Thirty years of going out of business!

On April Fool’s Day, 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve “the Woz” launched Apple Computer (now just called Apple) with the sale of the Apple I. They’ve been afailure ever since, especially in the eyes of pundits. 
 
[In the interest of full disclosure, like NPR does, I am biased as an employee of Apple and an avid Macintosh user since 1989, the year I discovered a computer that could actually solve a problem, not generate a new one. So I don’t have anything seriously negative to say about Apple’s products.] 
 
As a kid, I always wondered why the Apple-based computers out there were called Apple II, where were the Apple I models? According to history, there were only 50 made. Back then, a computer was usually a kit so you had to build the rest around it. However, the Apple II was the killer computer because it dared to have a display and keyboard! Why anyone would waste their time on the competing platforms with their counter intuitive interface is beyond me. Then again, it was the 1970s and computers with the Apple II’s interface were only seen in Sci-Fi movies. 
 
The crowning achievement is still the Macintosh. Sure there are other Graphical User Interfaces out there (GUI for short) such as Windows, but they always reek of “just good enough” for me. Microsoft inches closer with every revision yet I accomplish much more with the Macs I’ve owned over the years. With the Macintosh and its OS, I can just cut to the chase and do what I need to do. Back in the 1980s, if you wanted a computer, you’d go to some person who you felt was knowledgeable. He’d sit you down and then begin with a lecture about Wayne Babbage. Small wonder I hated computers (outside of games) as a teenager, especially with that stupid DOS prompt staring back at you. 
 
Here’s to 30 years and to a 100 more!