Operating systems: the Apple (Mac) IIcx

Self-tutoring about computers: the tutor reminisces….

Back around 1990, I recall the computer science lab wing at university. There was a room of computers set up on long tables. It was something to see, for someone who’d seen a few PCs their whole life.

The computers were, as I recall, model Apple IIcx. We were there to program on them, so were shown the basics of how to open the IDE, then start a new project, etc. (The IDEs I use nowadays seem very similar to that one.)

I recall a desktop, rather than a command line. Moreover, its use was intuitive. Much about the rest of the computer I never knew, but it was very easy to use for my purposes.

Just for perspective, let’s mention some Apple IIcx specs: 1 to 4 MB RAM, 16MHz, and up to 80MB hard drive. It used floppy disks: I had a couple for that course, since you weren’t supposed to save to the hard drive.

Whether you’d call that computer an Apple, or a Mac, I don’t know. (The Mac came out in ’84; perhaps I should call the computer the Mac IIcx. However, I remember Apple IIcx.) It was an easy computer to fall in love with, so I did. Five years later I would finally encounter Windows (’95), which still didn’t seem, to me, as intuitive as the GUI on the Apple IIcx.

So, why have I never bought a Mac? Well I’ve always been afraid of convertibility: of being comfortable only with Mac, but then having to use Windows anyway. That Apple IIcx, though, was the cat’s meow. Many years since, I’ve seen people using their (current) Macs, and they sure seem to like them.

everymac.com