My Microsoft Turning Point (Premium)

I don’t remember the first time my life intersected with Microsoft, and it’s possible I wasn’t even aware of it: The Commodore 64, my first “real” computer, utilized a Commodore-branded version of Microsoft BASIC. I do recall Microsoft Multiplan for the C64 during my days at Toys ‘R Us as a college student. And then, when I got an Amiga, I knew that Microsoft was responsible for the terrible version of BASIC that came with that computer.

What’s interesting, to me, anyway, is that the Commodore 128 came with a Microsoft-branded version of BASIC that was pretty terrific. I never owned a C128---my friend Dave did---but I did buy a C64 cartridge called Super Expander that basically allowed C64 BASIC to work similarly to the superior C128 BASIC, with its high-resolution graphics capabilities. So where other teenage nerds would walk into a retail store, find an idle computer, and type in a silly BASIC program that displayed “Paul was here …” (or whatever) on a loop, I would do the same to a C128, but it would draw circles, squares, and other shapes all over the screen in random positions, sizes, and colors. I could make that thing sing.

My parents’ home burned down just after Christmas 1987, taking my Commodore 64C, 1541C disk drive, Okimate 20 color printer, and an incredible library of game and application disks with it. So I spent the early months of 1988 on the hunt for a new computer. What I wanted was an Amiga, but I didn’t have a credit card and they were only sold by local dealers that didn’t offer any form of credit themselves. So I turned to Apple, go figure.

The local Apple dealer---this was decades before there were actual Apple Stores---did offer Apple-branded financing at an exorbitant interest rate (hey, it was Apple). For about $3000, another exorbitant sum, especially in those days, I could get a basic Macintosh SE, with a tiny black and white screen, or I could get a fully decked-out Apple IIGS, with a 3.5-inch drive, a 5.25-inch drive, and a bigger color display. I foolishly went with the IIGS and then spent the next two years spending another few thousands of dollars I didn’t have trying to turn it into an Amiga.

The only reason I even mention the IIGS is that I was interested in learning to program the computer, and Apple had created a version of its incredible Mac developer documentation series, Inside Macintosh, for the IIGS. And in both cases, Apple used Pascal, not C or BASIC. I had barely learned Pascal in high school, thanks to one of my worst teachers of all time. But grabbed Pascal for the IIGS---I believe it was called TML Pascal---and dove in.

Eventually, I realized the error of my ways and purchased a used Commodore Amiga 500, which I then souped up even more than the IIGS; I even installed a hardware toggle switch on its top so I could switch between AmigaDOS 1.3 and 2.04, and it had a very early 20 MB internal PCMCIA hard drive. Here, again, I was very intereste...

Gain unlimited access to Premium articles.

With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper?

Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC