Apple II Bits

My recent blog post about Jeri Ellsworth produced an unexpected response on Facebook: it stoked the feud between Apple II and Commodore 64 users. “I didn’t know Jeri was also interested in Apple II computers as well. I thought she was just a Commodore girl,” wrote one of her friends. “I absolutely hated Apple systems when I was a kid. I thought they were so inferior to Commodore and overpriced. Plus they were ugly.” Although this particular fan matured to appreciate both platforms, it underscores the rivalry and intense passion that platforms of the Eighties (and Apple products today) inspire.

I’ve never used a C64 so don’t understand any antagonism that may have once existed or still does. But I have noticed what appears to be a difference in motivations among modern retrocomputing enthusiasts: Apple II users are more technically inclined, making their machines perform technological feats such as putting it on the Internet; whereas the output of C64 users is more artistically inclined. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to after observing something as amazing as the C64’s own music video, courtesy Press Play on Tape:

There’s also a "Happy Computer" mashup that’s a bit stranger but still creative. More impressive is this gallery of pixel art, depicting amazing works of art recently drawn on a Commodore 64.

Even their sense of humor is remarkable, as demonstrated by this spoof of how Apple would market the C64:

I don’t mean to discount the Apple II’s impressive demo scene, but that is largely the work of decades past, with nothing recent to compete against the C64. I don’t know that I prefer C64 users’ approach to the more practical applications to which Apple II users dedicate themselves; each is its own kinds of art. But is there something about the Commodore 64 and its users that better lends themselves to these amazing visual and musical accomplishments? Will the Apple II ever have its own music video?