January 24, 1984 was a big day for geeks. That's when Apple introduced the Macintosh, an odd-looking computer that redefined how we use technology.
Up until the Mac's arrival, computers were arcane pieces of technology that demanded a fair bit of expertise from their users. The Mac rewrote the rules, introduced the masses to the mouse, the graphical user interface and a consistent approach to software design and data portability.
Contrary to popular belief, Apple did not invent all these capabilities. Rather, it packaged them in a platform that moved all these technologies from the lab to the average person's desktop. The Mac made computing human-scaled, and the rest of the industry has been tremendously influenced by this unassuming beige box ever since.
It seems like yesterday that the Mac was the droolworthy object of desire of a much younger me. Time indeed flies when you're having fun.
Happy birthday, Mac. May we have countless more years of thinking different ahead of us.
Your turn: Are you a Mac or a PC person? Why/why not?
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# 23 of MY THIRTY DAYS OF THANKSGIVING
9 hours ago
11 comments:
I still have a Mac SE with 8 megs RAM, made from thrown-together spare parts back in the early '90's, stored in my back room!
In College we did our design n animation on the Macs, because PCs at the time were behind on that tech.
Then at home we switched to a PC bwfore the kids went off to college. Guess I'm a hybrid!
My son gave me an old PC 10 years ago. If he had given me a Mac, I would probably be still using them.
My daughter has one, and I couldn't make hide nor hair of it, as they say, but she loves it.
I think I'm a Mac person trapped inside a PC person's body.
I loooove my Mac and I'm never going over to the dark side!
It's still drool-worthy. As the proud (and slightly arrogant) owner of two MacBooks (which replaced two iBooks) and both a first and second generation iPhone (3G), various iPods and other Apple products sprinkled about for good measure, I can say, "Once you go Mac, you'll never go back."
And to think I was the consummate defender of all things PC at one time...
I'm a Mac person in a PC house. But it's so funny to me that my Macs outlast any of the PC's we've had come through our house the last 10 years. I've had two Macs: iBook and now a Macbook, and they both get used.
I learned on a Mac. It's all our school system bought, and I learned right along with my students. My first classroom mac had 8 megs memory. I remember when they upgraded me to a 64 meg hard drive. I thought, "When am I ever going to use all of that space?" ha!
Hummm, I own a PC, but rather have a MAC...
Wow, hard to believe it's been so long.
I remember using the old Apple IIe and other models back in junior high school.
Ahh the good old days...
Here from Netchick!
I'm a Mac (mostly). Have been for 20 years. Current arsenal includes a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air and a G4 Tower and a non-working iBook G4. Oh, and I still have my eMate, too. It's a cute little green purse-of-a-Newton. I think I've probably used (and subsequently donated to friends and strangers) at least ten other macs of various flavors over those years.
I'll admit I was a PC guy for a season when it game to high-end gaming. But now that those days are behind me, I'm happy to live almost exclusively in Macland.
I'm a Mac person, because my husband is a Mac person and I get the cast offs. (Except that my most recent computer was brand new to me - still a Mac, though).
He's been an Apple person since way before Macs.
I love my Mac, especially iPhoto, but I use PCs at work, so I'm comfortable with both.
As you noticed, I am a MAC person. It is the only computer I have ever been loyal too. At work I have to deal with a PC sometimes and aaaaaaaaaah, it seems like 5 years before I can do what I want. I love my MAC and Ican't imagine my life without it!
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