I came late to the Mac party. After years tied to Windows-dominated business, it was only in 2005 that I had the courage to think different(ly). I bought my first Mac almost as an experiment—a Mac Mini as it happened—but I have never looked back. I cannot now envisage any other computing company than Apple. My iPhone, my iPad, my Macs, my Apple Watch—all work happily together in an eco-system that has never let me down. I am not starry eyed about Apple though. I recognise the problems of near monopoly, but I just feel comfortable where I am, not feeling a need to look elsewhere, whether in desktop or mobile operating systems.
It’s sobering to be reminded, though, that OS X (OS Ten) has been with us since March 2001 when Cheetah arrived on the scene. For Apple this was a big gamble, but it has paid off as recounted by Ryan Faas in Computerworld:
The road to OS X’s initial release was a very bumpy one. Even before there was any thought of Apple buying NeXT, thus returning its CEO, Steve Jobs, to the company, Apple executives faced challenges with what was then thought of as the classic Mac OS.
The original Mac OS may have been revolutionary when it was unveiled in 1984, but it wasn’t designed with many features that modern operating systems would need. Initially, it offered no ability to multitask, although “cooperative multitasking” could allow a single app to monopolize the processor. There was no protected memory, meaning that if one app crashed it would likely take others down with it and potentially the entire OS. And aside from a little-known product called At Ease aimed primarily at education, it offered no support for multiple user logins.
Mac Mini for me too about the same time – with a switch to plug my keyboard, mouse and screen into so that I could go back and forth between Windows and Mac. Just something to play with I thought – I have lost count of how many Macs, iPhones and iPads later have kept be happily enslaved!
That’s more or less how it was with me, Paul. As soon as I felt at home with the Apple OS (that took three days) I was back at the Apple Store buying a 15in PowerBook. Like you, I’ve lost count of the Macs I’ve had since then.
My very first Mac was a MacMini too Mike… It was running Tiger, probably around the same time or a little later than you… I sent mine back within the famous fourteen day period, and I didn’t try them again until I bought a MacBook Pro with Leopard in 2007.
This little machine used to get a real hammering by the family, it sat on a footstool and used to get pushed around the living room floor… four years of terrible abuse, before it finally flaked out, I came back from a holiday, and it didn’t work… Just like Sergeant Shultz, nobody knew anything about it.
December 23rd 2009, I blew up my WD Raptor disk which contained my Windows OS (XP) on my home built desktop PC… My own fault, I did not connect it correctly, well it was dark in that corner! It was rebuild with XP or Vista which I had been resisting… Or go for a desktop Mac.
So I drove to Bluewater and picked up a 27" iMac, and I have never looked back, my daughter still uses that, it has had two new display panels under guarantee, I do not know why, but it kept developing smeary stains across the top where the fans blew warm air out. Apart from that the stability and overall user experience for this ex-IBM systems engineer and manager was like a breath of fresh air compared to Windows machines.
In 2014, I bought a dustbin shaped MacPro, and a NEC 27" professional display, and this is the machine to end all machines, it is very, very good.
In between these major purchases, I have acquired several old MacPro and PowerMac machines second hand, and all are excellent workhorses, used for specialist tasks and generally languishing in dark cupboards and VNC’ed to the Dustbin, the exception being the scanning PowerMac, which sits beside my desk and only runs when needed….
NB: the blogger "Leicaphilia" recently mused on the notion that Leica should develop and market a decent scanner for us Leica film users…
http://leicaphilia.com/leica-please-make-a-decent-high-speed-film-scanner/
I echo his musings.
My most recent Macquisition was a gold 12" MacBook for the Sheila after reading about it here on MacFilos, I gave the iPad 2 away to a daughter, I never liked the iPad, and my daughter has just confessed that she doesn’t like it either, the MacBook is excellent though.
The quality of their designs and builds are excellent, the real issue that I have is that they have been too successful, and with that success comes corporate hubris, which I dislike intensely…
I read yesterday via MacFilos, that Microsoft may have been learning, and their version of a tablet actually very well executed…
But that is for another day, possibly never, the MacBook does everything required in regard to portable computery.
Dear Steve,
I thought you were, um, er, well never mind. You are right, especially about the little MacBook and the dubious attractions of the iPad. I have a little piece on that subject scheduled for publication this week sometime. I also read the musings on a Leica scanner and have it in my blog ideas folder, but can’t think of the right angle just yet.