Open Apple/Closed Apple

An exchange I participated in on the RB NUG list today follows. Someone made reference to the Command Key/Apple Key debate, so I threw this comment in:

Actually, I think I’ve seen some references, in Apple documentation, mind you, to the Apple key. Perhaps they’ve given up, since every non-tech I know calls it the Apple key (or worse, the Open Apple key!).

Someone replied with this:

If you hear someone refer to the “Open Apple key” check their CV, they’ve probably been using Apples since 1976 … or at least well before 1984. Apple II’s originally had 2 Apple keys, one was an outline like the one we know on our Macs & the other was filled in. They were colloquially referred to as the Open Apple & Closed Apple keys. When the Apple II adopted ADB they also got Mac keyboards & the closed Apple was no more. From memory [my Apple II’s have been in storage a long time 🙁 ] the closed Apple equated to the control key.

My response:

Since the mid-1980’s. We had one in my sixth grade classroom. Everyone fought over the Apple II during inside recess because it had color. Meanwhile, the TSR-80 (complete with cassette drive) sat idle in the corner, so I had it all to myself. That’s when I taught myself BASIC for the first time. I’d print out the programs we had and then change the messages to sarcastic ones.

As I remember, the control key was its own thing. The “three finger salute” on those models was Control-Open Apple-Reset. I’m not sure, though, what function the Closed Apple Key had.

Most of the teachers I support still say Open Apple Key, even though many of them are running Jaguar on iBooks.

Strange that I wasn’t more popular in school…

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *