As you read this, Apple has already changed the world.
As I write this, we are still a day away from that monumental shift in the computer/communications world.
Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, and in the pre-event world in which I am writing from, many of the tech blogs have begun to mock the mind-numbing hype that has preceded Apple’s newest product. Jokes about letting users walk on water or access the Internet through demonic powers have become more prevalent than speculation over built-in cameras and size.
This is not to say that those mocking the hype are completely in the wrong. There has been a deluge of rumors, fake spy pictures and boding on Apple’s tablet computer. I think I even read a story linking it to one of Nostradamus’ prophecies.
However, there is some good reason for this excitement. Apple has repeatedly revolutionized the computer and gadget industry over the last few decades.
Turning the way-back machine to the 80s, Apple brought the first “personal computer” into our homes. My 16th birthday gift was an Apple IIc. That was in 86, and the home pc revolution was already kicking with IBM PC Jrs and Commodore 64s, but it was Apple that spearheaded that moment.
With the spread of beige-boxed IBM clones, Apple near faded away, but in 1998, they did it again. Introducing the iMac in 5 brilliant colors, with screen and computer built in one unit, Apple changed the rules on what a computer looked like. They also killed off the floppy disc, when they went CD only with the iMac.
Now, at this time, I wasn’t a Mac fan. The Apple IIc was a nice toy, but lack of support, software and the fact that my high school was all IBM had left me with little love for the rainbow apple. In college, I had to work with both Mac’s OS and Windows, and firmly determined that Macs were just as crappy as Windows, but Windows had more games. I didn’t buy another Mac again until I picked up a PowerPC at a garage sale for $200 that included a HP laser printer and monitor. I was more interested in the laser printer, and the Mac became just another toy, albeit with less games than my IIc had.
