To Bill Atkinson, With Love and MacPaint

MacPaint by Bill Atkinson

Where would the Macintosh (and Computing) World be without Bill Atkinson?  MacPaint, QuickDraw, HyperCard – Atkinson stands with the Giants.  In homage of his recent donation of the MacPaint source code to the Computer History Museum, flickr artist anoved offers this portrait of Bill Atkinson created entirely in MacPaint.  With tools like these, who needs Photoshop?  Well done!

Thanks Bill, for Everything!

• Image anoved via flickr

For Contacts and iCal, Should SMBs Use Snow Leopard Server? [Macs At Work]

Does your small- or medium-sized business run on Macs? Are you a Mac IT-manager?

If so, we’ve got a new weekly feature for you: Macs at Work. Every week, we’ll answer your business-related questions, from setting up servers to running iPads in the enterprise. Macs at Work is brought to by Macuity, a Mac-focused IT consulting group located in Boston, MA.

This week, we have a question about Snow Leopard server for group calendar and contact sharing.

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Steve’s NeXT Big Thing [Recollections]

In this highly-entertaining final installment of his series about Steve Jobs, Macworld founder David Bunnell is taken by Jobs to his favorite lunch spot (you’ll never guess where it is). And for once, Jobs changes his parking habits.

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Ella Fitzgerald Sings Happy Birthday to Steve [Recollections]

At Steve Jobs 30th birthday party, the jazz great Ella Fitzgerald sings him happy birthday. She seems to have no idea who he is.

Part 14 of “My Close Encounters With Steve Jobs,” Macworld founder David Bunnell’s personal history of the Mac.

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Steve Brings Tina to the Macworld Dinner Party [Recollections]

At a posh dinner party, Steve Jobs eats a plate of raw vegetables with a blonde bombshell sitting on his knee. Instead of going to Macworld and plugging the Mac, he’s too busy partying with Tina the nymphette.

Part 13 of Macworld founder David Bunnell’s personal history of the first Mac: “My Close Encounters With Steve Jobs.”

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The Fat Mac Saves the Day [Recollections]

In part 12 of Macworld founder David Bunnell’s story of the early Mac, Bill Gates is the only developer to actually deliver on his promises of software for the Mac. Microsoft’s Excel literally saves the Mac just when sales drop to nil, but at the same time Gates’ engineers are reverse engineering the GUI for the first version of Windows.

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The Macintosh Speaks For Itself (Literally)…

Steve Jobs at the introduction of the first Mac in 1984.

In Part 11 of Macworld founder David Bunnell’s memoirs, Steve Jobs triumphantly introduces the Mac to the world. ”It sang to us. It performed mathematical calculations with the blinding speed of a Cray mainframe. It drew beautiful pictures. It communicated with other computers. It bounced rays off satellites and sent a subversive message to the Soviet Union.”

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Steve Thumbs his Nose at the Apple II [Recollections]

Steve Wozniak is unhappy at the Mac launch, which resembles “Woodstock for nerds.” Part 10 of “My Close Encounters With Steve Jobs,” a personal history of the original Mac by Macworld founder David Bunnell.

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Steve is F*cking Great! [Recollections]

In part 9 of “My Close Encounters With Steve Jobs,” Macworld founder David Bunnell tells how he shouted “Steve Jobs is a fucking genius!” in front of a bunch of kids at a Super Bowl party.

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Hello, Customers – Are You Still There? Musings of an Apple Consultant

Note: This is a guest column by David Yoken, founder of Macuity, a Boston Apple consultancy, who discusses the joys of providing IT and repair services to machines that “just work.”

Just got off a call with an architectural firm for whom we set up a brand new server last week. The typical conversation I have with clients is amusingly formulaic, and this one was much of the same:

Me: How’s everything going with your new server?

Customer: It’s really wonderful. We haven’t had any problems, and the transition has been nearly seamless.

Me: Super! I’m glad things are working out. I suppose now would be a good time to talk about a service and maintenance contract and schedule for your new equipment.

Customer: Well, we probably can handle most everything on our own. Apple makes it so easy, so we’ll be fine!

Me: Oh, umm…, absolutely! How about remote monitoring or help desk services?

Customer: Yeah, sure, but you probably won’t hear from us much on that end either. I think we can take it from here, but thanks!

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