The books that came with the C64 were pretty decent and could take you a pretty long way. Once I got a modem, the world really opened up. We traded software via

The books that came with the C64 were pretty decent and could take you a pretty long way. Once I got a modem, the world really opened up. We traded software via BBSes and had monthly meetups at a local library where someone would rent out a conference room and everyone would bring their C64 rigs and meet and greet (and copy software). I agree, Apple is nothing like it. Apple is the opposite because you don't need to know anything about how it works to use one, but that's their niche. With the Commodores, you boot up to a Microsoft BASIC prompt and crack open the manual.