Happy 35th birthday, Apple II

Harry McCracken has a nice write up on the debut, evolution and legacy of the Apple II (or, ][ as I like to call it). The Apple II was unveiled 35 years ago, and it ushered in the home computing revolution.

I am a product of that revolution, as my dad bought an Apple ][ in 1978 and it sits by my desk now, shown in the picture above. There were no computer stores back then so he bought one in the back of a bike shop, where a little hobbyist section had Altairs and other user-unfriendly computers.

From then my own path was set, as I wouldn't own a "PC" running anything other than an Apple OS until the 90s. For millions of other Apple customers, the same thing would be true. The Apple II proved to be a great computer for schools, small businesses and homes.

Here's to the machine that started it all! Share your memories of the Apple II in the comments.