I have always considered Apple Mac computers to be out of my price
range, but when the topic came up in conversation with our parish
priest, he ended up giving me a used Mac Cube that he had laying
unused in a drawer for years since he had bought it at auction.
Not having seriously used a Mac since university, I find myself
exploring a world that I have been observing from the outside for
nearly thirty years.
After thirty years using a variety of Unix-inspired and Windows
computers, it is now obvious to me how influential Mac OS, even, or
perhaps especially "classic" pre-OS X Mac OS has been on the systems
that have been developed since Mac's debut.
The Mac Cube, which I've named "deni", is the oldest computer
currently in my stable, but its sleek plexiglass-encased cubic form
makes it look the most futuristic of my six computers. It is easy to
see why the Power Mac G4 Cube's design was considered prize- and
museum-worthy when it debuted in 2000.
However, on the inside the design is showing its age. Originally
marketed as "the best Internet terminal", the latest operating system
version supported by the G4 Cube is already seven years old and lacks
support for some of the latest content viewers, and the
thirteen-year-old hardware is definitely slow by current standards.
Although my first thought was to use the Mac as a media player, its
performance is no longer good enough to compete with newer
computers. Instead, I'm going to make deni a game machine to
encourage me and the family to learn about Mac.
What software will best show-off the Mac's unique qualities? It's a
more difficult question than I anticipated. Although Mac's approach
was once unique, a little research on "best mac games" shows a degree
of parity has been reached between Mac, Windows, the various game
consoles (and to a lesser degree even Linux), with most popular games
being available on most platforms.
If the software used on Macs today is basically the same as other
computers and similar devces, what were the qualities that originally
made Mac software unique? The reputation was:
- Visual: program state is depicted graphically
- Tactile: input by manipulating graphic elements
- Intuitive: Operation is easy to induce from visual presentation
- High design and style
In other words, the same qualities that made Mac hardware and
operating system notable in the first place.
Of course, not every Mac program measures up by these standards, and
every program falls at least a little short in some aspect, just as
the Mac itself isn't flawless in exemplifying the ideals it
introduced.
But it can be said that the Mac approach has won the battle in the
sense that the above criteria are considered ideals for programs on
all platforms and no longer for Mac software only.
