I was maybe 13 years old, and I was in Mrs. Reed’s algebra classroom. Keep in mind, I wasn’t taking algebra, but I was in there to see the new Apple II Computer she had received. If memory serves, it was the only one in Randolph County, West Virginia. I still remember the goofy smile I had on my face when I hit ENTER, and it replied with my name.
This ridiculously simple, three line program was the spark that started it all for me. A MicroAce kit computer, that a friend of my father’s help me assemble, followed by a Vic-20, a Commodore 64, an Amiga 1000, a XEROX IBM compatible, lastly an ACER all-in-one with a DX2-66 chip (just so I could play a new program called Doom). From that point on I’d build my own, moving to hardware from the coding I did, which could best be called “tinkering”.
Now I help define the direction of workstation computing with the platforms we released in June, as well as the ones we’re working on “next”. What a wild, weird journey… so far.
And it all started with this basic, BASIC program.
