I first met AppleWorks when I was in high school. My chemistry teacher and I cut a deal: he'd let me have after-school access to the computer lab if I promised that I'd word process my lab reports from that day forward. (I have horrible handwriting.) The lab was filled with Apple II computers—everything from an original Apple II to a number of Apple IIe computers. And he let me use a copy of AppleWorks.
My original plan was that I'd word process the lab reports to keep my end of the deal. Then, I'd play with programming. Strangely, I never got around to programming—not even long enough to dust off my BASIC. I spent almost my entire time in the computer lab word processing with AppleWorks. I not only used it for chemistry lab reports, but I also used it for other homework. More than once, I used it to write a quick letter to my grandparents. Word processing was addictive, and suddenly the old 1960s Smith-Corona typewriter I'd happily used the year before seemed...horribly primitive.
As time went by, I also used spreadsheets, which made it easy to process chemistry lab data. Let the computer do the number crunching instead of my right index finger and my Sharp calculator! And the spreadsheet allowed me create basic tables that could be flung into a word processing document.
Two memories stick to my mind, both of which give a clue as to why AppleWorks was very popular in the 1980s. First, it was easy to use. Not “Macintosh” easy, but I was able to learn AppleWorks mostly on my own. I got a little help from my teacher at first, and did read one AppleWorks book. But I mostly learned by using it.
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| Partial screen shot of AppleWorks when saving a document. Note the hint to hit "Escape" to cancel. |
The other memory was that I was seemingly able to do pretty much everything I needed to do. The program had limits—which became very clear when I got my first Macintosh!—but it got basic jobs done. From a view of 1980s requirements, many people could and were able to get by just fine with AppleWorks.
I think the worst limit of AppleWorks was the Apple II's limited memory. So...huge projects were not an option. You could, in theory, write your book on AppleWorks—and I'm sure books were written on AppleWorks—but there was only enough memory to work on a chapter at a time.
If one needed something extra, one could get add-ons to address AppleWorks weaknesses. The one I recall that may have pushed things to the limit was something that would allow one to print AppleWorks documents using Macintosh-style fonts. I have no idea how this exactly worked, but I recall one teacher using it. It took forever to print, but it did create very nice looking documents.
There were also hardware upgrades. A major upgrade was memory. There was at least memory expansion board for the II e that an ad said could allow one to fully load AppleWorks into memory.
I only used AppleWorks for a few months. The next school year, I had my own computer, a Macintosh. At the time, yes, moving from the Apple II to the Macintosh did seem like going from a base Honda Civic to a Porsche!
As I said earlier, I have had a chance to revisit AppleWorks. It's been something on my to-do list: I have acquired a bit of Apple II stuff, but never got everything lined up.
Recently, however, I decided to try Virtual ][, which emulates an Apple II series. And so I decided I might as well test AppleWorks, the one piece of software I actually know. Plus I was curious to see it again.
Frankly, I wondered if the experience wouldn't be a bit grim. A gut wrenching trip to the past, complete with questions like: “How on earth did anyone survive with this technology?!?”
Fortunately, though, it was a mostly pleasant trip to the past. I found myself missing some things—mouse support. (For some reason, I think that could be added to AppleWorks, though.) And I could not help but notice that yes, it was easy to use...but the 1980s Macintosh was much better in that regard.
Strangely, I noted I could probably easily get by with AppleWorks day to day even in 2016.
This last statement might seem bizarre. It would almost seem like AppleWorks is the equivalent of a horse and covered wagon in an era of shiny space ships. And yes, AppleWorks is considerably less feature rich. But my primary needs are pretty simple—mostly just writing and putting words on a page. I seldom use spreadsheets, and when I do, I only need the very basics. So AppleWorks could easily do 95%+ of what I need.
One thing AppleWorks won't do is good page layout work. A word processing document looks more or less looks like something one typed on an IBM Selectric. The original (and limited) Macintosh MacWrite word processor has page layout ability that frankly left AppleWorks in the dust, and that situation has only gotten worse. Most of the time, I only need text—but I do sometimes need better layout.
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| Partial screenshot of an AppleWorks word processing document. |
For my needs, however, the biggest AppleWorks problem is the poor compatibility with the modern world. AppleWorks does not support Microsoft Word documents. It does not allow for creation of PDFs, either. And the file format realities make it hard to move an AppleWorks file to a modern system that does support current formats.
With these flaws, I doubt I'll be going back to AppleWorks any time soon. I have been a proponent of an old computer for distraction free writing, but an old Macintosh can make more sense, if only because it's easier getting the files to move over to the modern world.
That said...I have to say I'm impressed by AppleWorks. It was amazingly good given the technical limits of the systems it was designed for. It was a huge step forward for making computers a usable—and indispensable tool—for normal people in the real world.
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