My first computer was an Apple 2e. My parents bought it for me in 1983, brand-spanking-new and ready to go. I was fourteen years old and I didn’t ‘get’ Apple back then. I didn’t ‘get’ computers back then, either.
There was a game on the Apple 2e called ‘Dogfight.’ Two players piloted Asteroid-esque jet fighters against one another on screen, each fumbling with a specific set of keys on the keyboard. It was a crude game, and a clumsy way to play, but my friends and I loved it.
But the Apple 2e had a strange operating system that was difficult to understand. The experience was funky, didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t ‘get’ it.
Move forward a year. I hadn’t been doing much with the 2e, ‘Dogfight’ had long since lost its glamor, like most games do with time. It was late January, 1984, and watching TV, I saw this Orwellian commercial. Countless drones gazed, cow-eyed, at a huge screen with some overlord yammering on about this or that. Suddenly a woman appeared and hefted a monstrous hammer at the screen. The screen exploded. She took it apart. She took apart the future. She used a hammer.
I thought about that a lot. I was fifteen. I wanted a hammer.
We had this old, dusty, wooden walk-in closet in the basement within which my father kept his tools. That closet always scared me to death. It was dark, cold, tattooed in countless spider webs. Creepy. But I needed a hammer. So I walked in, timid, flashlight in hand. The tool closet was a mess. My flashlight sputtered on and off, dying batteries, the light choking. It freaked me out. I could only find a screwdriver – that would have to do. It was a creepy experience. Even at fifteen.
I walked back upstairs to my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I popped open the Apple 2e (which didn’t even require the screwdriver) and started deconstructing my computer. I took it apart, one piece at a time. This piece must make the video work. That piece must have something to do with sound. One piece at a time. It was a good experience. I educated myself. I began to ‘get’ it.
In my late teens and early twenties, I owned eight computers, all built by myself, some for gaming, others not. From my thirties into my forties, I’ve owned two machines. Both, Apple computers. Using my Mac Pro is a great experience.
Education. Experience.
Thanks, Steve. 2e. I think I ‘get’ it now.