Well, at that time, there wasn't yet a market for software aimed at personal computers. That's why they came with BASIC: you wrote the software you need yourself.
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Apple 1 on Ebay
- Thread starter Roland Huisman
- Start date
Well, at that time, there wasn't yet a market for software aimed at personal computers. That's why they came with BASIC: you wrote the software you need yourself.
I think resource limited home computers of the 70's probably used machine language to run code which geeks probably new (and picked the machine with the CPU they liked). Programming in basic was more an 80's thing wasn't it?
NeXT
Veteran Member
Well that's my point. We've had over 40 years for something to get made and even in the last 10 while the hype was on fire you can count the number of programs for the Apple I with one hand. We've had more programs made for the 4K PET made in that time.
Eudimorphodon
Veteran Member
Frankly it’s because the Apple 1 sucks. I mean, maybe that’s putting too fine of a point on it, but there’s good reasons why it wasn’t more of a success. Numero uno is its awful video system: it’s just a dog slow serially accessed shift register memory based terminal built into the PCB. Memory mapped SRAM based video had been a thing for about a year and a half in the S-100 world (and in machines like the 6800-based Sphere), the Apple 1’s design was basically the original 1973 version of the TV Typewriter glued to a CPU. Its only selling point was it had the video and the computer on one board, but even with that it wasn’t much cheaper by the time you were all in than a small card based system like a Poly-88. (Which to be clear gave you the same “sit down and type at a keyboard after flipping the switch” experience that everyone keeps lying about the Apple 1 being some kind of innovator in.) A Poly-88 with its VDM-1 video card can at least pretend to play video games that involve moving objects around the screen.
Even Steve Wozniak was sick of the Apple 1 before it even went on sale. Apparently he basically had to be threatened with a crowbar to get him to sit down and finish writing BASIC for it, he was already completely tuned out thinking about what became the Apple II. (Which is by far a more interesting computer. People lay it on a little thick when praising how “revolutionary” it was, but it deserves far more points in that category than the Apple 1.)
VERAULT
Veteran Member
Can you blame him? Doing all the hard work by himself and having some kid many years younger than you bossing you around.. Poor bastard.
Eudimorphodon
Veteran Member
It pains me every time I have to give Steve Jobs credit for anything, but the one thing both his admirers and detractors agree on was his "reality distortion field" was effective at motivating people. (I say this without approving of his methods and techniques, which ranged freely from gross flattery to despicable personal abuse and emotional blackmail.) Without Jobs I suspect Wozniak would have been perfectly happy working at HP for his whole career, with a little light tinkering in his garage on the side.
Honestly I suspect that at least a share of the really disparaging and dismissive things Woz says about other early pioneers in personal computer industry are the result of internalizing the ego stroking Jobs used to get him to perform. And that's fine, whatever keeps you going, I guess.
VERAULT
Veteran Member
After we die... the false stories will become truth... Much like all History taught today...
DistantStar001
Experienced Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2019
- Messages
- 178
OK. So I have to ask... Let's just say that, for argument's sake, 1.5 million dollars is a fair and reasonable price to pay. Why eBay? Wouldn't a proper auction house be a better venue? I mean, even if I had 1.5 million just lying around to spend, I think I would want to personally inspect the merchandise, or at the very least have an expert do so on my behalf before handing that kind of money over. And am I really going to trust PayPal with this transaction? I'm not knocking eBay, PayPal, or their services here. It's just, for that kind of money, I think I would want a lot more assurances than they typically offer.
NeXT
Veteran Member
There's a lot of listings on ebay where there isn't an expectation to bid but to contact the seller and then quietly negotiate a deal fee-free separate from ebay. Think of it as the seller using ebay as a Craigslist listing, but to skirt the rule against this kind of service you can still buy the item outright.
Agent Orange
Veteran Member
Don't think Ebay would stand for that very long as they do police the offers.
I think ebays fees are lower then a major name auction house especially on pricey stuff. Plus auction houses take a while to get your stuff auctioned while ebay takes a few minutes to put an ad up.