Ivan still loves his Apple II, which he started using in the late 1980s. He attends an Apple II conference every year.

Transcript of the video:

Believe it or not, my history with Apple products goes back a very long way. You must think that means the 90s or the 80s. But no, my association goes back to the 70s. Apple released their first mass-market computer, the Apple II, in 1977, and my family got one in 1978, and I took to it like a fish to water.

The Apple II was really my first love. It was where I learned to program, it was where I spent my entire childhood. There’s something about not wanting to let go of the favorite parts of your childhood.

So for those of us who have a history with the Apple II computer, there exists a conference every year for Apple II users. It seems unbelievable that people would gather every year in Kansas City to talk about, and have seminars and sessions upon, and generally converse around a completely obsolete computing platform.

It’s actually a lot of fun. It’s the better part of a week, and it’s a lot of old friends getting together. There are many people who know each other there, so it’s a bit of a community. There’s something about being at a place where everyone is there because for no rational reason they just love something–in this case, Apple’s first pre-Mac computer products.

I go every year; I went this year. It was a blast! It’s hard to explain what’s a blast about hearing people talk about the new hardware products they’re developing for the Apple II. Someone developed an MP3 player add-on for the Apple II and had a session where people could learn to solder it together themselves.

I develop software for the Apple II that I share yearly at this conference. It helps keep the skills sharp, even if indirectly.

In fact, what is sitting behind me but our family’s Apple II+ from 1980. I keep it here in the office for inspiration. It still works!