I’m sorry for posting to an outdated thread, not to mention making this post longer than it needs to be, but I only recently came across this site. (Yeah, I know: some fan -I- am, not knowing about it until now!) Please do let me know if I’m doing something wrong!
While this isn’t exactly 100% relevant to the Lisa computer, I was curious about the Basic Compiler. I know Apple was your “baby,” but did you ever make a Basic Compiler for IBM PC? I remember using the first one, but I didn’t check the author. (Yes, Captain Hook was alive and well even in THOSE days! Except it was more nepotism… er, I mean, family legacy, programmer’s heritage, father and son, and all that…)
I wasn’t sure if I should make a new thread in this forum for this, but I would like to join you in reminiscing about how technology really flew back then. Sure, it’s flying now like a bat out of hell, but back then the industry was like a pig-monkey, the very first one. I remember that shiny new Tandy 1000 and the RGB monitor. Space Quest 2 and Thexder were the first Sierra games we bought, right when they just came out, and boy was that incredible. Before we knew it, hard drives were getting bigger, OSes were magically replicated but with different company names (::cough:: Microsoft), and CPU speed was measured in MegaHertz. Double-digits, too!
I think the absolutely best line that could sum up that historical era was written into Space Quest 6, in the doctor’s lab on Delta Burksilon. When you look at the computer, Gary Owens narrates, “Gee, dad! It’s a…” followed by an exquisitely long parody of the latest computer model names. (I think the best at that time was a 486 DX4. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I had one at the time.)
Anyway, it’s so good to interact with people who remember those days, and even better to be able to communicate with the Williamses and the other members of the Sierra family. I am honored!
–Matt