JULY 28th, 1997 AppleCORE MIKE LAMBERT (mlambert@webintosh.com) "Umm, Who Is This Guy?" "Who the heck is Mike Lambert, and why should I care about what he has to say?" you might be asking yourself. A very good question. In a nutshell, and in no particular order, I am: a husband, a father (two sons), a Christian, a jogger (three-times-a-week), a Miami Dolphins fan, a Philadelphia Flyers fan, a Computer Specialist (this puts bread on the family table), a Price Club member, a Pennsylvania native, a Virginia resident, an in-line skater, an aspiring Oracle database-meister, an admirer of Stephen King novels, a contributing editor to Webintosh, and a Macintosh extremist. The list goes on, but I won't bore you (yet). As to the second part of that question, the final answer in the list above will serve as good an answer as any. I have a passion for and devotion to Macintosh software and hardware that runs very deep. I fell in love with the Mac at my first job, in 1988. I was a "desktop publisher" way back then, and at the time I used inferior software on an IBM clone for my day-to-day shtick. I noticed that the CEO's secretary had a Macintosh SE on her desk, and there were always two or three people huddled around it when she wasn't using it. What was the big deal? I found out soon enough. When my computer was on the fritz one day, I begged the use of the secretary's Mac to finish a newsletter. And it was love at first point-and-click. There was something intoxicating about that boxy little computer, with its boxy little mouse (remember the square button?), and its bluish-white monitor, and the cool, little icons on the desktop. I remember how apprehensive I was when someone instructed me to drag the floppy disk icon to the Trash to eject it ("But I'll wipe the contents of the disk, won't I?"), and how blown away I was when I first used the spray can tool in MacPaint. "Unbelieveable," I thought then, and "I want one," was the next rational thought. I never got a Mac at that job, but I left there a year later to join my current employer, an all-Mac shop (i.e., heaven). After eight years, I recently switched jobs at my current employer, moving from a graphic design position into a database/systems administrator position. I have a wide range of experience with Mac applications, system software, and the hardware upon which it all runs. The views and opinions I'll share with you in the future will be based not just on the affection I have for the Mac platform (and the desire to see it survive), but also on a solid foundation of technical expertise. (Keeping up with current events in Macworld, MacUser, MacWeek, WebWeek, and Interactive Week doesn't hurt either.) This is an incredible opportunity -- it's a privilege, and a responsibility. I plan to cover a wide range of Macintosh (and Apple Computer) related topics in this space. I'll be all over the map -- I used to write about the Newton MessagePad once in awhile here at Webintosh, but I won't stay on one topic for long anymore. There are so many other interesting things going on -- Mac OS 8, Rhapsody, the axing of OpenDoc & Cyberdog (one of Apple's biggest mistakes), the PowerPC Reference Platform, Mac OS licensing, to name just a few. And perhaps once in awhile, I'll simply walk down Mac Memory Lane, such as I did a couple paragraphs ago. Sometimes it's just as fun to look back at the progress we've made, as it is to look at the road ahead. Thanks for reading this far, and don't forget to let me hear your feedback, your ideas, and especially, your criticism! (I don't want Don Crabb to get all the interesting mail.)