Hi everyone,
Like many of you, my first machine was an Apple (II). I have fond memories of gaming on Macs in elementary school and playing Spaceward Ho! and SimCity.
I ended up using DOS in high school and programmed music using sequencers (Impulse Tracker, Modplug). I went through a Windows phase, for gaming, then turned to Linux because it made using a computer fun again.
I missed out on a lot of Mac culture which many of you have, experiences with Mac OS 8/9, as I only started using Macs about 8 years ago with OS X. Which I also turned away from and went back to Linux (installed Linux on my white Macbook) because of the software community and that I could make using a computer fun again by changing the icons, background, window dressing, etc. But I really appreciate the design aesthetics of the older Macs -- I often have dreams where I'm using some kind of desktop computer with a form factor that looks like a classic "pizza box" Mac.
I do not have any desire to buy a "modern" Mac as the OS experience has fallen to unacceptable standards, in my opinion, and the prices are insulting. I've collected and read books on Apple's design guidelines, including other UX / UI books, and Apple no longer follows its own design spirit (in my opinion).
I do have an iPhone, because I don't know how to break the OS, and it reliably does what I want it to do, with very good battery life.
I recently purchased a tangerine iBook G3 (standard config) and intend to do application development for Mac OS 9. My main expertise is with Python, so I will probably start with Lua and work backwards to C. I am sure I'm in for a world of hurt and steep learning curve
I think one of my first apps will be a blogging app that can connect to Wordpress and use other APIs. Another would be a software repository application / free "app store" where users can download classic programs, in addition to other free software for Macs.
I'm a software developer by day, with a background in arts and have worked for a number of startups. I just started a new job so I will probably not start on app development until the new year.
Thanks everyone for creating this community. Looking forward to being part of it.