Welcome to Macintosh - 2009

[leoantix]

[C14ru5]

I get this weird feeling in my stomach whenever I watch something like this, because in the early 90s, I was a diehard Apple fanboy. My family had a Mac ever since the Plus, and I have a friend acquaintance who owns a fully working 128K in near-mint condition (manuals, disks, instruction tapes, carrying bag...). Back then, I would probably defend the platform into my grave while reciting default specifications and version numbers chronologically as my mantra.

At The Gathering '94 I think I was the only one with a Mac there out of 1500 people. All the compoers (coders and demo contestants) had Amigas, a number of dorks had PCs, and there were probably a number of coders running *NIX. I couldn't network with anyone, but I didn't care. I was there making stuff in HyperCard with the computer of my dreams. Oh, and in case you didn't know, The early PowerMacs crashed A LOT, maybe 10 times a day. But that didn't matter, since I had the 7100AV Stanley Jordan guitar startup sound chime with every restart, followed by a custom StartupScreen and so many unnecessary extensions that it wrapped the screen twice.

Now, my feeling about Apple is completely different. When I saw the iPod began to catch on with Windows users, I realized that my childhood fantasy of seeing every Windows user on the planet burn in hell, that dream would not come true. They were getting a piece of something they never had deserved in my eyes. When I listen to anyone really enthusiastic about Apple products today (from Jonathan Ive to the evangelists in this video), it's like I don't feel connected to them anymore. Meeting fellow old school Mac addicts now (most of them are age 55+), I feel forced to produce a fake laughter while conversing, just like -> I guess diehard Amiga fans suffer the same symptoms.

My wish is that Apple keeps making innovative products, but that the Aura (especially the one related to Steve Jobs) is turned down a notch. No more 'us or them' please. I feel really embarrased that I liked the Macintosh in the 90s. The computers were bad, the software was bad, BUT: At least the games were great, they had a special spirit to them.

[NoNameBrand]

"I feel really embarrased that I liked the Macintosh in the 90s."

Don't feel too bad C14ru5, all computers in the late 90s were awful.

The thing that catches me up sometimes is that with all the people now using Macs is how few are passionate about them. While most people who are passionate about computers use Macs, the reverse isn't true.

[djpimley]

I guess diehard Amiga fans suffer the same symptoms.

It does not bode well for me that once upon a time I was a die-hard Amiga fan and now I am a Mac fan! I finally walked away from the Amiga in 1999, finally seeing the truth that it was a dead platform. After a few years using Windows and trying to get excited about dual booting and building Linux kernels, I started to hear on the grapevine about how Apple had abandoned Mac OS and built a brand new OS, something mysteriously called "X" that had the name of a big cat for each version.

That part of my brain that loved my Amiga lit up. Computing could be exciting again.

[NoNameBrand]

Big cats? they're really named for German tanks (sadly, due to Snow Leopard, one can't make that argument anymore).

Wonder if 10.7 is ocelot or Siamese. Tabby?

[djpimley]

Wonder if 10.7 is ocelot or Siamese. Tabby?

Clouded Leopard

[C14ru5]

Too bad it can't be Lynx, due to the trademark issue. Those cats look awesome, and we have some of them in the wild in our forests here in Norway.

The bobcat is in the same family, but doesn't sound as nice when pronounced

[djpimley]

Maine Coon?

[slow]

Main Coon?

It's "Maine Coon", like the state.

[Pax-raider]

Cougar or lion perhaps...

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