My first Mac
In fact it was not mine, it was the original MacIntosh that we used for accounting, word processing on the company I worked for on my ‘85 summer job.
At this time I was a young developper, involved in electronic medias and electronic communications, having my own BBS (conceived and fully programmed by hand “EMP”) and I worked for an electronic media editor in Paris, France. But it’s another story…
This Mac was the first computer I used with a mouse and a graphical interface. It was expensive, so expensive that I just dreamed about it, and finally use it regularly during 2 months and half. Was marvellous, like a giant leap into the future, compared to DOS PC of these times or any other personal computer.
The most impressive thing is to be able to type a letter with a WYSIWYG interface, displaying exactly what will be printed, and to have it printed exactly as it was displayed on screen, including any font used, with simplicity and elegance. Kinda a natural way to work with a computer.
Naturally the floppy disk (you may never have seen one if you are under 25!) and the lack of memory slowed it down to a crawl sometimes, but the experience was great, and it enable people that wasn’t computer savvy to do computer-related tasks easily, with a fast learning curve.
The original Mac changed the world of computing, and any computer of today sport a little of it’s DNA on it’s interface, mouse, trackpad and ergonomic!