Me, My Mac and i

My Mac has recently been feeling a bit sad. It's 5 years old now and was starting to feel a little laden down by all the junk I had her loaded with. So time for a little refresh and back to factory (2006) settings. Later in the week it's going to get Lion installed and will be fighting it out with brand new editions again, but until then it's fun spending time on c. 2007 Mac. Particularly because, prompted by the death of here maker, I am simultaneously looking back on Steve Job's career and the history of Macinosh. Having a 2007 mac for the week is a bit like an experiential history class. As I write in basic TextEdit, because I haven't re-installed Windows for Mac yet, i think how far we've come since this little baby was born. This beautiful little white Macbook 13 inch, pre-dates iPod touch, iPhones and iPads. When it was new, there was only one Apple store in England (one i once cried on the phone with). Yep this mac, and the macintosh company at large, have come a long way in a few short years. So what made me get a mac back then? I'm not really sure. Other than I was fed up with computing as I knew it. I was fed up with viruses and breakdowns and slow motion loading and gray everywhere. I was tired of bulky laptops and batteries that didn't work. I remember my last laptop, before it finally died, i sported it with a white apple sticker stuck on the lid. wishing. I had recently been given my first ipod a few months earlier, the last one available at best buy in the black friday sales. i realized then how simple Apple products were to use and how reliable. I once spilt so much coffee on my ipod that it freaked out with the caffeine and seemingly died. But, after a warm bubble bath and a sauna it was (and still is) right as rain. I had been given £1000 anonymously a few months previously to help with the ministry school year I was doing. Though things were tight I had been saving for the school, I had a job and the British Pound was strong. I was making ends meet. Just. The money was an amazing gift and I knew it had a purpose. So instead of flittering it away, I saved it, waiting. In February 2007 my PC laptop finally died. I worked from home back then and supported myself that way. I needed an emergency replacement -fast! I temporarily hijacked a friend's new macbook to test drive one for a few days and was thoroughly convinced. I then knew what that money was for! Once transferred to dollars it paid for the Mac exactly. I ordered one and had it shipped to Oregon, because I couldn't afford sales tax! This baby mac was the first in my family. I had found a new religion. The Mac paid for itself in 2 months of work, which i wouldn't have been able to do with out it. Best investment ever. 5 years later I know it was the greatest purchase I've ever made. It has lasted 4.5 years of full-time work and home use. It's gone through 4 hard-drives, 2 keyboards and a few re-sets like this one. But it's still going strong. I love my Mac! My computing world had gone from black and white to color instantly. It was so user friendly and unsnobbish. this machine was built with me in mind and i didn't need a degree in computer science to pick it up. it was so intuitive, i had to thank it daily for being kind to me. I remember back then the mac club was a little smaller than it is today. Mac users would still give each-other a respectful nod as they nursed their machines in coffee shops. I remember trusting Mac users implicitly 'would you mind watching my stuff while i nip to the bathroom?' (a logistical problem by all who work from Starbucks) was only ever aimed at Mac users. i had joined the brotherhood for sure. A lifelong family of enlightened and slightly more free-spirited people with a loyalty to the Mac faith that last a lifetime. For none of us would ever 'go back'. I'm currently watching Youtube videos about Steve Job's and Apple. And I'm struck time and again by His ethos and lessons for life and not just his commentary on commputing. This one struck me particularly about what we need to remember about ourselves: There were too many people at Apple and Apple eco-system that were playing the game of 'For Apple to win Microsoft has to lose' and it was clear that you didn't have to play that game because Apple wasn't going to beat Microsoft, Apple didn't have to beat Microsoft, Apple had to remember who Apple was, because it forgot who Apple was. So yey for Jobs, yey for my Mac and yey for being us and remembering who we are.