A love affair with Apple

A notes to readers   My eyesight makes it difficult to write and edit the blogs.   I try to get spelling errors but grammar editing is a challenge.  My apologies and thanks for your patience.  If it wasn't for Apple screen zooming capabilities I wouldn't be able to to this at all.

As I transitioned to work at Micro, my love affair with Apple Computer was reignited because Micro was very Apple oriented.    Not surprisingly, I'd always had a thing for Apple as one of the major pioneers in the industry and because Steve Jobs and Woz were such great early entrepreneurs.

While I sold a tons of Apple II's and ///'s at ComputerLand, I did not really sell all that much Apple gear during my time at Micro with some notable exceptions that I'll explain.    This is more about my personal tech affair with Apple.

My second personal computer was an Apple II+ (my first was a TRS-90 color computer, which I loved).   I loved the Apple II.    I spent an a lot of time programming and learning on it, and kicked off my addiction to video games  on a classic title called Wizardry, and early adventure-type game. 

Wizardry was a game that would literally kill you and your entire adventuring party if you were not careful.   If the graveyard showed up on your screen, you were starting the game over - no matter how many hours you had put into it.   After seeing the graveyard a few too many times, I actually bought a special external floppy disk drive that had a large buffer - which gave you a few seconds to turn the game off before you were dead.    That gave you a chance to try something else to save your party.   

That external Rana drive would surface again when my pet boa constrictor went missing for a couple of weeks.  I found him when I went to play Wizardry again - all curled up in my Rana drive.

I've also related that I bought my second Apple computer before leaving Alaska - the first model of Macintosh, a 128k single-floppy system that couldn't do much.    I had that system for a long time we had many adventures together.   At one point I traded it for  boat and spent the summer water skiing - but fortunately, my trading partner missed his boat and I missed my Mac so we traded back.   I definitely had more fun that summer on the boat than I would have on the Mac.   I can't remember what happened to that Mac I certainly wish I still had it.

Not long after I went to work at Micro my dad called.   He had decided to leave the law office he worked for and put out his own shingle, and asked if I could put together a good system for him.   We had just received the "new" Macintosh Plus computers at Micro, and (unfortunately for my dad)  I put together a configuration for him including a Mac Plus and Microsoft Word.      The Mac Plus was a short-lived model, and for good reasons - I think Apple had tried to figure out what to do with the old Lisa chassis they had laying around, so they adapted the Mac to fit into the chassis.   Unfortunately, the video screen dimensions just didn't work well with the Mac operating system at that time, and that played heck with all of the Mac software displays - especially word processing.  The other thing you have to know is that legal documents that attorneys work with really require great word processing functionality.    The result was that dad's secretary was torturned by the Mac Plus and Word for a couple of years before he got a better system. 

That didn't stop Dad for being a great customer over the years.   He always looked the other way on such gaffes (of which there were more than one), and never mentioned them.   Thanks Dad.

Apple really struggled during the years I was with Micro, especially after firing Steve Jobs.    We all lived through Scully and Gil Amelio, the Mac II and Apple Talk, and (ye gods) the Newton.    I only bought a couple of the many models that came out during these years, and (except for Dad) didn't sell that many Apples.   

My serious Apple habit didn't kick in until quite a few years later, when I discovered that two great loves of mine had joined   Computers and music.    THEN I went nuts.   I purchased my first Apple laptop around 1998 or 1999, (possibly earlier).   I had the old  Mac OS, and had great music software for recording.    It wasn't long until I'd built out a home studio, and populated it with as many Macs as I could.   By the time Jobs had come back and introduced the new Imac line as well as the new Unix-based (from Next) operating system, I was very hooked.    I used Apple computers for everything, including the business PC's at my new company when it was founded.  I even used them as my gaming rigs for PC gaming.


When Quosal was formed, we because an early adopter of Microsoft's Azure platform.   They wanted to come to our offices and do a video story on us for their web site.   They were going to do it in my office, but decided against it because I had 7 different Apple devices visible - my iMac, an external Apple screen, my iPhone, my Apple laptop, an Apple speaker system, an iPod,  and a couple of other devices.

Here's a partial list of the Apple computer models I owned from 1981 forward:

Apple II+, Apple IIe, Macintosh 128k, Apple IIc, Macbook, Macbook Pro (multiple models), original IMac, Macintosh G4, Macintosh G5, multiple OSX Imacs, All generations of Iphione from Iphone 2 to 8,  multiple models if Ipad 1, 2, 3, 4, and Pro.    Anne and I currently have 3 IMacs  (one is in my studio), 2 Ipad Pros, Iphones, etc.    Looking at this list I can see I need to find a support group for Apple addicts.

Another reason I love Apple is that they've always been a great investment, and I've always done well with their stock (but haven't always invested in them as I should have). 

Finally, Steve Jobs has always been a business hero, warts and all.   Still is.

I've admired Apple as a company over the years - much less so when Jobs was fired, much more so after he came back.   I've had more trepidation since Steve passed on, but still think Apple is doing some great things.    Apple had stayed Apple, and they've provided a counter sync to Microsoft that was needed. 

My famous game designer friend Chris and I used to  admire Apple packaging when we'd unwrap the newest model Iphones we'd talked each other into buying.    Everything about those devices screamed quality, even the packaging.    We loved it.    Apple's innovation has gone beyond their technology to include marketing, merchandising, and retailing.   

Do I wish I had the zillion dollars I spent on Apple gear back?   Maybe I should have waited a little longer instead of paying full price for the original Mac, and the IIc was kind of a waste.   Other than that, I've loved every one of those boxes.

Beginning with Micro my career became about business systems and solutions, and I was never successful selling Mac into business.   While I know of some that were, I don't know that Apple has been as much a success outside of specialized industries.  Aside from my own (mandated by me) use of Apples at Quosal for our own use that is.

As mentioned above, Apple's tech has been a huge boon for me has my eyesight has worsened, literally extending my working life by several years.   I've used the equivalent Microsoft tech and there's no comparison. 

I've seen worse addictions.  You can have my Mac when you pry my single button mouse from my cold dead fingers.