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My first Mac was a Mac IIcx, but
that's only a small part of the story.
Back in 1988, I had a friend who rented a room from me. He was very
much into Apple Computers and kept trying to interest me - with little
to no effect. At that time, what little computer experience I had was
with a PC. Needless to say, I didn't want to buy one. He kept trying
though, showing me his Apple IIc and then later his Apple IIgs. I was
unimpressed.
Then he finally moved up to a Mac II.
This one got me interested, but I wasn't quite ready to buy one yet.
Shortly after this, he moved out to his own place. He would host
computer game nights for his other friends with Macs. They would link
them together via AppleTalk using TOPS (anyone remember that program?)
and play games like NetTrek all night. I would come over to watch, and
sometimes someone would let me play on their computer. I was beginning
to get hooked but still couldn't justify the expense even to
myself.
Then one day someone brought over the color version of Strategic
Conquest. That did it. I had to have my own Mac so I could play anytime
I wanted to.
Fortunately for me, Apple has just announced the IIcx, a slightly
more affordable (if you can call a $5600 computer affordable) version
of the Mac IIx that had been released
shortly before. Of course, in those days, you didn't pay anywhere near
the list price for computers. I ultimately purchased my IIcx for $3050
(what a steal!). However, that didn't include anything but the mouse.
Not the hard drive, memory, video card, keyboard, or monitor. I had to
buy everything else separately. Lucky for me, I was able to find four 1
MB SIMMs for the unbelievable price of $537 and a 100 MB hard drive for
only $900. Wow!
When my friends complain about the price of Macs today, I tell them
this story. I am sure most longtime users can remember those days.
Since then, I've owned more Macs than I can remember,
including a Mac Portable, one of the
PowerBooks, several Power Macs and, finally, the iMac DV Special Edition that is 2 weeks
old.
Along the way, I have gone from being an ignorant bigoted Mac user
to a knowledgeable bigoted Mac user.
I now work as an IS person for the mortgage division of a midsize
national bank. When I started, I had very little PC specific knowledge.
I have learned a great deal in the last few years, most of it bad. It
continues to amaze me that Windows came to dominate the market. I spend
most of my day dealing with problems relating to Windows. But then I
remember back to the many less than honest things that Microsoft has
pulled over the years, and it all makes sense.
I'm just happy at the end of the day when I can go home to my
Mac.
I hope that Apple continues to surprise and amaze even its most
ardent fans, not to mention it biggest critics. If it does this, Apple
will continue to grow stronger.
Links for the Day
Mac of the Day: PowerBook 170, Oct. 1991 - At 25 MHz, the PB 170 was at the top of the original PowerBook line.
List of the Day: The iPhone List Low End Mac's forum for discussing and supporting Apple's iPhone.
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My first Mac was a 
Since then, I've owned more Macs than I can remember,
including a 
