So twenty-five years ago today, Apple released the Macintosh computer. And as far as I’m concerned, they changed the world.

I was never an Apple II person, I was an Atari 800 guy. Then I used PCs for a while (DOS and Windows 3.1). For years I couldn’t understand why I should switch from my cheaper PC-Windows machine so it took me a few years (8) to get one (after using them in my graduate education program at MSU) but I’ve been a convert ever since. That’s not to say I don’t own a Windows machine (or two) but they’re usually doing mundane tasks, which my Macs are for creative tasks and what I want to use for my everyday stuff.

Here’s a YouTube vid of Steve Jobs demoing the Mac back in a 1984 keynote (wearing a bow-tie).

I think my first Mac was a used Macintosh Plus (with an add-on external hard drive), then a classic (same shape way more power), a PowerPC 6100 (pizza box shape), a tower PowerMac G4 (the first one with a DVD burner) and I owned a few used ones that I picked up here and there (a IIci and IIcx and a Quadra 605 that had been upgraded to a PPC). I paid way too much for the two PowerMac desktops, I did a few processor upgrades to get some more life out of them.

But I’ve also had a few Apple laptops: The PowerBook Duo 280c which in my opinion was the best laptop ever; more of a sub-notebook (1.5″ x 10.9″ x 8.5″) and you could get a dock you could stuck it into (like a big floppy) and it would use the monitor(s), keyboard, mouse and anything else plugged into the dock (hard drive, CD, etc.). I eventually upgraded the motherboard in that to turn it into a PowerPC 2300c and used that for a while. After that I had a PowerBook G3 luggable laptop, it was huge but had power, memory, storage and a beautiful 14 inch(?) display; fully loaded I think that was over $5,000 but it was a heavy beast to lug around. Since then I’ve stuck with smaller 12-inch models: an iBook (I got the iBook instead of the PowerBook because I wanted a smaller model), the first 12-inch PowerBook and the last 12-inch PowerBook (the 12-inch PowerBook is probably my second favorite after the Duo). My latest is a white 13.3-inch MacBook (the fastest plastic model from just before the uni-body models) and it seems like a monster compared to the 12-inch model but I love it, I don’t leave home without it.

Since the Macs were more expensive I generally did a few things to save money. I’d upgrade the memory myself from Other World Computing (they’ve always be notoriously expensive for memory upgrades). I usually used some other brand monitors (even though the Macs have traditionally been better). And I usually used non-Apple printers except for the Apple StyleWriter which was an excellent printer; my first was an old NEC 8023 dot matrix that I purchased an adaptor for, also some HP and Epson ink-jets, a used QMS laser, a used HP lasers and a new HP laser (my current).

I’ve also had an Apple Newton (it was way before it’s time) and two iPods. I’m craving an iPhone (or a Touch) and considering the plunge.

So that’s my personal Apple Macintosh computer history. I really didn’t realize I had so many different machines. Out of all of those I had two problem machines: the ultra expensive laptop (2 bad motherboards, but after the second replacement it was perfect) and the iBook (a lemon, multiple problems, eventually the agreed to give me a brand new one). The other laptops have been great and I’ve always beat the hell out of them (scratches, gauges and drops) but they’ve held up quite good.

Lately, I’ve been using the laptops more than the desktops, my last desktop was from 2001 (I’ve boosted memory, hard drives and processor since then) but the last few laptops have been faster than the older desktop so I’ve neglected the desktop. I’d like a new one, I just haven’t been able to justify the dollar$ for a new tower desktop and the MacMini just hasn’t had enough juice (it’s more like a fast laptop) and the Mini really needs a refresh/upgrade from Apple.

So (like the guy in the ad) I can say “I’m a Mac”.

I just haven’t been able to keep up with all the blogs and web sites I read. I’ve never gotten into using the RSS feed readers very much. I like using the sites the way people have decorated their layout, what they chose to do tells me something about the person, not seeing it makes me feel like I’m missing something. But if I’m not actually getting to their site and reading, I’m really missing something, right?

So I thought I’d try Google Reader out, I choose Google for several reasons:

Here’s a mini-review of HoudahSpot it’s a piece of software to help you find files on your computer. First I have to ask: have I mentioned MacZOT.com before? They have a different piece of software way on sale every day with different marketing schemes. Today, a Mac OS X Tiger search program drops a nickel in price for every blog that mentions it. So it could be be free today if enough people mention it…

THEY’VE EXTENDED OFFER THIS THROUGH SATURDAY. It’s down to $4 and if you blog a mini-review it’s free.

I’ve complained before about the “find’ options in Tiger so I had to give this search software a try. It’s got options for and and not and or and Venn diagrams to help you choose. It’s got previews for audio, video and photos (with all sorts of info on the files). Try it out, it’ll be cheap or free (actually, I think it’s free just for blogging about it).

NOTE: If you’re seeing this on June 16 or 17, 2006 or head over to MacZOT, you might be able to get a Free copy of HoudahSpot. Search easily in Tiger, Mac OS X, with HoudahSpot

So Apple just released a beta of their new program called Boot Camp that lets you put Windows on a Macintosh! This software allows you to put Windows and the Mac OS on new Intel Macintosh computers and you choose which one that you want to boot. No emulation! How cool is that?!?

I absolutely hate the new find in OS X Tiger. I didn’t think I’d like it when I saw it, I didn’t like it when I got it, now it’s a few months later and I still hate it.

When I want to search for a file name it automatically searches inside the files too, so I get a million more hits than there are just files. And you can’t easily separate from the two (filenames or contents). Plus you can’t easily sort by date or filename, it breaks it down by category.

And Spotlight should allow me to control/right-click on a name to open the folder, not the item. If it’s a zip or sit file and you just want to find it, it uncompresses it if you click it…

For being this huge new “feature” it’s not very friendly. I looked to see if the old find was still there but I don’t see it anywhere.

I say “easily” in that I don’t know how, so I really mean I can’t do it at all. But I thought I got it to do it once, but maybe that was the other computer…

We’re talking basic stuff here. A drop down (or radio buttons to pick filename/contents/both). Click on a column to sort it how hard is that? There are a variety of shortcuts related to it (buried in the help) but they need a button in the find window to easily get you to them. That searching inside every file has got to be great for my battery life…

If you use the spotlight icon (upper right corner) and pick “show all” you can get close to what I’m looking for related to the sorting but it’s not a normal user interface.

Like I said, I’ve been testing it out and it’s never made me feel it’s an improvement, I feel like it’s devolved. It’s got good brains behind it but a lousy user interface…

Since I’ve got a high-speed internet connection I’ve always got programs (processes) in the background that are downloading (syncing) files (iSync, iDisk, podcasts) for me. This is great except when I’ve got a slow connection. Slow generally means a cable hooked to my cell phone or dial-in or sometimes it just means an extra slow connection.

Here’s the problem: I just want to connect via some slow method for a minute and the computer wants to start downloading stuff via iSync, iDisk, podcasts and probably something else I can’t think of. All I want to do is very quickly check my mail or the movie listings and it starts synchronizing megabytes of data which is really detrimental as to why I logged on. I need a way to easily turn this stuff off temporarily. I see several ways to do this:

He says:

After working with OS X for a few hours, switching back to Windows is like partying with Charlize Theron then coming home to Kathy Bates.

His entry is a little longer, but I liked the analogy (especially since I think Macs are way the hell sexier than most other tech other there)…

I’ve been in computers for a long time now. Back before The Apple Macintosh has been around for most of that time. I do not understand how it has not dominated the market. It always reminds me of Sony and Beta (you do remember Beta don’t you?). Beta was the superior competitor to VHS but look what happened to that…

It’s just some of the software and how much easier they make it. Anyone can figure out how to convert and store photos from their digital camera, create a jukebox, edit movies and burn it all to an impressive looking looking DVD. Of course it’s the iLife applications that I’m talking about, they come free with any Macintosh these days.

I thought Macs were a little easier to use even when iLife didn’t exist. It’s always been it little be easier to me. It’s not that I have any problem learning, I’ve programed computers from assembly code to fortran any used operating systems from Atari to pSystem to Linux. Macs are definitely a little bit more money but I always think it’s worth it.

I just got the new version of iLife but haven’t had much time to play with it but it even has a few more features that makes you DVDs even look more professional. The iPhoto program is supposed to be a lot faster and store more photos, but I don’t use it for much other than red-eye reduction. They also have a new program called Garage Band to create your own music.