It all seems so trivial. But years ago, all this stuff was so cool.
Waaaay before there was even something called Slashdot, even before there were blogs, even before there was even Google or most of what we know of today, there was As the Apple Turns. It was really more of what we refer to as snarky Internet discourse than really anything else.
So, for more years than I can count (7), we’ve been seeing daily (ahem) polls for various Apple-related rumors. It’s just one of the things we Mac-users do.
I got a story in the RSS reader in Safari saying there’s a new story. I’m not doing anything more important, so I take a second to look up the story. Then, I see it. There are no votes! None!
This was huge news, I knew I had to act quickly. Instinctively I clicked the first tab (like all the newbs…I’m ashamed). Then, there it is. I got the first vote. Me.
Sniffle. It’s better than an Academy Award and an Oscar combined.
To explain this fully, you have to look at it this as a totally random event. I’ve gotten a couple of other first votes, but it’s actually difficult to do it on AtAT. That’s because you have to be in the right place at the right time.
And you have to click furiously. But that’s another story.
The thing about the poll is that you are encouraged to go crazy. That’s why it’s called “Vote Early, Vote Often.” But getting that first vote is rather difficult. And getting it take a bit of luck.
And along with luck, you need other people to NOT have luck. And with RSS, everybody else was going to get it at the same time I was. Even then, it was simply providence that I got the first vote.
In fact, the real reason for this post isn’t about gloating that I got a first post, or that I’m 1337, it’s that I’ve been VEVOing for almost a decade…and it doesn’t seem like it matters. All the cool things I’ve done for Mac-stuff seem silly, now.
I was listening to Your Mac Life in a QuickTime audio stream a while ago. Did you know they’ve been podcasting for over 10 years? Probably not.
For years now, I’ve been listening to people tell me that Macintosh is going out of business. “They can’t go out of business,” good friend Jay would say, “Macintosh isn’t a business. Apple is going to go out of business.” And almost 20 years later…Apple is still going out of business.
Earlier this week, some dunderhead proclaimed another rumor about Apple ponying up to Intel. The rumor was that Apple was finally “going to see the light.” You know, that same light that the XBox and PS3 folks seemed to have missed.
But it’s a rumor that comes up every 6-10 months. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, probably won’t be the last. But it makes me wonder what I’ve been doing for the past 10 years.
Then I look at the VEVO. And my first vote. I reminisce.
I learned how to type fast on a Mac Classic. Nothing like that System 6 to get the kids interested, huh? I would play with a 6116 in the school’s computer center. And daydream.
I think about old OS discussions, about how Apple was going out of business. About how System 7 was the best thing ever. ‘Til 7.5.
How Mac OS 8 should’ve had more stuff in it. Where was the protected memory? Getting well versed in how Windows 98 was NOT going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I would wonder how the same computer could be so much faster running a new OS when 8.5 came out. The free QuickTime serial number didn’t hurt, either. And when that number worked on QT 3 and 4? excellent.
Oh, then there was Mac OS X. I could go on all day about the modern era. It’s really world changing. And so was the iPod, iMovie, the iTunes Music Store. But I don’t know if anyone is paying attention.
No, they are more interested in getting on Blogger and starting some blog. I don’t like blogs. I don’t like the word.
But, As the Apple Turns is a blog. One that’s defined an era. It’s how blogs nowadays are done. I bet you didn’t know that!
There my vote is. Well, a picture of it. And with that, I can remember back to when the web was new, uncharted, untainted. I feel like an old soul here…even only been here full-time for ten years.
But I see a new generation of people on the internet, full of new ideas, new vision. They were responsible for Rathergate. They are the new blood. Maybe it’s time for me to move on.
Or maybe it’s time for me to reload AppleTurns.com, and see if I can get another one…
