Now, I know what you’re thinking: There’s an Apple II conference? And they do it *every year*?
Yup. There is. And they do. And they have been for the last 19 years. They call it KansasFest.
Come this July (21st – 26th), it will be 20 years, and the organizers are celebrating the anniversary with some special speakers and, they hope, lots and lots and LOTS of Apple IIs and associated stuff.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Jason Scott, the founder of textfiles.com, a site that many computer users from the original Apple II era will appreciate for its archives of the text-based internet of the day.
What do people DO at an Apple II conference? Well, they hack stuff, they share ideas, and they “wander from room to room, checking out and showing off each other’s setups, chatting with old friends and making new ones, ordering pizza and making 3 AM trips to Denny’s and watching movies like WarGames.”
To get an idea of what it’s like, take a look at some of the photo galleries from previous years – it would seem that Woz has turned up there before. ComputerWorld also has an interesting gallery of the 2008 event.
Why an Apple II conference? Why not a Macintosh LC conference? Well, it’s probably because “the Apple II attracts people of a certain mindset and spirit who exhibit a rare creativity, resilience, dedication, history, and nonconformity.”
So, if you’re one of those creative, resilient, nonconformist Apple II owners (AND you can remember to pack all the essential gear), AND you have a free week in July AND you have nothing better to do: perhaps you should go bookmark the sign up page and keep a very close eye on it.
(Photo used under CC license; thanks Cristiano Betta.)
