 1991. “My first Apple II was a gift from my brother Steve Sweeney, nominally my dad, but I was a real audience,” says Sweeney. “Compared to the Commodore 64s and Ataris of the time, it was a pure computing device. No sprite acceleration, no GPU. You did everything yourself and learned everything. “
Similarly, Doom and Quake co-creator John Romero developed many Apple II games before co-founding id Software in 1991, making a name for himself in the field. “When my parents finally bought an Apple II + for the house in April 1982,” says Romero, “my life was permanently set in motion as I spent every waking moment, for years, learning everything I could about the computer and making dozens of games.” many that have been published. ”
Here are some things they think Apple II did right — and what we should do today. We corresponded via email, and their responses were easily edited for formatting.
“The best learning tool in the world”
When it comes to software development on the Apple II, both John Romero and Tim Sweeney agree that Woz’s machine has made programming very easy and affordable. “The Apple II was so attractive because it was small, easy to program and had incredibly easy access to memory,” says Romero. “The monitor program allowed me to view and change the memory, so I really had to learn what a byte-level computer is like. I could type in machine code and assembly language and see the results. It was the best learning tool in the world. ”
With Apple II, as soon as you turned it on, you were ready to jump into programming. Tim Sweeney recalls the ease of entering directly into the action. “Apple II launched at the BASIC prompt and you could write the code right away,” says Sweeney. “The manuals documented everything, even machine language and ROM. Every kid with a computer from that time grew up as a programmer, because it was there and so easy. ”
With today’s PCs and Macs, you face a lengthy boot process at first, and then programming them is a bit of a mystery, hidden from the average user. The owner of a computer usually has to do his best with special knowledge in order to acquire the tools necessary for programming a modern machine. But with the Apple II, it was all built-in, and it was simple enough for one person to understand the whole system. “Apple II is understandable,” Steve Wozniak told us. “One person can see into the Apple II design.”
Romero sees the programming nature of the Apple II as a feature that is sorely lacking today: “One of the best things about the Apple II was its accessibility to learning and programming. The immediate ability to encrypt by simply turning on your computer is unprecedented. You can’t do that today. There are some great emulators or systems you can use today, such as the Pico8, that create a mini console environment that makes it fun and easy to learn how to program, but nothing will match the power of the Apple II – a state-of-the-art machine you could start coding within one second of turning it on. ”
Sweeney’s position agrees with Romero, and he offered some potential solutions for today’s machines: “[One thing lost today] is the role that Apple II and other early computers played in teaching everyone to program, by launching the leading programming language of the time, ”says Sweeney. “Windows should set the program line at the touch of a button. Fortnite we should put a program line at the touch of a button and, over time, we will. We need to start a new era where programming is easy, and everyone is a developer again. ”
Part of this philosophy of easy programming lives on in the continuous development of the Raspberry Pi project, which is now more than a decade old. Its creator, Even Upton, saw programming skills decline in modern students, and he also wanted easy access to hardware control like classic 1980s machines. But the Raspberry Pi is an exception these days. You can’t just turn on, say, the iPhone right away and start programming — and then feel free to share the result with the world, which brings us to another point.
You owned and controlled it
Digital rights management (DRM) is highlighted in today’s computing devices, from smartphones to tractors. It’s the way manufacturers can lock a product so that unauthorized software can’t work on it, and that’s the complete opposite of the open ethos that Steve Wozniak wore when he designed his early computers.
Similarly, some manufacturers such as Apple today have struggled to make it harder to physically open and service their products by unauthorized, unlicensed personnel. These restrictions give some people the feeling that they do not actually own the products they bought because they are not free to use (or even repair) them as they wish.
In contrast, the Apple II included an open architecture that called for the development of additional hardware in the form of small plug-in cards. If you want inside, you can just lift the lid on top of the box. Apple has also allowed everyone to develop and distribute software for the Apple II. This openness quickly created a large ecosystem around the machine and maintained the platform for 16 years.
This philosophy strongly informed the work of Tim Sweeney, who has made games with free and open editing tools since the 1991 ZZT.[The Apple II] it was an extraordinarily open and visible system that defined the ethos of computers as tools that work for the user, ”says Sweeney. “The history of companies from id Software to Epic Games begins with the Apple II in the 1980s,” says Sweeney. “We opened our games and engines to users to modify and upgrade them, while Apple II opened up computing to us.”
Some modern platforms, such as the iPhone, allow only licensed developers to create software for the platform. iPhone also prevents owners from installing unlicensed software on their devices. This has led to criticism from industry veterans like Sweeney, whose company is in the midst of a battle for open platforms, including a recent lawsuit with Apple over fees in the App Store. “Woz has shown that user freedom and company profit can coexist,” says Sweeney. “Now we are losing it, ironically, because of the malicious evolution of Apple itself, and we must fight to preserve our freedoms.”
Whether Apple’s current path to closed systems is really malicious or just a natural extension of the desire to make as much money as possible (which, to be honest, Epic wants) is a value judgment outside the scope of this article. But the fact is that closed computer systems have allowed repressive governments to spy on and persecute their people, something most Americans would probably agree is a bad thing. The spirit of freedom and openness of the Apple II seems to be compatible with traditional American values of freedom in a way that is not necessarily reflected in today’s closed architectures and DRM-locked app stores.
When we asked Steve Wozniak (who didn’t know about Sweeney’s comments) what we could learn from Apple II that modern platforms have forgotten, he gave a short answer that emphasized openness to Apple II: “You, the user, controlled and owned it yourself.” The open ethos is as important to him today as it was in 1977 when he designed the Apple II. And as more aspects of society depend on services locked with DRM, following the spirit of Woza can ensure that America remains free and open in the future.