Apple Orchard 1980 Fall v1n2 reduced

FALL 1980
THE APPLE ORCHARD
PAGE 5
One of the advantages of being
an editor is that one can sit down at
a typewriter and start banging away
at the keys on almost any subject
under the sun and be assured,
within reasonable limits, that it will
see print. Is it possible that within a
three year period we can shed a
nostalgic tear for the "good old
days"
We were fortunate to have been
at the reins during the formative
periods of two major forces, each
of which in their own unique ways
have become most influential in
the world of Apple computing.
Apple Pugetsound Program Library
Exchange was among the pioneer
Apple user groups that have subsequently
matured to produce
sophisticated software and a
leading national magazine for its
membership, an accomplishment
still under way today.
International Apple Core, publishers
of this magazine, the Apple
Orchard, sprang from an idea to a
nearly full blown operation in a
matter of just a few months. Both
organizations are slowly but surely
overcoming the problems of
growing pains. Both organizations
are devoted to serving the needs of
their respective memberships, but
here the resemblance ends, and
the goals of each, it will be seen, are
widely divergent.
A.P.P.L.E. is a single user group
composed of over 4000 individual
members; 1.A.C. is a group whose
membership consists of over 150
different user GROUPS, scattered
around the world. Its goals too, in
the final analysis, are to serve the
needs of individual Apple users,
but through the medium of Apple
user GROUPS. l.A.C. is structured
to be responsive to individuals
through their clubs, and through
regional representation. Many of
the l.A.C. services are either free or
on a cost plus basis. Free software is
provided to member clubs, which
they in turn may distribute to their
PRINT FRE ( ed)
by Val J. Golding
members on their own terms.
Frequent mailings of application
notes, furnished to IAC by Apple
Computer, Inc. and others who
manufacture/distribute Apple
related products are made to
member clubs. Again, the further
dissemination of this information
to their membership is at the discretion
of the individual member
clubs.
Through the pages of the Apple
Orchard, the 1.A.C. hopes to
encourage readers and new Apple
owners to join a local user group.
To this end, you will find a list of
names and addresses of current
member groups elsewhere in this
issue. Many of these local groups
publish their own newsletters and
offer other benefits such as group
purchases of products and the opportunity
to discuss technical and
programming problems· on a face
to face basis.
Thanks to the efforts of the
pioneer user groups, Original
Apple Corps, San Francisco Apple
Core, Apple Pugetsound and
others, much of what we today
recognize as "common knowledge"
was not always the case.
Many of the members of early
groups literally spent hours of research,
seeking out and publishing
data that was not available in the
early and skimpy documentation
published by Apple Computer and
others. The original Apple reference
manual (before the " red
book") was a mimeographed pamphlet
of some 30 odd pages, a far
cry from todays 200 page manual.
The pages of the Apple Orchard
are a blend of three main
categories, new material contributed
by individuals and/ or club
members, · material that has
previously been printed in one of
the low circulation club newsletters
that is deserving of a much
wider distribution, and material
supplied by Apple Computer, Inc.
in the areas of utility and reference
material and promotional items. It
should be emphasized also that the
l.A.C., and in turn, the Apple
Orchard, is under no obligation to
Apple Computer or any other manufacturer,
and in fact receives no
direct financial support, other than
that falling under the heading of
sponsoring members.
The entire premise upon which
l.A.C. funds its various operations is
through revenues created by sales
of Apple Orchard magazines and
advertising. Therefore, the 1.A.C.
must rely heavily on its member
clubs to furnish us with suitable
material, both original and reprint,
that can be included in forthcoming
issues of the Apple
Orchard. Upon request, a modest
page rate for published articles will
be paid, but we also urge authors to
consider their material as contributions.
What has happened between the
"good old days" and the here and
now In 1977 the Apple II arrived
on the scene among the lmsai, Sol,
Southwest Technical and other
micros, but with a difference. It
heralded the beginning of an era
where one could simply walk into a
computer store, much as one goes
to a television or appliance store,
look over a few models, make a
decision, take it home, plug it in
and start using it. We believe its
original purpose was a game
machine, such as todays Atari and
others. In fact, Steve Wozniak's
original handwritten notes for
Integer Basic called it "Game
Basic" .
But Woz and Steve Jobs never
counted on the Apple ll's achieving
the tremendous success and popularity
that ir· has. When Apple
obtained Applesoft I from Microsoft,
Inc., people first became
aware of the tremendous potential
of the Apple 11 as a games/ household/
business computer, and it
took off, to be followed eventually
by the Apple Ill, a moderately
priced, sophisticated business
computer, and which will shortly
be followed by an Apple IV (although
it will not be known by that
name), a machine that in many
respects may invite comparison
with a 370.
Would we, if we had our
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