There's so much bullshit involved in the history of computing and videogames that I once had a career out of separating the facts from the nonsense. For instance, many people still think Atari invented Pong. These days, stuff like that can usually be sorted out via Google or Wikipedia, but some pick up steam with pop-culture persistence that overwhelm the actual facts.

When it comes to Apple, there's the "Reality Distortion Field" which encompasses this subject as well as the general acceptance of anything Steve Jobs cooks up. It's not fashionable to say anything less than positive about Apple lately, but here goes.

Posts on a recent article on Slashdot set me off, particularly with claims about the Apple II, where I couldn't help myself but correct a few of the misinformed regarding what Apple did or didn't invent.

Let me cross out the misconceptions I hear the most often:

• Apple invented the GUI: No, Xerox PARC did, along with the Mouse, Laser Printer, Ethernet and a bunch of other things.
• Apple invented PCs: No, personal computers were originally called microcomputers and were mostly assembled by hobbyists, which made a natural transition to mass-marketed "home" computers. If you want to credit someone, make it Texas Instruments or Intel, for microprocessor inventions.
• Apple invented the spreadsheet: No, VisiCalc was created by Software Arts (Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston) for the Apple II and was also available on the PET, TRS-80 and later the IBM PC.
• Apple was the first to succeed selling computers for everyday common people in the mass market, creating some kind of computing revolution: No. In 1977 the Apple II and Commodore PET were unveiled at the same computer faire, but only sold in small numbers to hobbyists at first. The TRS-80 hit everyday store shelves before either of them that same year via RadioShack. The first mass-market computer to sell over a million units was the Vic 20 in 1980. Eventually the Apple II caught on with the IIe model in 1983.
• Apple popularized the GUI: This doesn't seem like a feat to me, considering they didn't invent it and Microsoft brutally outsold them. I really don't get this one, it's the biggest stretch of all.

Apple markets their brand as making "revolutionary" products and they have some pretty obsessive fans convinced that they've invented everything. In truth, Apple's greatest feat has been surviving while most of their early competitors didn't. "History is written by the victors".

I seem to be on a roll with the so-called Apple-bashing, but this stuff has resurfaced with Apple's newfound popularity. The odd thing is, there's good stuff that could be said about Apple without making up "firsts" or claiming preternatural visions.

Applying mystical abilities to Apple detracts from every other company or individual that has had a hand in creating modern computing.