Friday, January 23, 2004

Happy 20th

Twenty years ago, on January 24, 1984, Apple Computer launched the Macintosh. It contained virtually unknown features, including simple icons, and an odd little attachment called a mouse.

Many newspaper stories at the time had to include a definition. Silicon Valley's newspaper The San Jose (California) Mercury News, for example, described the mouse as "a handheld device that, when slid across a table top, moves the cursor on the Mac's screen."


More here.

I suppose I should be grateful that Macintoshes have always occupied a niche market--Windows is guaranteed job security for an IT worker. Still, I have an old Quadra 605 that I power up about once a year, just to see if it still works (it does, although the monitor is starting to show its age).

Then again, I know that Windows Networking has a MUCH more detailed means of establishing security across a domain (speaking in Windowsese, not quite in the internet sense of the term). Still, a G4 or G5 would be my dream computer. Given the cost, that's exactly where it will remain--in the realm of dreams.

When describing Macs versus Wintel, I use a car analogy (in spite of a certain antipathy towards private fossil burners): Macs are akin to a vehicle like an Infinity or Lexus--smooth, powerful, responsive, and easy to drive. Wintel machines, in contrast, are more like a 1958 Edsel--they feature a push-button transmission, and a BIG steering wheel--but you'll either have to learn how to work on em or they'll spend a lot of time in the shop.

I'll end continuing the theme of the previous post: Macintosh "came to life," as it were, in the year of the Rat. Fitting. BTW--in Spanish, a mouse of the computer variety is called 'el raton.' The rat.

No comments:

Post a Comment