The first time I used an Apple computer was...

[DainBramaged]

When I saw the news that Steve Jobs had died, my first thought was the terrible loss the technology world has suffered. My second thought brought me back to 1984 (give or take), when I was about 5 years old and my parents bought an Apple IIe. It was the first computer I ever used.

Even as a child, I knew there was something fundamentally new and exciting going on, that this was a step forward in human capability. At the very least, typewriters suddenly were archaic. Over the years, I used our first computer to write reports for school (sometimes) but spent many more hours playing games like Montezuma’s Revenge, Sherwood Forest, The Oregon Trail and Conan: Hall of Volta. I got lost in those games, and the keyboard picked up new specks of dirt with each passing month. My mother tells me we got the computer through a program called Apple for the Teacher, and it cost $2,000 even though she got a slight discount as a member of the School Committee. It was our family’s primary computer for at least five years. We used floppy disks to load software and save files, and sometimes when I was bored of video games I played another game called "see if you can destroy a floppy disk."

Later, our first Internet-enabled PCs ran MS-DOS and Windows, and the most exciting technology for me was Nintendo and the Game Boy. Apple didn’t have Mario. But Apple is the company that introduced me to computers, which have made so much of my own life possible. As a student and young adult I spent 20 years using Windows PCs, yet Apple creeped back into my life in 2004 when I bought my first iPod. I still use that iPod nearly every day, and its enduring nature and simplicity of use led me to several more Apple purchases, including an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. As an occasional history buff, I marvel at the impact Jobs and his competitor Bill Gates had on my life and the lives of so many others. But mostly, I remember what it was like when I first used an Apple computer.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/10/the-first-time-i-used-an-apple-computer-was.ars

A wonderful collection.


My first time was in the office of a giant company I worked for in the early 90's. The marketing department had Apple computers, and they designed the print ad's on them. I was amazed by the color on the screens. After working with dot-matrix systems for over a decade, (and the TRS-80) I realized this was where I wanted to be involved. But I chose PC, like I chose Chevy over Ford, Coke over Pepsi, Quik over YooHoo.

It was a fun time Mr. Jobs, thanks for the memories.

[ThatsMyBarack]

1. In 8th grade.

My Jr. High had an "Apple Lab." Some kids knew how to get to the games on them, but I didn't--and the kids who did wouldn't show me how.

[JoePhilly]

2. Around 1980 or 81.

Computer science was an elective and we had 2 Apple computers, and 2 teletype computers hooked to a bank down town that partitioned some space for my high school on their system.

The class had 10 or so kids, and our teacher was a math teacher, and he was taking a night course on computers, and he would bring his lessons in to our class.

[HopeHoops]

3. Beginning of 11th grade for me - 1979 - quickly moved to 6502 assembly.

[Major Hogwash]

4. I imagine there will be a lot of testimonials like this at CNET and other comp sites.

It's refreshing to think that someone cared enough to write about it.

[krispos42]

5. Mine was an Apple IIc

The South Norwalk branch library had one in the basement, where the kid's books were. I played a fair amount of "Where in the USA is Carmen San Diego?" down there.

That must have been late elementary school... 1986-ish? I believe it had a color monitor, though.

*********

In middle school (circa 1989) there was a computer lab full of Apple IIe machines, which we did a lot of word processing on. Most of them were monochrome, but there were a few color screens. I remember the monochrome monitors had tilt-able screens in a fixed case.

Wow, where did that memory come from??? :-)

Oh, and in the middle school there was a "toaster", a networked device that allowed all the computers to load a program from a single floppy disk inserted into it.

*********

In high school I got the Commodore 64 for home (thanks, Dad!) and the writing lab at high school used Apple IIgs computers with those cool dot-matrix printers. I took graphic design in freshman year, and we used both photography and Macs to create printed. Black-and-white ones, no color.

Well, maybe one was color.

I remember using the Mac to create the image for a series of spiral memo pads for a project. Not spiral-bound pads; each sheet of paper was actually turned a bit relative to the one underneath it, so the pad was actually a helix of printed paper. That was done by hand, and the image on them... I remember two of them. One was an army tank with "Go ahead, make my day" on it, and the other was of a cartoon bomb that had the caption "Danger: HOMEWORK". There were two more pads, but I don't remember what they said.

I think it was all done on the Mac (the images were clip art, IIRC) and then I had to print them out, photograph them onto a negative, and burn a piece of foil to be run in the printing press.

This was 1990.

*********

And that was about it. I used the C64 to play a lot of games, mostly "Destroyer Escort", "F-15 Strike Eagle", "F-19 Stealth Fighter", "Red Storm Rising", and "Flight Simulator". Then we inherited an old 8086 PC from a family friend in about... 1992-ish? And that's what I cut my teeth on when I actually began doing stuff at age 15 or 16. It had a hard drive (either 20 or 40 megs) and DUAL 5¼" floppy drives (kickass, baby). And that's what we used for a couple of more years. I bought "F-19 Stealth Fighter" and "Red Storm Rising" for the PC, and got from somebody a Star Trek text game called "Begin", which I played way too much.

Then we got the 100 MHz Pentium machine in 1995 from Packard-Bell. My college roommate had a PC, too, at UConn, and the engineering department used either PCs or what I think was Unix... something about a Sun SPARTAC terminal is stuck in my head. My first non-food job used PCs as robot controllers, so we all had PCs in the office. I got to take mine home when we upgraded in 2000, so I was wandering around on a 233 MHz Pentium until 2004, when I got my current Dell as a birthday present.

So... I'm a PC guy. Can't deny that Steve Jobs did a hell of a lot, though.

[Greybnk48]

6. Mac user since '93 (my first computer), with one Dell

laptop in the mix in the late 90's.

[eShirl]

7. @ 1982?? My high school Algebra teacher had an Apple 2 E at her house; it looked cute.

Certainly cuter than my Dad's TRS-80 Model 3 upon which I taught myself how to program.

edit: it didn't come out until January 1983, so it was 1983 between January and graduation in June.

[Historic NY]

8. My first experience was a Apple III at work..........

it use to lock up so we just flipped the power on and off.......:dilemma:
It seemed to be the thing to do.

I bought a new Mac Plus 4mg in 1986 it cost me around 2100 with all the bells & whilstles on the Apple credit card. I expanded it several times and used it while doing my Masters...I can't quite remember now but we were able to swap our notes and papers with other non-Mac users once we discovered new ways around windows. I gave it away to a retired teacher/writer/historian so she could learn to use a computer to type her new book in 1996. It was exciting back then to have the newest stuff out we used to go to the computer store to buy stuff, now not so much. I remember getting expanded memory 4mg RAM sections.

I frowned on DOS and PC's back then .

[intheflow]

9. 1976.

Was 12 and baby sitting for a really rich family. The parents invited me to play with the computer after I put the kids to bed. I don't remember what I did on it - word processing? Maybe played something like Pong? In retrospect, I'm amazed I got to play with an Apple computer the very first year they were launched.

[Historic NY]

14. Pong, I forgot the green screen, lots of middle of the night sessions.

[Bandit]

10. Early eighties, first had an apple II c then an Apple IIGS

I loved that GS. It was in reality the beginning of the MAC line....I had several Macs after that but eventually ended up using a PC. Price was the main consideration and Gates had done a good job of copying Apples format, to create Windows..

[Nye Bevan]

11. Apple II was a beautiful machine.

I was blown away when I first used one. High resolution color graphics, fast integer BASIC, great software.

And I still have fond memories of 6502 assembly language.

[MorningGlow]

12. Which one was the teeny all-in-one?

With the microscopic screen (seemed like)? My grad school roommate had one, and I used that to write papers, when I wasn't at the university computer lab, which had all Macs as well, only larger ones. This was in '89.

[hunter]

13. The original Apple II

A friend's dad was an engineer and bought one.

Once I got to play with an Apple I at a trade show.

Later I got a job tending classroom Apples and tutoring teaching teachers how to use Appleworks.

The school kids used to steal mouse balls, back when they were made out of heavy rubber covered metal. The lighter weight plastic replacement balls were not so attractive. Lots of jokes about mouse balls...

In honor of Steve Jobs I fired up my Mac emulator and went to the apple home page:

[Historic NY]

15. Godspeed ...........