Good People, Good Software, Good Business

John C. Foster - 2001.11.20

My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

Gathering software for the older Macs has become my latest Macintosh obsession. I am copying the installers onto hard drives and Zip disks for posterity's sake. There is a lot of useful shareware, freeware, and commercial software available at little or no cost to the hordes of "vintage" Mac users. Some are distributed by download sites; others are tucked away on cool websites. Either way, they are out there - if you are willing to dig for them.

I really enjoy using shareware that I run across as I tour cyberspace. I feel a little punch at Microsoft every time that I send a Kagi payment to an independent software developer. Kind of like shopping at a local "mom and pop" store, instead of meglamaniamart for my needs. It just seems more personal doing this in today's impersonal business culture. Cyber software boutiques are like a Starbuck's coffee shop for me; I could spend days in there buying and using their products.

The following is a list of people and companies that I have dealt with in the past that have gone above and beyond the usual standard for business, as far as I am concerned.

Extension Overload

This guy must never sleep. His name is Teng Chou Ming, and he has to work 24/7 to keep updating his excellent software for understanding and controlling extensions, control panels, fonts, control strips, and error codes. I paid for a version three years ago and have received an unbelievable amount of updates since then, all of them for free!

Time Palette

Trygve H. Inda sold me a copy of Time Palette three years ago, and I have used it constantly. He developed the coolest world wide time map with time and position of almost every city in the world. My travels have taken me to a few of the cities that he has listed, and I really enjoy checking the time zone differences when calling foreign countries. I recently replaced a damaged hard drive in my laptop and lost my installer for the 68k version of his software. I simply emailed Trygve, and he quickly replied with a promise to resurrect his 68k download link and provide me with my installer. When was the last time anyone went out of their way for you, for no cost, on something that you purchased three years ago?

GraphicConverter

I purchased GraphicConverter several years ago, and it has served me very well for handling all of my image files. JPEG, BMP, GIF, you name it, and Graphic Converter will allow you to edit them, enlarge them, or improve their appearance. I am still finding capabilities of this software that I never knew existed. Apple has a positive review of this jewel on their site, as well.

SoundApp

Norman Franke gave me a copy of his software for free, and he will do the same for you! SoundApp will play MP3 files on a 68k Mac - can you believe this stuff? I have visions of these developers staying awake for weeks on end compiling the code for creating their killer app, and then they give it away for free. Truly amazing to me, and I appreciate it very much. Email Norman and tell him how much you like his product, if you use it.

Micromat

I purchased TechTool 3.0 Pro and found out that it would not work on my 68k Mac due to RAM constraints. I contacted Micromat, explained my situation to them, and they provided me with a link for a previous version that would work. Micromat is not a shareware outfit, but they certainly know how to treat their customers. Special thanks to Anna Wesolowska for her support.

Jag's House

Jag runs a website with all sorts of links to software for System 6 and 7 items. In addition, he has a wealth of free information and parts for sale at reasonable prices. If you want to get your vintage Mac online, you can find it at Jag's site.

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John C. Foster continues to be addicted to the 68k Macs while the rest of the world is hastily switching to OS X. System 6 is his latest fascination, since that is the system that he started with 14 years ago on his first Mac. Somewhere among his stack of SEs, SE/30s, Quadra 700s, 800s, 950s, LCs, and old PowerBooks is a nice Power Mac G3, but he rarely uses it. This article was written on a PowerBook 180c with great pleasure.

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Recent My Turn articles

Back to Mac OS 9 Because It's All I Need, 2011.01.26. Sebastian Patting sold his Intel Macs and went back to PowerPC Macs and Mac OS 9. Here's why.
Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 2008.08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 2008.07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
More in the My Turn index.

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