The first computer I ever used was an Apple ][+, encountered in a dark corner of my elementary school’s library. Memories of Lemonade, Logo, and KoalaPads. The screech and groan of Disk II drives. The transgression of hitting control-C in Super Quest (an early rougelike) to drop to BASIC and live-edit my hit points. I was discovering a new world.
The first computer I ever owned was an Apple //c. I still have it; it’s the one in the video below. A design icon; compact, beautiful, and functional. With it I learned 6502 assembly, Pascal, and even C. Wrote a fake war dialer and pranked a friend into thinking I was hacking the Pentagon, a la WarGames. Hosted my first BBS. I was exploring a new world.
The second computer I ever owned was an Apple IIGS. Sure, I secretly envied my friend’s Amiga, but the jump in graphics and sound capability was still a thrill. An even greater thrill: using GS/OS, basically an Apple II version of MacOS, and in full color at a time when most Macs were still black and white. I purchased and installed my very first hard drive. Ran a UNIX-like OS for a while. Did nerdy things like mapping all the system tones to sound effects from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was colonizing a new world.
During my college years I lived through both the PowerMac transition and the dawn of the Web. Mosaic, Marathon, Metrowerks. I remember sneaking into the Mac labs across campus each night to install the distributed rendering client for Infini-D, so I could finish my Myst-like senior thesis Macromedia Director project in time for graduation. At one point I had over 40 PowerMacs surreptitiously crunching away, lab monitors none the wiser. I was creating my own world.
Today, the Mac remains my weapon of choice even as Telepath strives to birth something that may someday replace it. Apple’s computers have shaped the trajectory of my life, tickled my inner explorer, and inspired me to play and create. They helped me build the world I imagined for myself.
Apple isn’t perfect; nothing is. But there’s no other product or company I can point to that’s had nearly the same impact on my journey. And so I give thanks today to all the people who made Apple what is was, and what it is. 🍎 ❤️