by Keith Richardson
“The time has come, the Walrus said, “to talk of many things….” But as the Oysters found out, chat eventually comes to an end.
As hinted last month, as MacSeniors enters shut-down mode, this column ends this month, completing eight full years of contributions to Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. Profound thanks to Wally Coombs and staff for enabling me to advertise my company and share ideas.
Some readers have said sometimes they didn’t understand what the heck I was going on about in this space. I apologize. My goal has been to serve a broad, diverse audience. If content was occasionally incomprehensible or too simplistic, too harsh or too sentimental, I hope some offerings were palatable.
In preparing this column, I reviewed the first one (August 2005): shorter and full of optimism, hope, and determination to succeed: “It bothers me when seniors are portrayed as techno-klutzes. Most of us are active, life-long learners—just as able to utilize and benefit from home computers as our offspring…. Of course, we can email and browse the web [but] many use computers to pass on legacies to children and grandkids…creating genealogies, music and photo collections, and videos of birthdays, anniversaries, retirement gatherings, and reunions. We value these records and have the time to invest in producing quality digital ‘documents.’
On the other hand, there are a few who have never owned a computer [or] say they know ‘next to nothing’ about computing but would like to join the parade ‘before they run out of time.’ Some continue to struggle with systems that no longer ‘cut the mustard.’ Two important facts worth remembering about computers: it’s never too late to start, and no sooner do we get started than something even better comes along to tantalize us.” Still true in 2013.
Changes in computer technology since ’05 have been momentous. My first iPod bought then looks like a stone age tool next to today’s iPhones or iPads. Even as it introduced Windows 2007, Vista, Windows 7, and now 8, Microsoft has diminished in dominance. Apple has shifted from claiming that Intel processors were nothing special to adopting them, from hanging on as the “innovative little guy,” to becoming, for a moment, the planet’s most capitalized corporate behemoth.
Last month, Apple announced significant changes coming this fall in operating systems both for their computers and their tablets (iPads), ’Pods and ’Phones. They ‘unveiled’ (behind glass) a new high-end Mac Pro (not to be confused with the MacBook Pro laptop)—cylindrical in shape, possessing much greater speed and power than its boxy predecessor despite being only one eighth its size. Need to access the innards? Simply slip off the cylinder’s outer sleeve. While introducing it, Apple’s Phil Shiller quipped snidely, “‘Can’t innovate any more,’ my ass!”
A definite break with the past. Some critics observe that Apple has made similar moves before with varying degrees of success. Think original iMac (1998), the Cube (2000-2001), the “beehive base” iMac G4 (2002-5), and the flat G-5s and Intel iMacs of the last 8 years. I remember visiting the first ever Apple Store located in Tysons Corner, Virginia in June, 2001, where a smart young salesman told me how much he loved the Cube he was saving for and how certain he was that rumours of its imminent demise were “out-to-lunch.” And how wrong he was.
One sure thing is that this IS our last Computer Chat. MacSeniors will still operate until the end of 2013. I’ll continue sharing ideas through my MacSeniors website, but it, too, will eventually disappear.
Thanks for reading. If you have time, check out “www.values.com.” Best wishes for good health, abundant happiness, and all the adventure you can handle!