140 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
140 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
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<title>Historical Information</title>
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</head>
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<body style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: verdana;" alink="#008000" link="#008000" vlink="#008000">
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<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Historical
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Information</h2>
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<hr size="4">
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<p>The Apple II holds a unique
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position in the
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history of computing. It was the first truly general purpose
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personal computer, and the first widely successful one. The Apple
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II took the personal computer revolution from the garages of hard
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core hobbyists and brought it into business and into millions of
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homes around the country.</p>
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<p>It was developed largely by
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one man, Steve
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Wozniak. He designed the system board, employing a number of
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tricks which made it easier to build but harder to program. He
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created a floppy drive interface, a hugely important feature at
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that time, during a marathon two week session in December 1977.
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He programmed the Apple ROM's and even wrote the first BASIC
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interpreter for the Apple. </p>
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<p>From the start, the Apple II
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was a major
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success, fueling the PC revolution and launching Apple Computer
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Corporation as a major force in the computer industry. By 1980,
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Apple Computer's yearly revenues already exceeded 100 million
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dollars. In December of that year, the company went public,
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making co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs each
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multi-millionaires. </p>
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<p>Although the Apple II had
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originally been
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designed for hobbyists and home users, about 90% of them were
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being sold to small businesses. Apple therefore decided that the
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successor to the Apple II, the Apple III, should be a serious
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business computer. When it was released in 1980, it featured more
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memory, an advanced new operating system, and support for
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80-column text and lowercase characters. </p>
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<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
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<p>When we came out
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with the Apple III, the engineering staff canceled every Apple II
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engineering program that was ongoing, in expectation of the Apple III's
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success. Every single one was canceled. We really perceived that the
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Apple II would not last six months.</p>
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</blockquote>
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<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
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<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-- Steve Wozniak
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>However, the Apple III was
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late and
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suffered from poor backwards compatibility and a nearly 100%
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hardware failure rate. Although Apple eventually addressed these
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issues, they were not able to overcome the Apple III's bad
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reputation. Apple III sales remained poor, while sales of the
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older Apple II continued to climb. </p>
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<p>In 1983, Apple finally
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returned its
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attention to the Apple II series, introducing the Apple IIe. The
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IIe borrowed some features from the failed Apple III, including
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80-column text and lowercase support. However, it was at its
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heart an Apple II, and retained very strong compatibility with
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the existing base of Apple II software. The Apple IIe was
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extremely successful, soon selling at twice the volume of its
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predecessor. </p>
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<p>In 1984, Apple released their
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first
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portable computer, the Apple IIc. The IIc was very similar to the
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IIe, but came in a compact case that included the most popular
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peripherals, such as a disk drive and serial card, built in. It
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also included an enhanced CPU (the 65c02) and mouse support.
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However, the public did not embrace the Apple IIc, partly because
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it was not expandable like the IIe and partly because people
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incorrectly equated the small size with a lack of power. </p>
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<p>Because the Apple IIe
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continued to be
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Apple's best seller, Apple returned focus to it in 1985,
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releasing the Enhanced IIe. This computer featured the same
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enhanced CPU as the IIc, and also included improved support for
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80-column text and lowercase characters. Then, in 1987, they
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spruced it up with a new keyboard and some other minor hardware
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changes. This final IIe, called the Extended Keyboard IIe or the
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Platinum IIe, is the computer that AppleWin emulates. </p>
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<p>In 1986, Apple released one
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more Apple II,
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the IIgs. Although this computer maintained backwards
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compatibility with most II and IIe programs, it had a radically
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new architecture and feature set. It was a 16-bit computer,
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unlike the previous Apple II's which were all 8-bit. It featured
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new graphics modes which could display thousands of different
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colors on the screen at once. And it had an advanced new sound
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chip that could play fifteen different sounds at once. However,
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partly because it was poorly marketed and partly because the
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world had turned its attention to the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh,
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the IIgs never really took off. </p>
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</body>
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</html>
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