As retirement looms, a trip down memory lane
I’ve been writing this column for 26 years — more than 1,300 columns and a half-million words — and as much as I love doing it, my wife and I are ready to retire, so my next column will be my last.
This has been the best gig I’ve ever had, and before I go, I wanted to thank y’all for making it possible.
I’d like to spend my last few column inches with a stroll down memory lane.
My first column ran on March 24, 1996, and was full of tips for speeding up your Mac, plus mini-reviews of Speed Doubler (Connectix) and Marathon 2: Durandal (Bungie).
A few weeks later (April 14, 1996) I said, “There are only two kinds of Mac users: those who have lost data, and those who are going to,” for the first time (I’ve said it at least a dozen more times since then because, sadly, it’s still true today.) I went on to recommend Dantz Technologies’ $150 Retrospect backup software and a $700 digital audio tape (DAT) drive from APS Technologies.
America Online vs. CompuServe for Mac Users was the headline of my May 19, 1996, column. Need I say more?
In my last column of 1996, I made some predictions:
• USRobotics new technology, x2, which offers download performance (56Kps) that rivals ISDN (64 to 128Kps), will be well-entrenched by the end of the year.
• 1997 will be the year you hear about DVD (if you haven’t already).
• Iomega’s popular Zip (100Mb) and Jaz (1Gb) cartridge drives will continue to grow in popularity, further eclipsing SyQuest.
• The hip Game Sprockets technologies make it easier than ever to develop great games for the Mac.
I think I mostly nailed them — even the fourth one (proven by the myriad great games for the Mac these days).
Moving right along, in 1997, when Apple purchased NeXT and announced that Steve Jobs was returning to Apple, I said, “Huh? Have pigs begun flying? Have the Cubs won a pennant? Did hell freeze over? Apple bought NeXT? Steve Jobs has returned?” It turned out to be a smart move for Apple, which went on to become the most successful consumer electronics brand on earth under his command.
Later that year, Apple introduced the PowerPC G3 processor, which prompted me to proclaim that “The new G3 computers — desktop, minitower, and PowerBook—are the best and fastest personal computers I’ve ever seen.”
Quick aside: I’ve called at least a dozen Mac models, “the best and fastest,” since then and it was true every time.
In early 1998 I warned against installing the upgrade to Mac OS 8.1 until some of its bugs were quashed, a warning I’d repeat almost every time Apple introduced a “pointzero” macOS release since.
Tune in next week for tales from the new millennium and the thrilling conclusion to Dr. Mac after 26 (mostly wonderful) years.