25 Years Of Mac: Zev Eisenberg’s Mac Collection

7:41 am, January 22nd, 2009, Giles Turnbull

We’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Mac by asking Cult readers to get in touch with their stories of Mac ownership over the years.

To start things off, here’s Zev Eisenberg (a man who can solve a Rubik’s Cube while reciting pi) to tell us about his pile o’ Macs.

First question to Zev: Why?

“Around 6th grade, I became enthralled with Macs. We had always used them, but that was when they became more than just a tool and started becoming a cultural entity. I read as much as I could about them, but I wanted to see what it used to be like to use a computer.

“I started by setting up my family’s old SE/30 and PowerBook 170 and playing with them (and retrieving all my old KidPix images). I found out that a lot of people had old Macs that they were more than willing to part from, and I offered to cart them away.”

Zev used to keep them displayed on a table, museum-style, but when he could no longer spare the space he moved them on to the shelves where they sit now.

Are any of them still in regular use?

“I used to fire them up to show people, and to familiarize myself with the origins of commonplace conventions in the Mac OS. I’m studying New Media at the University of Maine, and I find that I have a big advantage in knowing a lot about the origins of Graphical Operating Systems (both from my own experience and from reading and researching). However, I haven’t used any of them in a few years now. As far as I know they all still work.”

Zev finds himself in a position many readers will recognize: he can’t bring himself to throw them away, but can’t really justify hanging on to them forever either. He’s now looking to find new homes for these machines. Perhaps you can help.

If you want a free Mac – you’ll have to pay for shipping, or make some arrangement to collect it – you can contact Zev via his web site.

Many many thanks to Zev for generously sharing his story (and his photo) with us here at the Cult.

Posted by Giles Turnbull in 25 Years of Mac, Cult of Mac, Macintosh, News, Top stories, Vintage Tech | Comment on this article

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About the author

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He is a columnist for PA, and has written for the BBC, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, MacUser, Macworld, and The Morning News. He has a blog you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

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