Computers and More Computers

I just watched the movie, "Welcome to Macintosh" today for the second time. I remember my first computer. It was a tiny box that I had to attach to my TV and was from Sears or some catalog company. Unfortunately, I had no knowledge of programming so it was useless to me at that time. Then I started working with Apple II's at school. I got the little rocket ship to launch using the programming. But I didn't have the skills for programming language. I just loved gadgets. I got my first usable computer in 1987 or 1988, an Apple IIc. I loved this thing! I could print banners and worksheets and save tons of stuff (well, maybe not tons). It used 5-1/4 inch floppies and had no internal memory except for the BIOS. Then I started getting into PC's. My first was a 286 but I quickly traded that for a 386, or at least upgraded the parts inside the case. My first laptop from the early 1990's has only 4 megs of RAM and it cost me almost $400 to upgrade that to 8. I had to plug an external floppy drive in to use one. It was an Epson subcompact and was as heavy as a couple of bricks. I built my first computer in the mid 90's. Man, that baby had the best components I could buy and so many lights and flashes on it I could light up a room. I still have it. I have talked about getting rid of it but haven't been able to part with it or the one I built after that. My problem with building computers is the motherboard. I lack the ability to put the screws in without dropping one. So both of the computers I bought have a screw clacking around when the cases are moved. Call it a signature.

Next came my titanium powerbook from Apple. It was 12 inches and was a great size. Yes, I was converted to the dark side. I love Macs but we have a PC environment at work so I am now bicomputeral. Is that a word? Well, I just invented it, I guess.

The problem with using both is that, unless you use dual booting or a program like Parallels, you can't use a program on both operating systems. So that means more money in order to buy programs for both.

I still love Macs but my 17 inch computer is a PC. So what is a person to do? If Apple and PC's could get together to create an operating system that would recognize either, that would be great. And why do we have to keep paying for updates to our operating systems from either Apple or PC's? No, I know that there are free operating systems out there but I use Windows at work and that is what came with my laptop. So I stay with it. I tried Red Hat Linux but couldn't get into it. I still have little skill in programming. I still just love pushing buttons, or more accurately, I like clicking on things.