Nothing says "revolutionary technology" like a man in a waistcoat who hasn't seen a bathtub since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Here we see "Ben" smugly presenting the Franklin ACE 1000, a machine so boldly "compatible" with the Apple II that the legal department probably had a collective heart attack the moment this photo was snapped.
The placement of the actual apple on the computer is the ultimate 1980s power move, it’s the corporate equivalent of "I’m not touching you!" while hovering a finger an inch from Apple’s copyright lawyers. They are bragging about 64K of RAM and upper and lower case letters as if they’ve just cracked the Enigma code. In 1776, Ben wanted to fly a kite in a lightning storm; in 1982, he just wanted to run VisiCalc without paying Steve Jobs a royalty. It’s a classic tale of American innovation: if you can’t beat 'em, dress up like a Founding Father and clone 'em.
Source: November 1982 issue of Softside Magazine (n35).
