‘I slowly creep through the dark, parting the cobwebs before me, suddenly ahead a halo of white light, bathing in the glow before me, I slowly caress the surface so smooth as to almost feel of nothing, the words then escape my lips “My Preciousssss” ‘
I have always been one for using old tech normally a long time after people deem it ‘obsolete’, some of this is necessity because I do not have the budget for new shiny things, but its also because I love being able to utilise old tech in a practical way. Why throw it in landfill when it can still be useful.
So I am sitting here typing this blog on a 20 inch iMac G5 circa 2004/2005 in 2019. To me it’s the perfect blogging and computer for my present needs. I have great software to write with. I have access to the internet but at a level that doesn’t distract me and access to numerous pieces of software that enables me to do what I want easily. In later episodes I will explain my software and sources.
So i’ll start by giving you some of my Apple history. I’ve had an on/off relationship with Macs over the years going from love to hate. In my former life in the Print industry in the 1990s Macs were eponymous in desk top publishing and anything art related. I always loved the Mac OS being a long term user of OS 7 and 8.
One of my biggest issues with Macs has always been their price, at times you were and are paying more for the way they look rather than functionality. In 1995 till around 1997 Apple actually licensed clones of their machines officially running mac OS, around 75 of these were produced in that period. I actually owned one (it was actually gifted to me), this was a power PC based computer that was considerably cheaper than a Mac. The 1990s (until the launch of the original iMac) this was seen by many as a Poor period for Apple with many boardroom troubles until the return of Steve Jobs.
I controversially actually think that Macs were in someways at there best then when it was more about function than aesthetics. To me OS 7 and 8 were far superior to Windows at the time. You will notice a trend in my opinions I seem to like things they are not popular then as soon as they become popular I seem to dislike them. I assure you this isn’t a conscious choice.
In 1998 I returned to University still using my Apple clone as my main computer. I started though to have issues with software compatibility for some of the programs I needed to use for my course. At the time it seemed that all large institutions were using Windows as the OS of choice, with those of us using a Mac OS deemed to be on the fringe. This was one of the issues with Macs through the 90s and early 2000s as great as the OS was and the native software, compatibility was an issue especially if you needed to switch between operating systems. So I ended up having to bite the bullet and buy a cheap windows laptop to do some of this work in Windows.
When I finished University and met my Wife she was a Windows person through and through, so when it became time to replace my trusty clone we opted for a machine running Windows Xp (which is still the best OS Microsoft has ever produced in my opinion). A few years later though we went back to apple due to the design work my wife was doing using G3 macbooks and an iMac g4 (which we still have) predominantly. I then had a laptop supplied for work which had Windows Vista installed, I hated it so much I put a Linux distro on it. I have played with Linux a few times over the years but I have always found you need to do a lot of playing around to get it to where you want it and I really just want stuff that works and does what I want with minimum of fuss. As you can tell I seem to have jumped off the Apple bandwagon when everyone else is jumping on again.
After that I have mainly used a Toshiba laptop originally running Windows 8 (then 8.1) yet again I was out of general consensus and actually really liked Windows 8/8.1. I was really disappointed when I upgraded to Windows 10 ,now i’ve got used to it overall I’m happy with it but still miss the heady days of Windows 8 and the tiles.
I’ve always in my mind wanted to go back to a desktop machine for a lot on my work. I find the Toshiba laptop fine but as I mainly use it at my Desk I miss a proper Desktop set up especially for simple things like writing.
‘In the next exciting episode we find out what lies in the depths of a charity shop and find out if it really is my preciousss’
