- Please check the box that best describes the primary use for your Apple computer.
07 Other: Nostalgia
Registration
Friday, February 8th, 2008
Apple, Inc.
Attn: Steve Jobs
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
Dear Mr. Jobs:
My name is Dan Budiac, and I have been an Apple user since the age of five. In 1979, my father purchased an Apple ][+ and connected it to a black-and-white television from JC Penney. Several years later, we upgraded to an Apple //e, complete with dual Disk ][ floppy drives.
Then, on Christmas morning of 1986, I opened a very special gift left beneath the tree: an Apple //c, the first computer that belonged to me and me alone. I lovingly assembled my new computer in my bedroom, and spent countless hours playing computer games, writing programs, and dialing into local bulletin board systems.
Over the last few months, I've grown particularly nostalgic for those days spent with my childhood computer. I perused the auction listings on Ebay for old Apples, even bidding on a few lots, but most units were quite weathered, yellowed by years of use and exposure to the sun. Then, in late January, I found a one-in-a-million computer up for auction: an Apple //c, new in the box. It hadn't seen the light of day since May 5, 1988, when it was shipped to an Apple reseller as a sales incentive.
I watched with anticipation over the next few days, hoping that the auction would go unnoticed by collectors. I'm happy to say that, in the end, mine was the winning bid! Some might consider $2,600 an absurd price to pay for an old computer, but I think it was worth every penny. I now own a piece of history, and of my childhood.
I closely followed the shipment of my "new" computer, and upon its arrival, I had a decision to make. Do I leave it in the box, letting it accrue collector's value? Or, do I open it and stay up until 4:00 in the morning playing Oregon Trail? In the end, I decided that I didn't buy the computer as an investment. A computer wants to be used, and it had been sitting in the box for far too long.
That night, I sat down and carefully removed the contents of the still-factory-sealed box. My fiancee, Kathryn, photographed the process, and we posted the results to Flickr to share with friends.
Over the next few days, our friends emailed their friends, who posted the link to their blogs. The story was eventually picked up by Boing Boing, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, and Digg. As of this writing, the 38 photos of the unboxing have collectively received over two million views from Apple enthusiasts around the world, many of whom left heartfelt comments expressing nostalgia for their first computer as well.
As with all of my Apple products, I feel it is my responsibility to send in the warranty registration card in a timely fashion. While I'm quite certain it is no longer covered by AppleCare, I thought you might enjoy knowing that the Apple //c bearing serial number "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" has found a home.
Warmest regards,
Daniel G. Budiac
P.S. You may also be interested to know that I am writing this letter using AppleWorks II, and printing to letterhead designed using The Print Shop by Broderbund.
Comments and faves
Kathryn Yu, Frunny, gingerbeardman, TheBrad, and 36 other people added this photo to their favorites.
gingerbeardman (52 months ago | reply)
Awesome. This whole process is one of the coolest things I've seen recently.
How did you print the letter?
dansays (52 months ago | reply)
I actually cheated a bit. Since I don't have a dot matrix printer to hook up to my Apple //c, I typed this letter in the Virtual ][ emulator on my MacBook Pro. It simulates either an Apple ImageWriter II or Epson FX-80, and outputs the pages to PDF.
yi (52 months ago | reply)
wonderful!
jrbechthold (52 months ago | reply)
That is just awesome!
Bart van Dijk (breeblebox) (52 months ago | reply)
What a fantastic story and a fabulous unpacking. I hope you'll have lots of fun with your 'new' computer and that you'll get an answer from Steve Jobs. You deserve it :-)
--
Seen in your Apple //c set. (?)
briankc (52 months ago | reply)
Your photo set inspired me to acquire a //c of my own off of eBay. Of course, it's not new-in-box like yours but I think it'll be fun nonetheless once it arrives.
Pixteca | Len & Pix【ツ】 (52 months ago | reply)
Really really cool!! Oh I'm so glad that it was someone like you who won that auction. That is a great letter to Steve and it is also great that you are a flickr user and decided to share your wonderful story!!!
joannou (52 months ago | reply)
I literally shed some tears reading this. Thank you for sharing, and much happiness to you. Namaste!
Neven Mrgan (52 months ago | reply)
I will bookmark this story and refer to it whenever some technophobic know-it-all rants against happiness acquired from material goods.
SherlockMac (52 months ago | reply)
This is awesome ... who knows I might buy a Titanium G4 in 13 years from now and do the same with it ;-)
S.D. (52 months ago | reply)
That's great, post if you get a response!
--
Seen in your Apple //c set. (?)
masamedia_de (52 months ago | reply)
Does Leopard run smooth on it?
;o>
jimmytim903 (52 months ago | reply)
I just can't keep my smile off while I browse the photos, brings my memories back too!
Good on ya!
er-minio (52 months ago | reply)
Broderbund! Wow. I miss shufflepuck cafè. :-)
Ballistik Coffee Boy (52 months ago | reply)
I actually received an Apple //e from someone on craigslist locally for free about 6 months ago. It still sits in the trunk of my car in near pristine condition with its duo-disc drives and pristine condition monitor ;-) only problem is, when i turn it on, nothing comes up... what do u think might be wrong with it? i don't have any floppy discs to use with it, either. any advice?
oh, i also wanted to chime in as i have before and say again how much i loved your story. let us know when/if you hear from steve. great pics and i hope you are having fun!!
ps i've got a powerbook 150c that i'm in love with, too, and of course my new macbook and 20" cinema display, but my mac classic and tangerine ibook are probably my biggest faves in my collection ;-)
B from Fort Worth
S@ndy! (52 months ago | reply)
Worth every penny!!!!!
cartonhugo (52 months ago | reply)
Man, I'm jealous. Not of your old computer: I'm jealous of all the money and time you can afford to waste...
jrbechthold (52 months ago | reply)
Waste? It is called priorities man!
:-)
dansays (52 months ago | reply)
@ballistikcoffeeboy: Not sure what you mean by "nothing comes up," but provided you can resolve this problem, ADT Pro will let you bootstrap a transfer utility to bare metal using either a serial or audio cable. From there, you can transfer disk images from your Mac or PC and save them to floppy.
spongefile (52 months ago | reply)
I also was introduced to an Apple computer (the Lisa) at age 4 or so...it totally colored my attitude to user interface from there on out, and ruined BASIC (taught at school at the time) for me--why write ten lines of code to make a turtle draw a circle when you could just click and drag and in one second have the same thing? :)
vladcampos (52 months ago | reply)
Very nice acquisition... pure history!
Beautifully letter!
Aaron of NEPA (52 months ago | reply)
Congrats on your purchase.. and mint condition to boot! :-D
How long before you get a reply directly from Steve Jobs himself?! ;-)
We had Apple IIc's in my middle school...
Didn't own a computer until college, a PowerMac 6100.
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
khalukhin (52 months ago | reply)
Letter is full of sense... I'm crying...
jimmycason40 (52 months ago | reply)
Has Steve Jobs responded yet?
He should put you on one of his commercials.
Old School----New School
mac morrison (52 months ago | reply)
erm apple wont care a damn. its not adding to any current revenue stream. they will reply that you need a mac book air.
and Mac Oh eSS ten Leopard.
gldfsh419 (52 months ago | reply)
Hmmm, this makes me want to buy my old iBook back from my friend when she's ready to upgrade and just put it in its box for the forseeable future. It's not brand new, but it's gently used. :-) I remember playing Oregon Trail in grade-school. Thanks for the memories.
katherinemorrow (52 months ago | reply)
maybe I'm just hormonal but this made me tear up a little
er-minio (52 months ago | reply)
Sometimes at Apple they read the news and the mail :)
This is the set of emails received by the "curators" of a well known italian Apple museum:
www.allaboutapple.com/speciali/riconoscimento .htm
andersdenkend (52 months ago | reply)
Hilarious!
rtappmeyer (52 months ago | reply)
Could you upload an audio file, or better yet a video, that has the sound of the keyboard on it? I remember it being a fairly distinct metallic click with a slight reverb...
feureau (51 months ago | reply)
You didn't mention it but... did you mail in the registration and the letter? Did you get any reply back? ^^
MikeM1701 [deleted] (51 months ago | reply)
What a beautiful story, thank you for sharing it with the world. I'm glad it went to someone like you rather than a money grubbing scalper. Beautiful letter as well...enjoy your "new" computer and please post if you hear back from Steve. Again, thanks for sharing! (:
Marcelo Blackmac (50 months ago | reply)
wao...
when I read " Broderbund " a game come out from my memories, "Spelunker" hours and hours playing that game in my first commodore 64..
Congrats for the "discovery" ;)
I'm still waiting for the response! :D
miss misdemeanor (50 months ago | reply)
this is the coolest thing ever. your experience makes me want to preserve my imac, put together everything in a box.
money well spent ^_^
Dan Gorgone (49 months ago | reply)
Now.... let's play some Karateka!!!
madewira (49 months ago | reply)
ohh sweeet....
TwentyCarlo (49 months ago | reply)
Completely awesome!
annirowe (49 months ago | reply)
I only hope that my 2007 Macbook Pro gives me such heart felt feelings 19 years from now, for it is my first entry into the Mac world... and one that I hope to never leave!
Thankyou for allowing me to "feel the love".
Samuel Lavoie (48 months ago | reply)
wow that pretty awesome, great letter to Jobs and what a auction you won! congrats
purplegrum (45 months ago | reply)
I envy you! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Ballistik Coffee Boy (42 months ago | reply)
Did Steve ever write you back??
Robinson Ricardo (35 months ago | reply)
Man, those photos made me cry.
I never had an //c, but I'm also from that 'era', and miss terribly my old computers...
Congratulations.
triciadoll (34 months ago | reply)
I know this is old news, but excited to read about this. I am going to have a similar feeling tomorrow when I do the same thing from a Craigslist ad. But a new in box Apple IIc is only going to set me back $125. But the boxes have been opened, but still unused according to the seller. I hope that is the case. I am picking up all the IIc boxes tomorrow morning. I loved this computer also and share a similar story as it was my first computer back in high school. It really is a beauriful thing and loaded with tons of great games. Now to starting hunting down software which is getting harder and harder to find these days.
Mike,
www.ChaseTheChuckwagon.com
Video Gaming Auction Site
triciadoll (34 months ago | reply)
Ok, here is the IIc I picked up from the Craigslist ad this morning :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W92EQbqNMNA
Asim Bijarani (8 months ago | reply)
Amaizing..!
peteratjlist (8 months ago | reply)
My friend is an old school programmer who worked on Print Shop from Broderbund
velvet_c (8 months ago | reply)
FREAKING.
SWEET.
You *really* brought back some special memories, and warmed my heart. My similar experience was at age 9, in 1984. I can't even remember setting mine up; I think I was in a hyperventilating trance state. I didn't get off that thing for the next, oh...8 years? Then I went to college, worked on a buncha new ones, graduated, got a Quadra 605, and have never NOT had some kind of Apple computer product in my life. I am mourning the loss of one of my top heroes. That was a great letter you wrote him...and I'm sure all the love and adoration that man is receiving in the Great After-Apple is firing up that sly grin. LONG LIVE APPLE!!!
velvet_c (8 months ago | reply)
Oh, PS...that letterhead is SICK!!! I totally remember the Broderbund Print Shop. I still have the chunky yellow box...I kept some old photos in it :-)