I Grew Up!

It happened that on my 30th year of life I suddenly became an i-Guy. And last Sunday during next sync with iTunes I asked myself "How did it happen?"

All that time (ahaha, not really because I got my first PC when I was 6) I considered myself as an advanced PC user. Not geek, not a programmer. But things listed below were easy for me:
- assemblage of PC (incl. BIOS setup and some hardware adjustments);
- installation of MS DOS and Windows (all versions except Millennium and servers);
- installation of lots of desktop software of different kinds and lots of external devices with all those drivers and ports;
- network setup and administration (10 PCs in 1 net with router, DHCP, server and other network stuff);
- mobile devices usage (Windows Mobile, Symbian and so on).
Overall I used to be co-owner of small internet café, so I was advanced)

But it’s all gone! And now I have 3 Apple devices (Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad) and I even don’t know what is inside them. What processor or how cool is video card? I do not know and if I knew it in the first day I completely forgot it.

8-bit Nostalgia

Technology companies do not stop to amaze us with new products in the IT sector. And not always, these new items carry a some kind of the benefits, or an interesting solution. In any case, all these things are some short term toys and live to the next exit of "another killer of iPhone"... There is no magic in them. That magic, which is a subject of nostalgia for generation of 30-40 years old people, trying to find some calm in listening to vinyl records and tapes, 8-bit games and retro video clips.

But it is possible to go much further in this nostalgia, and try to recreate that magic manually.

MPC or Laptop?

Recently I got some interesting music gadget: MPC-500 by Akai Pro. It is small sampler-sequencer with 12 pads, running on batteries and as well as from AC. I sat above it couple of evenings, experimented with built-in samples, recorded guitar through the entrance, made a house-pattern... But the more I turned the wheel of choice and pressed navigation arrows, the greater was feeling that it's a good old DOS-tracker, but for some reason in a separate box and at value of $500. I did not believe in the fact that somebody can completely finish project in this box, without any help of computer. May be I could not quite figure out all the features, but I didn’t feel intuitive understanding, at least as it was with Korg EMX-1 (although that is an awkward device too).

30 Years of IBM PC (Some Thoughts about Computer History)

Well, it turned out that I am almost 30 years old. Usually they say that it s a half of a distance. And you feel that you need to look back and try to remember significant things happened in your life and around it. Unless you are Tom Hanks, most noticeable things happen to be in some other people’s life and you watch them through the window of your routine.

Anyway check out interesting coincidence that came across me recently. Anniversary of first IBM PC!! And guess what? 30 years as well! It means that I am first and original PC generation representative. This is my destiny! )