A brief history of one geek’s computing life.

This is my first blog entry. My intentions in starting this weblog are two-fold: first, to satisfy my not-so-strange nerd desire to rant on the internet (which has been up-to-now focused on web forums), second, to add my voice to the legion of Mac users that support and defend the platform. What follows is a brief history of my life as a computer geek. I hope it will provide a context for my future computing commentary.

The story begins, like so many others, on an Apple computer. An Apple IIGS was my first contact with a personal computer in the mid 80’s. It was my uncle's and I spent every visit to his house on that machine drawing with the included paint program and printing out color images on his ribbon printer. While not a Mac, it had a graphical interface, a color screen and a mouse. I wouldn't have a computer in my house for a few years to come, but I cherished every minute on that machine.

My first computer was a 486DX2 66Mhz Packard Bell that my family purchased at Silo in the Fall of 1992, my sophomore year of high school. The computer had 4MB of ram (soldered onto the motherboard), a 250 Megabyte hard drive, 256 color VGA, no CD-ROM or Sound Card and came with DOS 6 and Windows 3.1. At that time, my father and I had researched as much as possible in Computer Shopper and PC Magazine and deemed this system the best buy for what was the fastest system you could get at the time. Back then, online meant AOL or Prodigy, so magazines were the best source of computer knowledge.

My mother had pushed us to buy a Mac, which were VASTLY superior to Windows PCs at the time, but we were both convinced that "IBM Compatible" was the key and that the Mac was a dying platform. Part of that was the fact that my uncle watched the available software for his Apple IIGS disappear with the arrival of the Macintosh and it's new, incompatible software. So we went with the market leader and ignored my mom. As it would turn out, I should have listened to my mother - something that has proven true on many occasions.

As my interest in graphics and video grew, so did my need for processing power. The packard bell's 256 color was unacceptable and the speed of ISA videocards in 16bit or 24bit color was horrible. I began to search for a means to output my computer screen to tape so that I could record my graphic creations to VHS. This search sparked my path toward digital video editing and a long string of video-capture card purchases.

In 1995, I started college and upgraded to a custom built Pentium 120 from a computer shopper vendor call Royal. This system had a Matrox Millenium, a fantastic 2D accelerator, and 16MB of system RAM. It was at this point that I encountered Apple computer again. A new friend in school had a Power Mac 6100. I was surprised by everything he could do with his Mac, while I just getting Windows 95 to work on my new PC.

Thus began 4 years of "discussions" regarding the Mac platform and it's closed (though more advanced) architecture versus the Windows/Intel platform and its "open" architecture, which I felt would always catch up to the Mac and be cheaper at the same time. Of course, during that time I never actually USED a Mac for more then 5 minutes. Ah, ignorance is bliss... or is it...

Through school I had gone through an insane number of motherboards, chips and cases. Sometimes I replaced the motherboard after a new card caused unfixable conflicts. Sometimes they came as part of a CPU/RAM/Mobo upgrade. I had motherboards burn out and power supplies fail, and just about every other PC problem you could encounter. My system went from that Pentium 120 with a number of motherboard replacements to a Pentium II 300mhz to a 400mhz in a dual processor Tyan motherboard that I later swapped with two Pentium III 550s. I then replaced that system (giving it to my dad) with an 800mhz athlon after seeing that After Effects barely used the second processor.

At the time, I enjoyed the upgrade process though it took a day or more for the complete build and software install, depending on how well the new hardware worked with the old. I always used the best motherboards available (the key to any custom PC rig). Throughout this time I had also gone through a series of video capture cards, learning about non-linear editing and seeking a stable and reliable system. First an Intel Indeo quarter screen card (ISA), then a Media Studio Pro card (ISA), then the MiroVideo DC10(ISA), then the Fast AV Master (PCI, and the best card of the bunch) then the Targa Bravado 2000 (which couldn't play across a cut in premiere without a glitch and was therefore essentially broken by design - and never fixed) then the Pinnacle DV500 (which had such bad lag on it's timeline controls that it was useless) followed by the Canopus DV Raptor, which I returned as part of my conversion to the Mac (we'll get to that later).

I was now out of college and working as a production assistant for MTV where I got my first taste of the Macintosh user experience. My computer at work was a G4 400mhz running OS 9. It was less stable than my Windows 2000 Athlon system and would hard freeze if I attempted too many actions at once. I also hated having to manually tell applications how much RAM to use. The interface was very foreign, though I was able to immediately use it. I was initially baffled by its simplicity. My first impression wasn't great and I resisted, though I was now surrounded by Macs. I even got into PC vs. Mac debates at work, trying to convince people that you could do the same things on a PC and that the systems are faster and cheaper.

As I used the Mac more and started getting good with Adobe After Effects in addition to Photoshop and Illustrator, I began to appreciate the fact that the system ran for months on end without any strange degradation of the system. It has been my experience throughout the duration of my life as a PC user that any Windows system under heavy multi-purpose use slowly rots and needs a clean reinstall. Over time, startup error messages start to appear on reboot. The system becomes slower and less responsive. Things stop working with cryptic errors. This didn't (and still doesn't) happen with the Mac. No windows registry, no problem.

I also began to prefer the "feel" of the Mac. I'll devote another article to my take on the Mac user interface and experience, but in short I started preferring the way the Mac handled its windows and interface over Microsoft Windows. I even tried making my home Windows system look like Mac OS, though the system hacks generally weren't very effective and only destabilized the system.

Then I tried Final Cut Pro. Final Cut is the best editing interface on earth. Period. And it works on any Mac with Firewire. No special drivers, just plug in your deck/camera and go. My long quest for solid video capture and editing had ended. That was it. I needed a Mac. A combination of my frustration with the video capture and editing solutions, my growing preference for the Mac interface and increasing lack of interest in devoting days of my life to rebuilding my Windows systems lead me to switch.

You see, I used to love building PCs. It was fun to troubleshoot and I learned most of what I know about computers on the PC. I had zip disks of carefully organized and up-to-date drivers for all my peripherals ready for every Windows reinstall, which is inordinately frequent. But once I got a job and needed my system to be a reliable tool under deadlines. I didn't want to fiddle anymore. I wanted it to work. I wanted a predictable computer. I didn't want to fix my computer anymore, the fun came in USING it.

So I ordered a 400 mhz G4 tower with minimal RAM and storage. I added my PC's RAM to the machine to bring it up to a 512 and added my PC's second hard drive for more storage. I had just happily moved from an 800 mhz PC to a 400 mhz Mac, and was loving it. Now my gaming performance went in the can, as the Mac didn't have the same fast video cards as the PC (today, that’s no longer a problem), and there weren't many Mac ports of PC games available (still true, though improving). But gaming wasn't my focus anymore and I was happy enough to play the occasional Quake III death-match to satisfy my gaming needs or play a console.

Remember that this switch to the Mac was before Mac OSX, iTunes and iLife, the iPod, or the G5. Today, the platform is TEN TIMES more desirable then it was when I switched. But this hardcore PC enthusiast was won over anyway.

Since that first Mac purchase I've sold that 400mhz G4 Tower to my roommate, who switched from PC as well, bought a G4 iMac and a 400 mhz G4 Powerbook, sold both of those for an 800 mhz Powerbook and Dual 1ghz G4 tower, and then sold both of those for a new 15" Aluminum Powerbook and Dual 2ghz G5. In each sale I was able to get more than 50% of what I originally paid, something that's impossible in the PC world where systems are relegated to the trash heap in 6 months. All those machines are still in use as well. So much for the added cost of switching to the Mac. I easily spent more per year on my PC upgrades and replacement and left many more parts in the trash in the process.

So I conclude this nerd's computer-life history. I'm now a fully baked Mac-fanatic and as a commercial director make my living with Apple products. As I save this entry in iBlog, I am struck by a feature in my new Powerbook that makes for a fitting end to this grand document. I am currently on a bus to my parents house from my beloved New York City. It's 4:00pm and dusk has not yet set in. As the bus passes under each overpass and through each tunnel, the Powerbook screen automatically dims and the keyboard backlit glows on, illuminating the letters on each key. It's a simple feature that is simply amazing and lets me keep working uninterrupted. Try that on a Dell.

p.s. I'd wish I could say that most of my entries won't be this long, but I'm afraid I can't make that promise. Hope you enjoyed.

- john