I'm going to tell you a story. It's about my introduction to the Mac and where it has taken me. It contains greed, envy, lust and a disguised swear word. It has sorrow, frustration, anger and another swear word near the end, but it isn't a bad one. It's a whirlwind story about my struggles with debt, anxiety and the need for power all because of a company called 'Apple Computer Inc.'
It's mid 1993. I'm producing a magazine for a hospice in which I work as a carer. It is a hobby born out of story writing and making my own books. I created the magazine to raise money for the home, as it was charity funded and to fuel my interest in publishing. Patients and staff contributed work to it. I loved producing the layout, but it was never good enough, I wanted more freedom and wished there was an easier way of doing it. Cutting, pasting and typing on a Canon Starwriter 80 was all I had and knew.
I went to Reading college to attend a DTP course. My life changed. I was introduced to my first Mac. Sure, I'd seen Classics and SE30's in specialist shops, but I'd never actually 'used' one until now. It was an old IIcx with an A4 portrait b&w monitor. It ran on System 6.x and we used Aldus PageMaker 2 or was it 3? A strange feeling began deep within me.
At home that evening I looked at my Starwriter. Yes, I just had to have my own Mac. You see, it's not until you start using a Mac that you realize you are working without thinking. I had no fear of 'what will this button do?'. After being taught, intuition took over. It was great and I was hooked. My god, once a week wasn't enough. I had to have more.
I completed that course and a higher course (it didn't seem any different to me). I asked the tutor about Mac's. He threw lots of technobabble at me and I retreated in fear of overload. Perhaps I was wrong about Mac's, perhaps they were complicated and dangerous. It worried me. So I wrote some info down and bought my first Mac mag, entitled appropriately enough, The Mac. (R.I.P. 1997).
I was spell-bound by all the ads and articles. I was actually interested in a computer mag. It worried me in fact. I looked at the adverts closely and noticed the prices. F***, I thought. That put an end to my little dream. But I kept on buying the mags such as Mac User, MacWorld and MacFormat.
"Performa 450/25 4/120 only £1499 ex VAT". From reading the mags I knew what all those figures meant, but the price! All the same, I was learning technobabble! Then in November '93, Performa 475/25 4/80 with the new 68040 chip only £899 ex VAT.
I realized at this point it didn't include the monitor or software. I'd read a review about QuarkXPress and decided that's the one I'd wanted. Those kerning thingies to fractions of a mm, were just what I needed. I thought. So I made my wish list. Performa 475, Quark, 14" monitor (color, there was a choice then) and a 600dpi laser printer. I just had to have it. I didn't want ClarisWorks (which is what I happen to be typing this in) or PageMaker. I didn't want a bubble/inkjet printer, I wanted a laser. Quality products produce quality results and I couldn't persuade myself otherwise. Everything became a want. Every page I turned I heard a voice say, 'I need, I want, I need.'
I phoned mail order companies for quotes. I used technobabble and was surprised that they didn't question me on it. Yes, I was becoming one them. Mac in the Box quoted me £3000 for those 4 desirable items. Two weeks later they'd gone bust. Then out came the Power Macs. Of course the 475 no longer held my interest. I wanted a Power Mac, they are the future. But then again the price! 6100/60 8/160 £1300 ex VAT in April '94. With the rest of the gear, it just couldn't be done. If there is one thing I hate it's those cunning ex VAT prices and the tiny unreadable inc VAT.
So I hammered away at my StarWriter. Saved my wages from the hospice and lo and behold, in August '94, the new LC630/33 8/350 £999 ex VAT came out at the same time my car loan expired. It wasn't a Power Mac, but the reviewers loved it and it had a CD as standard.
Things happened and in September '94, I owned an LC630/33 8/350, TI Microlaser pro 600 and Quark 3.3. I was a very chuffed man. I sold my Starwriter and transferred my magazine over to the Mac. But what a disaster! I had so much choice, so much area in which to chop and change my layouts and as many fonts as birds in the sky; the magazine took twice as long to produce. I kept changing and changing it.
Now I needed more speed. I looked at the Mac ads again. PowerPC was still the future and it dawned on me that I had bought a dying technology. My Mac was going to be the last ever 68LC040. (sob).
I had a new desire, sell the 630 and get the next affordable Mac. But I couldn't afford the next Mac, they were always just out of reach. March '95 brought us System 7.5. Yes, it was novel at first, but it didn't improve the 630 enough to quench my lust for Power.
June '95 saw the release of the Performa 6200/75 8/500 £999 ex VAT.
Sept '95 9500/120 16/1GB £4000 ex VAT.
Oct '95 7200/75 8/500 £999 ex VAT but it didn't have a CD. The 7200/90 did but cost an extra £400. (ex VAT).
Then I wanted/needed the 7500/100, 8500/120 and all the configurations. Every time I settled on a particular model, out came a new faster, better version. I could never afford one anyway. Unless I won the lottery or pools. But still, out they rolled. Dec '95 Performa 5300/6300/75 8/1.2GB £1400 ex VAT. It was painful seeing all those new Macs dancing and singing on the pages from hell!
I left the hospice in Sept '96 and move back home (South Shields). I enrolled on an ONC Graphic Design course at Newcastle College. They have Power Macs. I can play on them. But only once a week and I can only use their fonts! So I still crave my very own Power Mac.
8200/100. 7600/120, 9500/180 and up they climbed. And then the clones arrive by the sack full. I was tempted, but they were not Apple. I began to resent Apple for not being like the clones. They had better adverts and everything. But I couldn't bring myself to jump ship.
Perhaps I'll stick to Performas like the 6320/120 or the 5400/6400/180 Apple life savers (as they were hailed). But no, I wanted the 9500/200, 9500/180 MP, 7600/132, 6500/250, 4400/160, 4400/200, 7300/166, 8600/200 and eventually the 9600/350. My dreams grew ever more into fantasy. Performas were no good anyway. A review said serious users needed a 604e chip. I want to be a serious user!
I decided that my Mac worked well enough; infact it has more potential than I give it credit for, even though it has limited use in such things as 3D work and high end Photoshop. It even lets me 'surf' the net. It doesn't matter that pre Power Mac users are being abandoned by software houses in favour of raw power (inc Apple!) But then, times must and do move on. Why should I complain anyway, I could have been stuck with a PC with Windows 3.11!
I have curbed the urge for another loan and managed to suppress the desire for a Power Mac. So then what happens? Out come the bloody G3's and that craving starts up again. I must have a 266mhz G3 the 233 isn't good enough.
The fact is, I still can't afford one even if a new sub £1000 G3 is on the horizon, and my software needs upgrading to work on a Power PC too! Money, speed, power, will this torture ever end?
