I have loved the Macintosh since I first laid my hands on one in 1990. The little SE was beautiful and the things it could do! Working as a temp for Stevenage Borough Council, I used it to make a huge report look really smart. I loved that little machine and I was sure my future was in DTP.
For a year after I worked in marketing, as system manager for several Apple Macs. The presentation of system 7 was a huge event. That was during my last job in England. I moved back to the Netherlands and as a temp, was forced to work again with DOS and Windows. The Dutch thought WordPerfect was the bees knees. It was as bad as having to go back to an electronic typewriter in 1988, after two years of DEC VAXNotes and All-in-1.
The introduction of Windwos95 didn’t make sense. What was the big deal? I had been looking at windows for years. By this time, I had bought my own Apple, a Classic LC. Yes, I was a Mac fan, a Mac freak and all those other things. Up to a few months ago, I defended my beloved OS tooth and nail. But to be honest, my love has cooled considerably since MacOS X. I used to know every file and every folder on my machine. I could fix anything. But my Mac has been a mystery to me since OS X. I don’t want to be a programmer and fart around in the Terminal. If I enjoyed doing that, I would have stuck with DOS. I work with MS Word and could even work with Outlook and Internet Explorer if I wanted to. The software isn’t all that different anymore.
When Microsoft invested $ 150 million in Apple in 1997, I was shocked. The emotions felt by fans the world over, are not shared by those running the business. That’s kinda logical but when Wozniak and Jobs started, they weren’t going to run the business like the others do. And now Apple is switching to use Intel processors. I know I know, business is business. But I feel as though the heart of the machine has been squandered. Intel inside, desillusion outside.
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