Recently I have been hearing folks bashing Apple for being a mega huge industry giant. People are concerned about legacy since Steve Jobs has taken a medical leave. Also I have noticed the millenial crowd views Apple as another faceless corporation, a la Microsoft. Saying there is no difference between Microsoft and Apple pains me!

Yummers.

My first mac was a 7100/80 in the late 1990s. It was blazing fast. I could do printing in the background. My world was rocked! While I was never into gaming (except tetris), it was commonly known that peripherals were a huge deal to gamers. Microsoft controlled a lot of the gaming market back then and there were many, many issues with compatibility for the mac user. With Apple’s departure from ADB to USB, I saw a spirit of cooperation. Finally we could hot swap our peripherals out, PLUS we could use our devices with other types of computers. There was just the one problem, Microsoft’s USB did not adhere to the standards everyone else’s did. Mac users would buy so called USB compatible devices to find that it was completely hit or miss. Don’t even get me started on the windows networking issues… “The mac is just so insecure could take down your whole network” I remember a windows admin telling me once. Not so!

I remember being made fun of, not being able to get peripherals, not being able to hop on networks, just for having a mac. All of that trouble was due to the fact Apple was the little guy, the outsider. It is still hard for me to see Apple as a big faceless giant, although I admit they have pulled some gianty moves. For example, iPod cables used to just be USB a to b or firewire, now it is proprietary. Apple also abandoned universal standard DVI for the ill-fated ADC. After limited success with ADC it was abandoned for a bundled, but more DVI-like proprietary cable.

When the iPod came along it rocked our worlds again. I had the first generation iPod with firewire (and still do), it was the first and only one to sync with OS 9. For years I have listened to claptrap about how other devices coming out are cheaper or better and THEY will become the true market leader.

In 2010 we were graced with the iPad, which I ordered the very first day it was available. Now industry bloggers say the Google, Samsung tablet or tablet x is going to come along and undercut it. It’s been about a year since the iPad was launched. I am still waiting for the upheaval to happen…

That felt a bit catty, so to you Apple haters out there I simply say this: MEOW!

purrrrr