Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Suprised

I hate it when I'm wrong. You've probably guessed that I'm a bit opinionated. Well, maybe more than just a bit.

Long ago when I first met a personal computer it was after a few days on the job at Northrop Aircraft Division. The halls full of engineering geeks in plaid double-knit sport coats with striped ties that ended a half-mile above their belts all used IBM machines. They found nothing at all confusing about colon-double back-slash-"c"-blah-blah-blah as a means of communicating with their machine.

Waiting for my security clearance to come through so that I could actually participate in my job, I rooted around in the salvage area for a computer to learn on. I found an Apple III. I know. You've heard of a million Apple II versions, but never a III. You may have even heard of Lisa. I cobbled a setup and set to becoming computer literate.

A few weeks later my fighter pilot boss acquired a couple of brand new MacIntosh boxes. Color screen, mouse control and graphic interface were all right up my alley. Since the other geeks looked down their collective noses at a common man system, I got one of the Macs. I loved it and while I never reached the emotional attachment of the Mac Disciples, I expressed disdain for PCs.

Then came Windows 3.1 and when I got around to buying my first PC it was an IBM clone not a Mac. Over the years I've looked at Apple's locked system, high prices and restrictive policies and simply gone farther and farther to the Dark Side.

When iPhone locked up with AT&T which simply doesn't have any sort of coverage in N. Texas, I scoffed at the folks who raved about their wunder-fones. Yep, there's probably an app for scoffing.

Then I got a Blackberry Storm and after a week of initially being impressed soon became disillusioned with the cludgy implementation of a touchscreen. Getting something done was painful rather than a help.

New car offered an iPod hookup for music and prodded me to rip my collection of CDs and at Christmas get an iPod. That got me into the library of apps and the Apple iteration of touchscreens. I was dazzled at the difference.

This week brought iPhone to Verizon and I was eligible to upgrade. Got my iPhone 4 yesterday and despite that slowness of iTunes which apparently is Steve Jobs last jab at PC  users for not seeing the light, I love the phone. The touchscreen is done right. The software anticipates what I want and need. The incredible range of apps is still being explored. But finally, I can see comfortable web browsing, travel searches, nav help, data entry, voice command, syncing of libraries and maybe even, heaven forbid, texting.

6 comments:

LauraB said...

It is time for a new phone but it must work well w/ Outlook. You tempt me to jump into the iPhone waters but...sync'ing must be seamless...do you sync at all to MS Office?

Ed Rasimus said...

Absolutely. It happens through iTunes, but it grabs your contacts, calendar, memos, to-do list and also syncs your favorites list from your browser. You can choose your media or let it grab your entire library. Tunes, video, pix and audio books included.

juvat said...

I'm very happy with my Windows 7 phone. Not a lot of apps...yet, but I like the interface and the fact that for most notifications, I just look at the screen, don't have to start anything. and yes, it works with Outlook.

TheOtherLarry said...

Welcome to the dark side, Ed.

'Resistance is futile'

Dweezil Dwarftosser said...

I'm saddened.

I know there might come a time when a man turns to slow, shuffling waltzes - instead of fiery Tangos; a time when he grows to prefer Jello and creamed corn over thick steaks and potatoes; prune juice instead of fine Scotch or the liquid bread of a hearty beer . . .

But choosing mindless, expensive Apple products over genuine PCs?

There really are more choices available than 'the dark side' of Microsoft and the expensive 'artsy-fartsy, gay' side of Apples.

An American hero must have fallen into his dotage . . . ah, well - it needn't diminish him or his accomplishments . . .

Please shoot me if I ever give an anything Apple an affectionate glance. It will be conclusive proof that my mind is finally gone!

;-)

MagiK said...

Jobs and Apple ensured I will not purchase any of their products until Jobs is long out of the picture, besides my Droid X does all that AND I don't have to give Jobs a cent of income :D