You and Apple history

Tell us what is Apple for you

  • A company that makes iMacs that look like lamps

    Votes: 23 16.9%

  • A company that makes multicolor iMacs

    Votes: 22 16.2%

  • A company that makes blue iMacs

    Votes: 18 13.2%

  • The creator of the user friendly computer

    Votes: 92 67.6%

  • The creator of my Apple II

    Votes: 32 23.5%

  • I have seen an Apple II

    Votes: 36 26.5%

  • I have seen an Apple I

    Votes: 14 10.3%

  • I own an Apple I

    Votes: 5 3.7%

  • I am Steve Wozniak

    Votes: 15 11.0%

  • Who is that guy ?

    Votes: 4 2.9%
  • Total voters
    136
  • Poll closed .
I was an Apple //c user who viewed the arrival of the Mac with thinly veiled suspicion, as it portended future Apple ][ oblivion. It was given to understand that the Mac had arrived to save the planet. What ][ users were to do was unclear. I was a major Apple fan and wanted Apple to do well, but my parents weren't going to run out and buy a Mac to help the //c to do its job in a more user-friendly manner.

For me, what happened next was, basically, I lost nearly all interest in computing for many years. I used the //c well past 1990, not paying attention to anything going on past that. I really didn't care that Microsoft was conquering the computing universe. It was just wacked, but I figured that's how it's going and it sucks.

With the mid-90's and the demise of Apple Computer, Inc. a very real possibility, I almost took comfort in the fact that I had lost interest. Because even from my perch of non-engagement, I felt pretty horrible watching how things were going. My parents had bought a Windows box that I had helped them buy. I...helped...them...buy...a...Windows machine. That's truly an expression of clueless malaise.

One day, after having decided I'd achieved a relative state of financial health, and with the resurgence of Apple Computer an established fact, I went and bought, with what in retrospect seems an alarmingly high level of ignorance, a brand new PowerBook G3 233/32/2GB. It was the first computer I had ever bought. It was mid-March of 1999. Trust me, I was so proud, the fact that I didn't have the first idea of how to use a Mac was perfectly immaterial. I'd returned to the fold, from nowhere. (Some will call this bandwagon-jumping, but it's cool.)

Nothing in the past 3+ years has changed my view that Apple is a first-class company that makes a product that alone, inspires.

This stuff will always be the coolest.

Mark...eshine.
 
Mark...eshine,

Nice post, and even nicer you're so happy to be back in the Mac "fold." Obviously, you're far from alone in coming back, as it were, or renewing interest in Macs, and I must say, as a long time Mac addict and staunch supporter, It's gratifying to know the new crop of Macs, and OS X, are bringing in lots of folks.

I wanted to pick up on one thing you said, if somewhat whimsically and/or hyperbolically. You referred to Apple ][ and it's "followers" as being supposed to somehow change the planet. That somehow is obviously evolving and changing, but I believe it is absolutely real. Now, Apple can't really take credit for the overall change/s that is/are taking place, since we do, in fact, need computers, if for no other reason, just to handle the unbelievable amounts of information we generate. Computers, or something like them were inevitable, at least in my view. What's interesting and special about Apple (one of the things for me) is the way Apple products are fulfilling this part of human destiny. I think it's very like the way Disney changed the world, and he did indeed change culture in a major way. Unlike Wintel machines, which certainly perform the utilitarian tasks plenty well enough, Apples do it with such creativity and style as to be more than worthy of not only recognition, but high praise and humble thanks from we humans who need, use and enjoy them.

Certainly, there are times and places for mainly utilitarian devices, and ones we greatly need. But it is quite special and so very sweet that Apple gives us computing with such style, grace and elegance. I have nothing against Sparrows, and they are just as amazing in their own ways and any creature on the planet, but they just don't inspire the slack-jawed awe of an Eagle in full flight!

For me, it's not only fun to use and play with Apple products, but it's just darned exciting to be alive now and to be part of something that is so clearly, forcefully and elegantly shaping the human experience.
 
Well, my parents bought an Apple II+ back when they first came out. That spawned my interest in computers. Without that, I doubt I would be as involved with computers as I have been. I started programming them, and was lucky enough to win Apple Computer Clubs' programming contest. They flew me out to Washington, D.C. (first time on a plane), and I got to meet and eat dinner with Steve Wozniak (my hero at the time). Great experience. As a result of -that- contest, I won a spanky new Apple IIgs and thought it was greater than sliced bread. Wrote the AppleNET BBS software during high school, just for fun. It was great to see some people using that software around the country. Very exciting for me. I was a true resistor to the whole Macintosh craze. I loved the interactivity of the Apple II series. But, I understand that not everyone wanted to program computers like me, or be able to tinker around with the code. I was sad to see it go, since it was like being in a "family"... from the old Beagle Bros. software company (you guys rocked) to that screaming 1 mHz processor that did everything I needed it to do and then some. Fond memories... Glad I got in on the ground floor... or at least the 2nd or 3rd floor... I'm expecting my new dual 1-gigahertz Macintosh via FedEx today, but I still have my old Apple II. - Kevin
 
My history starts with a Radio Shack (Tandy) TRS-80 with a memory expansion box. Then I got hired to teach computers at a school for art & design. There we had 8 Mac Pluses with 20 MB Apple Crate hard drives. We also had a gray scale scanner and a laserWriter II. Prior to the teaching part of my job, I had a 128k and a Fat Mac 512k to test with before the school decided to jump in with the Pluses.
After that, I did a gig doing Temp work supporting Macs. Here I had a temp job at a large insurance company that had just bought 2500 Portables! We supported them and the other Macs in the office: Mac II's, LC's, Pluses/SE's.
The next computer I actually owned was a Mac IIcx. After that I have had (and still own) a Mac IIvx, Mac IIsi, PowerMac 7100-80, 7200-120, 7300-200, PowerBook 520c, Powerbook 540c, Powerbook 3400, Powerbook G3 WallStreet and Lombard, 2 PowerMac G3 B&W's, PowerMac G4 Cube (built from parts off Ebay!), PowerBook G4-400, PowerBook G4-500, PowerBook G4 667 (current Love) and (blech) a PC with AMD Athlon XP+1800/Win 2000Pro. I dont have the other PB G4's, but I do own every other Mac still.
Other than what I own, having worked as an Apple Systems Engineer and then owning my own Apple Retail store, I have touched on every single Mac ever made.
I love Macs, have made my living on them and now my son is a web designer and troubleshooter who works on an iMac G4 15" and supports one of my clients Xserve server.

Peace,
Mikey :D
 
Originally posted by macmikey
My history starts with a Radio Shack (Tandy) TRS-80...
Click to expand...
At one point I actually worked at Radio Shack. We used to laugh when talking about the "old Trash 80".

Looking back I realize the funniest part is that we were selling stupid WinDoze 3.1 machines which were not all that different. (My boss had the beta of "Chicago" which is what became Windows 95.) I was already a Mac user and was completely inept at selling (or even using) Windows 3.1.
 
Hey neat! a poll that lets you choose more than one answer! Now I can anonymously let everyone know who I am!
the woz
 
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