Hi, my name is Len, and I’m a computer geek.

I’ve been a computer geek since I got my first PC in third grade, a Tandy 1000 running a crippled version of DOS and a proprietary GUI called DeskMate. I was a rabid BBS user, and first got on the (text based!) Internet when I was nine years old via a MajorBBS system, and headed straight for IRC, finding the then-new Undernet. I was nine years old. A year later I had personally built my first computer, and a year after that was running a part time BBS that catered in custom game levels and other…er..software. I wrote custom software, and built (and rebuilt) a number of computers throughout my tween and teen years, not getting another prebuilt system until my first laptop in 2002.

I tinkered with Amiga, Mac, and other obscure systems occasionally, but I mostly stuck with “IBM compatible” hardware, and used DOS, then Windows and eventually Linux too, for fifteen years.

Then something crazy happened in December ‘06. I drank the Kool-Aid. I bought a Mac. And a wireless mighty mouse, wireless keyboard, and iPod Nano. I’m a convert.

I had always been interested in Macs, but never bought one because the usual arguments for resistance: compatibility, price, goofy interface, etc. However, with Apple switching to Intel chips, and Mac OS X basically being a pretty interface to a UNIX system, the new Macs caught my eye. A friend of mine bought one of the black MacBooks, so I tinkered with that a bit, and was sold. I decided to buy one, and get a copy of Parallels just in case I needed something on Windows.

Three of us from my church ended up with MacBooks, and we love ‘em. I haven’t found a single reason that I actually need Parallels, though the new version lets me play a few games I enjoy. The software bundled with the Mac (iLife ‘06) rocks, and I’m hearing even better things about the new iLife ‘08. I’ve actually installed the new iWork ‘08 trial, and I love it. I’ll be purchasing it soon. The bundled apps aren’t the only cool software packages available. There is a whole wealth of quality freeware applications, and many open source projects are cross-platform and available. Plus, my favorite Bible software, Logos, is working on a Mac version.

My only complaint is the bundled browser, Safari. I like Safari, and used it for the past number of months, but as of today I’ve switched back to Firefox. Safari doesn’t work with (or perhaps the the sites don’t work with Safari, but I digress) two sites I use regularly, our church database, and my WordPress post editor. Safari is currently being worked on in anticipation of the October launch of OS X Leopard, so hopefully it’ll work after that, but we’ll see. If all I have to do to make this the best system I’ve ever used is to install Firefox, I don’t have a problem with it; I install Firefox on all my Windows and Linux systems anyway.

I love my Mac.

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