Kahney’s Korner: The Apple II deserves its own festival

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There's a festival that celebrates the Apple II. Mind blown.
There's a festival that celebrates the Apple II. Mind blown.
Photo: Cult of Mac/YouTube

It’s festival season and there’s a festival for everything – even one for Apple II users.

It’s called KansasFest and it has been going since 1989. It’s one of the longest-running computer festivals out there and the amazing thing is the Apple II was discontinued in 1992.

The endurance of this machine is the subject of this week’s Kahney’s Korner.

The Apple II was the machine designed by Steve Wozniak and it’s the machine that made Apple what it is today. It was its first big hit, even before the Macintosh.

It had a command line interface and, by today’s standards, was not the most user-friendly machine. But’s it’s still going.

There are factories and workshops all across the country that are stilling running on Apple II’s. I know of one psychiatrist who still uses an Apple II for his billing and bands that record music.

This is a testament to this machine. It is bulletproof.

I am delighted there is a festival of people, mostly hobbyists, who swap software and hardware and tips to keep these things going.

But even though I am delighted by this, I’m glad I don’t have to use the Apple II day to day. So thanks, Steve Jobs, for inventing the Mac.

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