The Apple III - Part 3 with David Fradin

Welcome to episode 89 of the Floppy Days Podcast, where we love our computers and programmable calculators of the 70’s and 80’s (and even into the 90’s).

As mentioned on the last episode, we’ve moved in to the year 1981 for computer introductions and have been discussing the much maligned but misunderstood Apple III for the past couple of shows.  This episode will be the last in the series about that machine. This episode we focus on an interview with someone who was responsible for the Apple III line at Apple in his tenure there, Mr. David Fradin.  David was product manager for that line and has some insights into the challenges of managing and marketing it.

Before we get to the interview, I will briefly talk about what I’ve been up to and about some new-to-me vintage computer acquisitions.  I’ll also run through the upcoming vintage computer show schedule for 2019, which is pretty full, and I have a bit of feedback to share.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

• Lotharek store - http://lotharek.pl
• Juiced GS - https://juiced.gs/

News

• George Keremedjiev obituary - https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bozemandailychronicle/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=190783242
• Barbara Keremedjiev museum plans - https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/widow-vows-to-keep-and-strengthen-bozeman-s-american-computer/article_7ce68773-e575-5b9f-9f5e-1df61bfdf61c.html
• Floppy Days Episode 5 with George Keremedjiev Interview - http://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-5-the-american-computer-museum
• BASIC 10-Liners Contest - http://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium/kopie-von-games-list-2019-1
• Upcoming Shows
  • VCF Pacific Northwest 2019, March 23-24, 2019 at Living Computers: Museum+Labs in Seattle, Washington - http://www.vcfed.org/vcf-pnw
  • Midwest Gaming Classic, Milwaukee, WI, April 12-14, 2019 - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
  • Commodore Los Angeles Super Show (CLASS), April 27-28, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Toolbox LA (https://toolbox.la) Chatsworth, California - CLASS website http://www.portcommodore.com/class , discussion of CLASS is in the shared forum area with CommVEx at https://www.commodore.ca/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
  • VCFSE 7.0, not yet scheduled, Roswell, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
  • VCF East, May 3-5, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
  • Pacific Commodore Expo NW (PaCommEx), June 8-9, The Living Computers: Museum + Labs, Seattle, Washington - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex, discussion is on the forum at https://www.commodore.ca/forum/viewforum.php?f=14
  • KansasFest, July 15-21, 2019, Kansas City, MO - https://www.kansasfest.org/
  • VCF West, Aug 3-4, Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, California - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
  • Fujiama 2019 - August 26, 2019 to Sep. 1, 2019, Schützenhaus, Lengenfeld, Germany.  Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page
  • VCF Midwest, Elk Grove Village, IL, Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
  • Tandy Assembly, Springfield, OH, Sep. 28-29, 2019 - http://www.tandyassembly.com
  • Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Oct 18-20 - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
  • TI International World’s Faire - late Oct/Nov
• New event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8

Feedback

• https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/HT%E2%80%931080Z

Interview

• “Building Insanely Great Products: Some Products Fail, Many Succeed… This is their Story: Lessons from 47 years of experience including Hewlett-Packard, Apple, 75 products, and 11 startups later” by David Fradin - https://www.amazon.com/Building-Insanely-Great-Products-Hewlett-Packard-ebook/dp/B01N7AKWWS
• David on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfradin/
• “The Mistakes Apple Made With the Apple III” - https://spicecatalyst.com/the-mistakes-apple-made-with-the-apple/
• “Why I Failed with the Apple III and Steve Jobs Succeeded With the Macintosh” - https://blog.aha.io/why-i-failed-with-the-apple-iii-and-steve-jobs-succeeded-with-the-macintosh/ by David Fradin