Addicted to...........an OS
My addiction started to lead to other things. At first it was just a need to be bigger, faster, more productive and the transitions were simply painless and natural. I began to realize that the core of this enjoyable habit was something called the "Mac Operating System" - "MacOS" as we came to call it. It was intuitive, part of the whole experience - not an unavoidable drawback."They" started to copy it. They had realized they were missing out on something. But years later when they finally put their copy out onto the streets, it was just another disappointment. A thinly veiled bad copy of the real thing. It didn't replace what had existed before. It just sat on top of it and tried to hide what had gone before. We, who could see the light, knew it was still the terrible "command line interface" with pretty disguises. We started to wear badges to let people know. "Windows'95 = Macintosh'89" was one of them. How we laughed at them with their "plug-in-and-PRAY" boxes and their ridiculous filenames!

I did learn lots through these years. I taught myself how to do my job all over again. And how to do many other jobs as well. How to quickly hide a computer game when a client came to call. I learned that the difference between using a PC and using a Mac is like the difference between a pilot flying by the seat of his pants and being able to retain all the feel and enjoyment that made him learn how to fly in the first place and, just sitting there hoping to keep the plane in the air long enough the get from  point A to point B. This intuitive nature of the MacOS made me feel part of the process of design again, and made me feel that my sense of achievement and a job well done was BECAUSE of the Mac, rather than despite it.

I was at home with my Mac. My friend! I didn't need the company of others. Good job really. I mean, I wasn't meeting people. I didn't need to spend hours on the phone listening to an engineer talking me through the latest freeze like those PC types did. I didn't need to get help tracking down the latest virus like those PC types did. My Mac was true "plug-and-play" so I didn't need any company. Did that mean that PC users were less lonely than me? Did they have more friends? Well no. I had clients. Satisfied ones. Oodles of them. I also had other Mac Users with whom I could share my experiences with at "MacExpo" - a sort of meeting place for the enlightened where we could go and worship once a year.Because of my increased efficiency, I actually had more spare time. I was actually more productive in less time, and this left me free to meet and marry my wife and start a family (wonder where they got to - I was going to go look for them, wasn't I?)

My Mac even taught me about relationships. Yes, it's true. I learned that you really need only two things to get through life and do most things. First you need a Mac, obviously, and then you need "FreeHand". No, this is not some perverse sexual practice that gets you through the night. It's simply the best, most complete and productive piece of software that was ever written. The Mac and FreeHand go together naturally. A marriage made in Heaven. Together these two things are 95% of my job. Just as the Mac is light years better than any PC, so FreeHand has blown any competition out of the water. Its traditional adversary "Illustrator" has finally been swept aside. So much so that it is hard to think that they were ever mentioned in the same sentence. And now FreeHand competes favourably with programs it wasn't even meant to compete with. I now use FreeHand for all my page-layouts ( any way of avoiding the non-Maclike QuarkXpress is okay by me), all designwork, illustration, text setting, pre-press, and now even animation and internet application.

I find myself actually wanting sales assistants to come up to me in stores, and when they say "can I help you?" I reply "yes!!!, sell more Macs.. Oh! and get a gents toilet"!

I find myself feeling annoyed that so many people don't share my opinions and experiences regarding Mac advocacy, even though it is hard for them to argue against. I mean, the best advertisement for a Mac is to stand it next to a PC! Why doesn't Apple seem to realize that? Designed by geniuses; marketed by morons!

Another down-side is that I know that if I'd been introduced to PCs first instead Macs I wouldn't have caught this computer bug, and I'd have my life back. I'd be playing football for Bradford City, walking, pubbing, enjoying my family and generally be a more interesting and well-rounded individual.Instead I'm in an industry which is based on Macs, and always will be, and that machine chose me, not the other way round. Thank goodness!

[More wobbly lines dreamy music click of the red shoes "There's no place like home"]

What's that? A knock at the door. My wife's back! My kids! My dog! Must go let them in. I've got to promise not to put them last any more. My Mac is only a tool to get an end result. It's not life and death. I'm so sorry! Please stay. Let's talk. We have to talk.

Look what I've discovered. See what happens when I use this handy little keyboard shortcut I've just found!

Look.

Er.. Er....Hello.......Hello......

[DOOR SLAM]

COME BACK!

Peter Bell