Filed under: Blogging, TUAW Business, Apple History
Greetings from 30,000 feet
I'm typing this somewhere in the skies over Utah using a fast wireless connection on an 8 GB MacBook Pro killing time while flying to Las Vegas. When I started with computers this experience would have been considered somewhere between science fiction and magic.Hi, I'm David Winograd and although I've been writing for TUAW for a couple of months, all of us new arrivals have been asked to write an introduction to give all of you an idea of just who is writing this stuff.
Steve Sande introduced himself as the old guy in a piece he did when coming on board. Well, I'm the new old guy. I beat out Steve by a couple of years, but we both have gray beards and wear safari-looking hats from time to time.
I got started with my first Apple ][+ in 1979 after overdosing on Creative Computing, a long defunct hobbyist magazine. I was in awe of all the neat (albeit amazingly pointless and even more amazingly expensive) things that could be done with what seemed to me as the best toy since the Betamax.
Eventually I saved enough to buy the Apple ][+ at a franchise called ComputerLand (also defunct, there's a pattern to this), where for $1795 I bought a 48k processor, a bunch of expansion slots and a yellow on black, decidedly non-graphics capable monitor. No disk drive of course since Apple hadn't made them yet, so programs were sold in hobby store racks in baggies containing a cassette tape and a mimeographed instruction sheet. Getting the volume level just right was critical for computing since one mistake and you needed to go back to the start of the tape. When playing a game,when you lost, the tape would rewind and reload taking another 20 minutes.
Ah -- Good times!
Since then I started what was arguably the first themed BBS (Bulletin Board Service) in New Jersey, called 'David's Place' which was themed like a restaurant that read like Zork. After signing on and getting my first monthly CompuServe bill, which was over $2,000, I wheedled a decade-long CompuServe gig checking Apple ][ downloads and later running their Macintosh Community Club Forum. I also wrote for the long dead Apple ][ GS Buyers Guide.
Later, I substitute-taught my son's junior high school computer class and found that in a newly donated lab loaded with state of the art Macs, the LC III at the time, the teacher, math of course, knew nothing about computers and the curriculum was totally comprised of the UltraKey typing game, and some shoot 'em up games. Becoming melt-down mad, I decided that my calling was to teach pre-service teachers how to 'get it', so we packed up and moved to Phoenix where I got a doctorate in Educational Technology. The thing that amazed me was that academics were getting published doing the same thing I had been doing as a hobby for fifteen years. This was a strange world and one where I felt right at home.
A couple of teaching jobs later, here I am. I am not a developer and have not written more than a four line BASIC program. What I can bring to the table is the viewpoint of a long time user (not an industry insider) and hopefully I can provide a historical perspective on all things Apple.
I am incredibly happy to have this opportunity, not only to write for one of the top Apple-oriented blogs, but to have the good fortune of hanging out with some of the most insightful and scary-smart bunch of tech enthusiasts housing the broadest range of skill sets I've had the pleasure to type with.
I've finished and transmitted this post on another Internet equipped flight, Virgin America Flight 260, on my way back to New York. I love technology.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Cameron said 3:06AM on 8-26-2009
Well, I suppose I'll be the first to welcome you! Looking forward to reading future articles, and future scruffy airplane pictures :)
Reply
Eddie said 11:36AM on 8-27-2009
I second the welcome! I'm sorta new myself, having found the iPhone in June and now seriously waiting for the Apple tablet (and if that doesn't appear, perhaps just getting a Mac laptop).
Anyway, when you mentioned "ComputerLand" I harkened back to the days when I purchased my first computer from there: IBM PC (XT, I think) with two floppy drives, a monochrome monitor (with its lovely bright green fluorescent glow), and a TI dot matrix printer with interchangeable font cartridges (ooooh, aaaah). It had 640KB RAM, no hard disk, and ran DOS 1.10 and Word 1.0.
Damn, after reading this, I realize I'm old!
Connie said 12:22PM on 8-27-2009
Wow, that IS old! You're a PC, and we understand. But as I've told you before, my friend, you'll feel so much better after you're assimil..., um, I mean, after you get your first Apple computer. The iPhone was just the start of the wonderousness. Can I go with you to the Apple store to help?? Pretty please? I just love hanging out there.....
magicrabbit7 said 3:34AM on 8-26-2009
An 8GB Macbook pro? Proofread man.
Reply
The Hat said 3:46AM on 8-26-2009
Unibody MacBook Pro 17" can use 8 GB of RAM
mentalsticks said 3:59AM on 8-26-2009
Even the 13" unibody MBP can use 8GB of RAM.
Read man.
ypod said 3:37AM on 8-26-2009
Winograd? That kind of sounds like the word 'grape' in some slavic languages.
Reply
Iliya Yordanov said 5:29AM on 8-26-2009
Hey, I am Bulgarian... just thought I shall correct you on that one...
Grape in Bulgarian is "grozde". See "gro" but not "gra" as in David's name.
In David's case, Winograd could be separated in two words
Wino
and
grad
Wino in Bulgarian stands for Wine (the think you drink)
Grad stands for "City"
Just my 2 cents ;)
Anyway, welcome David :)
Cheers,
ILIYA, www.Cramzy.com
Matjaž said 8:38AM on 8-26-2009
Vinograd means vineyard in Slovenian. =)
maxtkaxz said 1:58PM on 8-26-2009
Yes you are right. In Ukrainian, and polish winograd/ vinograd means grape/ the grapes and vine etc. And vino means wine. Um, bulgarian is more of a southern slavic language and probably varies more to other more eastern slavic languages (Ukrainian, Russian etc.)
David Winograd said 6:22PM on 8-26-2009
Before my parents died, I got conflicting opinions on what Winograd really meant. I'm Russian on both sides and one said it meant City of Wine, alluding to where my great grandfather came from. But I looked it up and means Grape in Russian.
I liked the first story better.
David Durrant said 4:58AM on 8-26-2009
Welcome, i look forward to reading your future posts.
Reply
caricaturesbydave said 5:41AM on 8-26-2009
I am typing on my unibody Macbook Pro with 4 gigs of ram - I look forward to the 8 gigs I will install right after I put in a crazy fast SSD...
Reply
jeremy said 7:54AM on 8-26-2009
Don't be expecting too much of a speed boost. I've installed SSD drives on 4 different machines at my office including mine. I honestly don't see the speed improvement. And on top of that, one of the drives, from Kingston, completely failed within 4 days of installation.
sacredpipe said 7:55AM on 8-26-2009
1. do you ever bathe?
2. Are you kidding?
3. Who cares?
4. Go away?
Reply
Calexifan said 6:18AM on 8-26-2009
David, how were you able to use WiFi during your flight? I thought airlines prohibited the use of wireless devices by passengers. Are some airlines now providing wireless Internet access?
Anyway, welcome aboard Flight TUAW.
Reply
jeffofla said 9:00AM on 8-26-2009
Wi-fi is offered via gogoinflight.com. It's on over 550 planes over the domestic United States. Virgin America has it on all their plans, as does Airtran. Delta will have more than 300 planes with it soon, American has more than 70. So it's coming. The first aircradt to have it were the AA flights between LAX and JFK, more than a year ago.
pskennedySOS said 9:29AM on 8-26-2009
How big was that rock that you just crawled out from under ;)?
MRCUR said 12:22PM on 8-26-2009
You need to get out and about on the Internet a bit more it seems... In-flight WiFi is the next "big thing" in airtravel. Ultra low cost carries like Ryanair in the UK are also testing in-flight calling (which I'm not a supporter of).
Ali said 4:12PM on 8-26-2009
I'm not trying to be mean or something, but even me from Iran knew that fact about the time of their arrival! And I use a crappy Internet service which is way more expensive than most broadband connection in US!