Switching to Back to Apple

In November of 1984, I purchased one of the first Apple Macintosh’s. It was a great computer! I was serving in the US Air Force at the time and we were just getting the Zenith Z–150 (IBM compatible) PC’s in the office at work. These computers were “good” for what we did with them, though I could have done a lot more with a Mac at the time. The software we used with the Z–150’s were WordStar, dBase II and Lotus 123. That’s when I fell in love with the “office suite of apps”. Anyway, I had a Mac! I was a fanboy!

John Scully and My Hatred for Apple

About the time John Scully forced Steve Jobs out of Apple, I started having problems with my Mac over-heating. At my local users group (of which, I was the President), I asked how many people were having this problem. Sixty percent said they were experiencing the same problem. I contacted Apple and they said there was ‘no problem with over-heating’. John Scully’s people obviously was not concerned about the Macintosh users and just wanted to make his Apple IIe and IIc users happy. Steve Jobs’ main concern was the Mac and John Scully did not want Steve or the Mac to be a success! That’s my personal opinion.

I was angry enough with Apple to vow to “never” buy anything from them again. When I say that you have to remember that John Scully did not want to sell the Mac at the Steve Jobs price of $1,995.00, he set the price at $2,495.00. In 1984, that was a lot of money (just over $5,500.00 in todays money). Plus, with the Apple ImageWriter printer, and the software I purchased, I spent almost $5,000.00 back then. (In todays money, that’s almost $10,000.00!)

After My Mac

In 1987, I got a job as a sales consultant for ComputerLand of Sherman (Texas). We had a few Mac’s, but they didn’t sell well in that area. People wanted the less expensive IBM PC’s and clones. I got heavily into DOS and really enjoyed what I could do with it. We sold the PC’s and later starting networking them together.

For almost 20 years after loosing my Mac, I was so made at Apple, that I wouldn’t buy any of their products.

The iPod Intrigued Me

Around 2005, I was getting interested in the iPod. I had switched careers and was driving a truck. I didn’t get many radio stations and was always having to change radio stations because I was driving from place to place. To say the least, I was not happy with that and wanted a way to listen to music while driving.

I got the first video iPod (30g of storage) and fell in love with it’s simplicity and quality. I could put all of my music on it and had room for podcasts.

The iPod got my hooked into the Apple environment.

The First iPhone

In 2007, I bought the first iPhone after my Treo 650 finally died. I will tell you that I loved having the Treo 650. Having a smart phone was fantastic and I knew then, that I’d never go back to just a plain phone.

As a truck driver and having Google Maps on my iPhone was a huge help to me. I also had my music and podcasts on my iPhone and the camera was wonderful. At this point, I would never look back at putting together computer equipment not specifically made for anything other than the Apple environment.

My Second Macintosh

In 2013, I saved enough money to get my next computer. It was most certainly going to be an Apple Mac. Since I was a truck driver, it was going to be a laptop that I can take with me. Apple had just introduced the MacBook Air line. I had two choices. The 13“ MacBook Air or the 10” MacBook Air. I had purchased a 10“ HP MiniNote and really didn’t like the size of the screen, so I decided to go with the 13” Air. It’s 2017 now and it’s still my only computer at the house.

Today

Today, I carry with me the iPad Pro 12.9″ (with Apple Pencil) and an iPad Air. My phone is the iPhone 6s Plus.

As much as I would love to upgrade to a new iPhone each time they are introduced, I just can’t afford to do that. Besides, the quality of the iPhones are such that they will last for years and you really don’t have to upgrade. THE only reason to upgrade any more is for the new improvements to the phones. The cameras seem to be the thing that gets the best upgrades each time and if you’re heavy into taking a lot of photos, that might the best reason for upgrading.

You might be wondering why I would carry two iPads with me. Well, The iPad Air is my GPS and media center for my truck. It is mounted to the window and I use a truck GPS software to get me from point to point all over the United States. I’ve used it since I got my first iPhone and it has always done a very good job for me. I also use it for my media center, in that, it is my music center, my podcast player and after I shutdown at night, I watch TV shows and movies, via the Netflix app or Hulu or any one of many other cable channel apps.

My iPad Pro is my laptop replacement. I do everything else on it. My writing, my paperwork for the company I drive for and anything else I want to do. I purchased the Logitech Create keyboard and cover for it, so it gives my the feel of a laptop most of the time.

My MacBook Air will normally stay home and with Hazel, it manages my documents. It’s really wonderful to have a system setup to do a lot of things automatically.

The Future For Me

When I can afford to, I want to start getting some light bulbs and switches for the house that will work with my Apple devices. I really think home automation with be a great thing with my Apple devices. I have a blood pressure monitor that is at home waiting on me and it is one that will work with my iPhone. I can’t wait to start using it.