Applesoft Basic?
Today, People may don’t know this formula: Apple+Microsoft=Applesoft. But it’s part of Apple and Microsoft’s history.
Applesoft Basic was the first computer language I had learned. I was just a little child in primary school then. Apple II computer was the first computer I had touched too.
Applesoft Basic was a kind of BASIC supplied on the Apple II computer. As you can see from the picture, It was supplied by Microsoft and its name is derived from the names of both Apple and Microsoft.
The cassette tape in picture was the first version of Applesoft, It was released in 1977. In 1978, Applesoft II, which could support for the Apple II high-resolution graphics modes, was released, That’s the “Applesoft” term in the history.
It was said Apple’s customers were demanding a version of BASIC that supported floating point calculations. But Steve Wozniak was too busy at his Apple DOS project then. So Apple ask Microsoft for help. Apple obtained an eight-year license for Applesoft BASIC from Microsoft for only $31,000 then.
Yeah, That’s an interesthing history of the two IT giant.
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“primary scholar” should be “primary schooler” if you’re trying to indicate that you were attending primary school.
Applesoft was my first language, too. The story continues. Do you know about Apple’s unreleased MacBasic? From what I read in Mac magazines, Microsoft was unhappy at the prospect of competition for its Microsoft BASIC for Mac. So, they threatened to cancel (or not renew?) the Applesoft contract, which would have killed Apple’s Apple II income while the Mac was still a big gamble, unless Apple killed MacBasic. Evidently the developer did not take it well at all.
Years later, Microsoft would finally be tried for and convicted of anti-competitive practices.
@ Steve
Thank you so much for the kindly supplement.
I really not reas this story from Apple Confidential 2.0, which was writen by Owen W. Linzmayer.
@ Patrick
Thank you for the kindly correction.
Yeah, I want say I was just a pupil of elementary school then.
You know, I had forgotten all about that. I mean, I knew that Microsoft did almost all the BASIC interpreters for the TRS-80 line and hit it big by selling DOS 1.0 to IBM (called PC-DOS back then, of course!), but I forgot about the Apple connection.
Odd, too, as I had an Apple //e back in college.
By the way, the last time Bill Gates actually coded anything was when he worked on the BASIC interpreter for the TRS-80 Model 200 (the old laptop). How’s that for trivia?
That BASIC tape was for the Apple I. The Apple II had BASIC in ROM or on a language card - either Integer or Applesoft. The Apple II did also use tapes for input and storage. I still have the original Apple tapes that came with games and simple apps. (We called them programs back then.) I also have about 20 tapes from Performa Software with more complicated games and programs. Complicated, that is for a state of the art 48K machine.
Now that I am mentioning the tapes, I wonder if there is an Apple emulator that has the ability to load the tapes. I think most of them would still be readable. I remember that a couple of the programs required a chip to be added to the motherboard and most of the Apple ones were in Integer. Many of the Performa programs were Applesoft. So I think a lot of them would run.
I’ll have to check that out sometime.
@ The Hawg!
IT History is short one, But it changes so quickly! We are easy to forget many things.
@Ruby Blye
Thank you so much for the kind correction, Ruby.
I searched many pages about Applesoft but didn’t get the clear answer, Your correction is so helpful!
I was astonished that you still keep so many tapes！WOW, that’s a kind of fortune!
@D.D.
Did you say fortune? Tell me more. I would gladly trade the tapes for a fortune.