4 ms·

I was a kid at the time and they nailed the experience for me, too. My parents were shopping in Microcenter but I was drawn to the "thunk -- wheee!" noises from

I was a kid at the time and they nailed the experience for me, too. My parents were shopping in Microcenter but I was drawn to the "thunk -- wheee!" noises from the apple store, which turned out to be other kids playing Bugdom on a lime green iMac. Just look at the comments: https://youtu.be/Vmp720kBLBU?list=PLBCr5xCUF7KeUlGJRAYFwccqPJNvPeY9e&t=12 https://youtu.be/Vmp720kBLBU?list=PLBCr5xCUF7KeUlGJRAYFwccqP... My parents were confronted with a wall of special deals competing on numbers and specs... or the computer their kid was nagging them to buy. They went with the iMac.

mixmastamyk 3y ago
I don’t think the Apple store (as we know it now) existed at that point. There were resellers.
- acomjean 3y ago
  A lot of stores had "Apple Sections". Cambridge MA Microcenter still has an apple room. Or compUSAs (a sort of big box computer store, now defunct) had an Apple "Store within a store". https://www.cultofmac.com/452599/today-apple-history-apple-begins-retail-venture-inside-compusa/ https://www.cultofmac.com/452599/today-apple-history-apple-b...
  - phone8675309 3y ago
    Many Best Buy stores have an Apple section to this day.
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  There was a room in Microcenter that had a bunch of iMacs in it. I didn't know the commercial arrangement. I just knew that there was a fun green computer with a blue bug and you had to kick walnuts, avoid slugs, and free the ladybugs.
- giantrobot 3y ago
  Apple was doing the store-in-a-store thing at CompUSA and MicroCenter and maybe a few other chains. The employees worked for the chain but went to special training from Apple to be able to talk up the Mac stuff. Very similar to their deal today with Best Buy. I bought my first PowerBook from such a section of CompUSA. That CompUSA was a good half hour drive from me and out of my way. I had to make a special trip to go pick it up. What was cool about these set up is Apple apparently directed the stocking so they had Mac compatible accessories and Max boxed software. While the Mac had just fewer boxed titles in total than the PC the fact few stores rarely/barely stocked what existed made the disparity seem worse than it was.
Palomides 3y ago
fyi, there's a recent rerelease/port of bugdom for modern OSes, ambrosia open sourced it: https://github.com/jorio/bugdom https://github.com/jorio/bugdom
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  I think it was Pangea, but yes, it's delightful! Speaking of Ambrosia, it looks like EV Nova is on GOG. Maybe I should give it another spin one of these days.
  - zoky 3y ago
    If you liked EV Nova, check out Endless Sky. It’s basically an open source modernized Escape Velocity clone.
- paradox460 3y ago
  Know if OttoMatic is getting the same treatment?

mixmastamyk 3y ago

I don’t think the Apple store (as we know it now) existed at that point. There were resellers.

acomjean 3y ago
A lot of stores had "Apple Sections". Cambridge MA Microcenter still has an apple room. Or compUSAs (a sort of big box computer store, now defunct) had an Apple "Store within a store". https://www.cultofmac.com/452599/today-apple-history-apple-begins-retail-venture-inside-compusa/ https://www.cultofmac.com/452599/today-apple-history-apple-b...
- phone8675309 3y ago
  Many Best Buy stores have an Apple section to this day.
jjoonathan 3y ago
There was a room in Microcenter that had a bunch of iMacs in it. I didn't know the commercial arrangement. I just knew that there was a fun green computer with a blue bug and you had to kick walnuts, avoid slugs, and free the ladybugs.
giantrobot 3y ago
Apple was doing the store-in-a-store thing at CompUSA and MicroCenter and maybe a few other chains. The employees worked for the chain but went to special training from Apple to be able to talk up the Mac stuff. Very similar to their deal today with Best Buy. I bought my first PowerBook from such a section of CompUSA. That CompUSA was a good half hour drive from me and out of my way. I had to make a special trip to go pick it up. What was cool about these set up is Apple apparently directed the stocking so they had Mac compatible accessories and Max boxed software. While the Mac had just fewer boxed titles in total than the PC the fact few stores rarely/barely stocked what existed made the disparity seem worse than it was.

Palomides 3y ago

fyi, there's a recent rerelease/port of bugdom for modern OSes, ambrosia open sourced it: https://github.com/jorio/bugdom https://github.com/jorio/bugdom

jjoonathan 3y ago
I think it was Pangea, but yes, it's delightful! Speaking of Ambrosia, it looks like EV Nova is on GOG. Maybe I should give it another spin one of these days.
- zoky 3y ago
  If you liked EV Nova, check out Endless Sky. It’s basically an open source modernized Escape Velocity clone.
paradox460 3y ago
Know if OttoMatic is getting the same treatment?