Mac Basic Manual "Rare"?

[Mac128]

Came across this auction on eBay for a Mac Basic manual claiming the software was never released. While I recall the story that Microsoft forced Apple to drop Mac Basic as part of their deal to develop MS Basic, I guess I never realized the product did not ship. In which case, I would think this manual would be somewhat rare. Are there at least beta copies floating around of Mac Basic? Never had a call to use any of it, but thought this was interesting.

 

[II2II]

It looks like a book from a third-party publisher, so thousands (if not tens of thousands) of copies may have been printed. That being said, it does offer credence to the existence of the product. It also makes me wonder how many thousands of man hours were lost due to Microsoft's unadulterated greed.

Out of curiosity, was the disembodied Mac artwork (on the cover) used on other titles? It looks awfully familiar.

 

[Osgeld]

It also makes me wonder how many thousands of man hours were lost due to Microsoft's unadulterated greed.

Oh please, like apple was going to make mac basic some great humanitarian cause and cure the worlds evils, apple is a company and have done their fair share of greed. (usually burdened by their customers)

 

[II2II]

It also makes me wonder how many thousands of man hours were lost due to Microsoft's unadulterated greed.

Oh please, like apple was going to make mac basic some great humanitarian cause and cure the worlds evils, apple is a company and have done their fair share of greed.

Who the hell said that Mac was a "great humanitarian cause" and that Apple was selfless? All that I implied was that thousands of man hours of work was flushed down the toilet because Microsoft supposedly threatened to not renew the license for Applesoft BASIC if Apple released Mac BASIC. If you were on the development team that created Mac BASIC, you were probably pissed. If you were the author of that book, you were probably pissed. Everything that they did was for nothing, not because of their own failure but because of a competitor's successful attempt to blackmail the vendor.

If it was your work that was shamefully discarded like that and you could suck it up and take that type of abuse, you are a remarkable person. I would also suggest that you are a fool.

 

[Osgeld]

considering I would be working for a company, I would not care cause im still bringing home the bacon

and there is no need to get huffy over something that happened 30 years ago to some entity that does not involve you

Its not my fault apple made a deal with the devil

 

[Dog Cow]

Came across this auction on eBayfor a Mac Basic manual claiming the software was never released. ... , I would think this manual would be somewhat rare.

I've got a copy of that book in my room, on my desk. I'm planning on typing some of it to put on my site.

Are there at least beta copies floating around of Mac Basic? Never had a call to use any of it, but thought this was interesting.

Yes. Check my site: http://macgui.com/downloads/?file_id=17339 Mac BASIC .335
That happens to be a copy from my own disk, and it is the OLDEST known copy in the entire world! (ie, I was the first to put it online!)

The other version, which is also on my site, is newer and I got it from another 68kmla'er. http://macgui.com/downloads/?file_id=17340

However, I believe that the About dialog box was defaced. See for yourself.

It looks awfully familiar.

It's a spoof of a well-known painting.

 

[II2II]

Not that I should be advocating this, but it would be sweet if someone sacrificed their copy to a document scanner for all to see. I recently used one at my school, and it's pretty sweet how some of them can scan directly to a PDF file on a USB stick that you plug into the machine itself.

As for Osgeld's comment about taking home the bacon: perhaps that's enough for you. Some of us though want more out of our jobs. And given that Mac BASIC would have been created during they heyday of creativity in the personal computer industry, I would imagine that cutting the project around the time of completion would have been heart-wrenching.

 

[Unknown_K]

I asume some of what was learned made it to other products, so all the effort is not lost. You can learn quite a bit even if the project is a failure, who is to say mac basic would have done well on its own anyway.

To me a total waste would be moving a mountain a few miles and finding out it was better where it was, software development is not a total loss like that (except monitarily).

 

[porter]

software development is not a total loss like that (except monitarily).

And time. You don't get that time again.

 

[Dog Cow]

Not that I should be advocating this, but it would be sweet if someone sacrificed their copy to a document scanner for all to see.

The one I mentioned came from a library. Anyone could check it out, I suppose.

 

[rimmer]

Out of curiosity, was the disembodied Mac artwork (on the cover) used on other titles? It looks awfully familiar.

It's a spoof over Henri Magritte's "Son Of Man" - a famous Belgian artist

 

[II2II]

Actually, I'm fairly certain that I've seen the artwork from the cover of the book and not the original piece. Which means I've either seen that book before (unlikely, but I will kick myself for missing the opportunity to buy the book if I did), or they reused the artwork for another title.

 

[Kallikak]

There were two MacBASIC books published - I have both. They're pretty easy to come by secondhand. Mine were both in great condition and neither cost me more than a few dollars. Although the software was never released, pre-release versions were widely distributed via bulletin boards etc.