I attended KansasFest 2009, the 20th anniversary.

KansasFest is, basically, a 5-day Apple II-centric conference held in a dormitory/university in Kansas City, MO (hence the name). The history is that it had a previous name, but was informally called KansasFest, and when the original sponsor disappeared, the conference kept going and they kept the “new” name.

I was supposed to attend from the 21st of July to the 23rd, and then missed my flight, so I attended the morning of July 22nd to the morning of July 23rd. The plan had been I’d then go off to Comic-Con, but I didn’t go to Comic-Con (I went to a Makerbot party instead), so basically I just really did a drive-by on these guys. That was a shame; they deserved more time, and I am poorer for that.

I was invited by the organizers to give a Keynote. Here’s the keynote, recorded by Sean Fahey:

KansasFest 2009 Keynote with Jason Scott from Sean Fahey.

Sean has even more contextual information about KansasFest at his weblog, A2Central. Here’s his entries on KansasFest of which I am sure more will appear when he returns from it.

So what is the event like? Well, there were about three dozen people attending, and they’re very committed to Apple IIs. Maybe some people will make judgemental declarations based on that description, but it comes down to appreciating and enjoying technology, and I thought the vibe was one of enthusiasts having an enjoyable week together hanging out and discussing this subject. A subject, I might add, that has many myriad facets, be it the hardware, software, and lessons learned therein.

I had, again, a wonderful time. I’m proud to have been the 20th anniversary keynote. I’m glad they gave me that opportunity.

Apple II Forever!

Categorised as: computer history | jason his own self

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