Proud to have been an Early Adopter

[SegwayDan]

The Segway was but one of the things or activities I adopted "early."

The Apple Macintosh computer preceded it by about two decades. That machine intrigued me, too, in its own way. A graphical user interface was unique at the time, and the Mac introduced "icons", "desktops", and "pointing and clicking", amongst other original concepts involving the use of computers.

It was soon copied but, happily, never bettered. Apple survived through thick and thin, and is now enjoying some of its best and most exciting days, as am I as a loyal customer.

The upcoming WorldWide Developer Conference promises to reveal yet more new "Apple fruit."

What's very gratifying to me is that a company such as Apple has continued to improve its products as it responds to both its customers' needs and wants, while it continues to invest in improving the breadth of its offerings as well as maintain the same inherent thread of quality, which quality reflects the ever-viable SPIRIT of the company, the group effort of Apple's leadership, its management, and its employees.

As a child and young man, I used to admire General Motors automobiles. Friends of the family had a beautiful yellow '58 Chevy Impala. And my grandpa bought a '59 Chevy Bellair. And my uncle bought a new Olds Ninety Eight every couple years. Wow. I wanted to own a good car like that some day. But a company and its products are only as good as its people, and GM blew it majorly in the '70s and '80s and never recovered.

I saw this same spark of spirit in the quality and wisdom of the Segway's design and manufacturing, and I haven't been sorry for a moment for having bought a first generation machine. It's been fantastic fun and a real pioneering adventure.

And I have every expectation that Segway will not only survive but will eventually prosper as it learns from its past mistakes and builds upon its strengths.

[Tarkus]

The Segway was but one of the things or activities I adopted "early."

The Apple Macintosh computer preceded it by about two decades. That machine intrigued me, too, in its own way. A graphical user interface was unique at the time, and the Mac introduced "icons", "desktops", and "pointing and clicking", amongst other original concepts involving the use of computers.

It was soon copied but, happily, never bettered. Apple survived through thick and thin, and is now enjoying some of its best and most exciting days, as am I as a loyal customer.

The upcoming WorldWide Developer Conference promises to reveal yet more new "Apple fruit."

What's very gratifying to me is that a company such as Apple has continued to improve its products as it responds to both its customers' needs and wants, while it continues to invest in improving the breadth of its offerings as well as maintain the same inherent thread of quality, which quality reflects the ever-viable SPIRIT of the company, the group effort of Apple's leadership, its management, and its employees.

As a child and young man, I used to admire General Motors automobiles. Friends of the family had a beautiful yellow '58 Chevy Impala. And my grandpa bought a '59 Chevy Bellair. And my uncle bought a new Olds Ninety Eight every couple years. Wow. I wanted to own a good car like that some day. But a company and its products are only as good as its people, and GM blew it majorly in the '70s and '80s and never recovered.

I saw this same spark of spirit in the quality and wisdom of the Segway's design and manufacturing, and I haven't been sorry for a moment for having bought a first generation machine. It's been fantastic fun and a real pioneering adventure.

And I have every expectation that Segway will not only survive but will eventually prosper as it learns from its past mistakes and builds upon its strengths.

Come on Dan, there had to be an Edsel in the mix somewhere !!

[SegwayDan]

Yeah, but I thought the Edsel was damn ugly from the get go--AND it was a Ford!! Two major strikes against was enough for me to steer clear.

And where was the innovation, anyway? Non existent. Just a capricious whim of an arrogant Ford family offspring.

[Sal]

Dan,

Great post!

We are the few, the proud, early adopters.. even people who buy a Segway today or tomorrow, are "early" adopters, since it still hasn't "caught on."

-Sal

P.S. I'm a Mac-Zealot as well.

[SegwayDan]

Thanks, Sal! I hope to learn about the Intel-based PowerMac next month. We currently have a G5 2.0GHz Dual, Mac Mini, G4 Cube, and I just gave my TiPB 500 to my son. How about you?

[Sal]

My Dad first bought a Performa 6115 (the "pizza box") when I was in High School. He's a graphic designer, so it was all Macs for me (thank goodness).

Then we went through our Blue & White G3s, and then the (speedy at that time) 500Mhz G4s. LOL

Now I have a 2Ghz Dual Core G5, a 1.33MHz 12" Powerbook, and a Dual 800MHz Quicksilver G4 (in the closet!).

I'm thinking I'm going to use the Quicksilver as a JukeBox... Any ideas on what you'd do with a Mac just sitting idly by?

Oh!!! Anyone know if the iButton software is available for Macs?

-Sal

[SegwayDan]

In addition to its being a jukebox, you can of course share disk space on it with the other Macs. If you experience any skipping during music play you may want to buy a gigabit ethernet card for it, as the new machines come with such as standard features.

If you got Timbuktu or Apple Remote Desktop you could run programs remotely on it from your other Macs. You need to buy a copy of TB2 for each machine. ARD comes with a 10-machine license.

[Desert_Seg]

Hmmmm, me thinks this post is now ready for the OT board.

Just bored and being a pain, I know.

Steven

[pam]

Well, it was half OT at its start :). I'm not sure why, but we have a lot of members who love both HTs and Macs.
Pam

[SegwayDan]

Sorry, Steve. For what it's worth I promised myself not to take it any further. :-)

[SegwayDan]

Beg to differ, Pam. It wasn't half OT at its start. I was simply providing a little "early adopter" background color by mentioning Macs in my initial post. ;-)

[byped]

Well, it was half OT at its start :). I'm not sure why, but we have a lot of members who love both HTs and Macs.
Pam


I'm compelled to purchase a segway...now I know why!:D

[SegwayDan]

So are you poised to purchase the rumored new Intel-Powermac, or whatever they're going to call it?

[byped]

So are you poised to purchase the rumored new Intel-Powermac, or whatever they're going to call it?

My trusty G4 iMac is still holding out. I'll wait till next year be for I spring for a new one... but still probably just another iMac (Intel Dual Core).

I would expect that the new powermacs will be more of the same in comparision to the iMac line. A better bus, drives and greater expansion capabilities. This home run would be a multiprocessor configuration out of the gates. Right now a dual G5 is pretty quick... much more so than any Intel iMac right now.

[Sal]

Well, from all the techie sites, Apple has been waiting for the Core 2 Duo to be placed in the pro lineup. OS X is capable of handling up to 16 microprocessors concurrently, and quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if Apple had just one "way out there" model with 8 or more processors for Final Cut, or other pro level apps... that would be insane, and expensive.

But as byped said, a dual G5 is pretty darn fast, especially if one doesn't really care about binary apps. I have everything I need... at least for the next few years.

Sal

[Desert_Seg]

I've been debating jumping back into the Apple world. I started as an Apple user, shifted over to the so-called "Dark Side (Windows) in the late 80's, and have only dabbled in the Apple world since then (although my mother would only use Macs).

With the new Intel processors being able to run native Windows (a feature I recently tried) there is little reason for me NOT to switch. The one drawback is my more than 8 years of e-mails that I have archived. Sure, I don't ever go back more than 6 or 8 months but even that type of research would be a pain for a while.

BTW, if I make the jump, I'm looking at a MacBook PRO, 15" screen.....sweet machine!

Steven

[Sal]

Steven,

I would wait a couple of months. The MacBook Pro is about to see a significant speed bump.

-Sal

As far as porting over emails... Apple Mail and other Mac-based email programs have filters and converters for most major windows based email apps. I don't think you'll have to worry about getting your documents / emails over to the Mac.

[SegwayDan]

I've been debating jumping back into the Apple world. I started as an Apple user, shifted over to the so-called "Dark Side (Windows) in the late 80's, and have only dabbled in the Apple world since then (although my mother would only use Macs).

With the new Intel processors being able to run native Windows (a feature I recently tried) there is little reason for me NOT to switch. The one drawback is my more than 8 years of e-mails that I have archived. Sure, I don't ever go back more than 6 or 8 months but even that type of research would be a pain for a while.

BTW, if I make the jump, I'm looking at a MacBook PRO, 15" screen.....sweet machine!

Steven
Listen to your mother! There's some obvious wisdom there. ;-)

With Parallels Desktop just released it seems that you'd be able to have a pretty fully-featured Windows setup on a new Intel Mac without having to re-boot between "sides."

Another timely event is the Apple Developer conference which convenes next month, at which time the new OS 10.5, Leopard, will be unveiled. I wouldn't be surprised to learn of enhanced Windows operability.

[Desert_Seg]

One of the reasons I was going to switch now was because I"m scheduled to be in the US in a couple of weeks and unlike Windows machines (which are cheaper out here) Macs are cheaper in the US (about $2,900 for a 15" Pro).

Of course, I can always wait until October and buy it at SegfesT!

Is Parallel Desktop different than the current config where you do have to reboot between sides?

Steven

[Sal]

From what I have heard parallels allows you to run Win in a window at the same time as OS X. Like a Virtual OS. UNless I'm thinking of another piece of SW.

_Sal

[KSagal]

You guys might as well know it. I started PC and never looked back. I did resist windows for a while, as I did not like the entire concept, and the whole operating systems that went with it...

Just like it was supposed to do, I have been away from the working code for so long, I have become the mindless baboon clicking on pictures that I was brainwashed to be...

Ooooo! A smilely face... I think i'll click it.... duh!

[SegwayDan]

Is Parallel Desktop different than the current config where you do have to reboot between sides?

Steven
Here's the link: http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Read all about it!

[Desert_Seg]

I was a coder for many years, still dabble, especially in the UNIX world, but boy has it been a while.

I dont' hate Windows. In fact I think it is a very good thing because it made the PC workable for all. However, Windows has tried to become so simple that it has created countless other problems, bloatware and memory hog are two that come to mind.

It is the inefficient use of memory that kills me the most. My coding was always neat and tried to make the best use of both memory and processing speed. Windows does as long as you have tons of memory and then their programs don't want to release it, a problem caused by our instant gratification society.

Since Mac is based on Unix it must use memory carefully, else Unix will burp the and program will stink!

Steven