A bit of history first.... My father, who is very much a computer freak himself, inducted me to the world of computers at a very early age. By 12, I was already writing BASIC programs on our 'tiny' Synclair. However, much to my father's disappointment, my interest in computers never grew. Besides playing games like 'Loderunner' in the late seventies and doing some word processing ('Wordstar' and later 'Wordperfect') during my university days, my relationship with computers can at best be only described as non-hostile.
Perhaps, early unpleasant memories of buying games that could not run (because of exceeding high hardware requirements or incompatibility issues) still linger on.... or perhaps it's the fear of the unknown (could never figure out the '0110101' bit)... my impression of computers had always been skewed towards the negative.
However, as much as I dislike computing, I love computer games. Fortunately, there are alternatives... console systems (Sega, Playstations) where one will never encounter installation problems or hardware compatibility issues. Thus for many years, my computer gaming needs were satiated by Sega console systems and video game arcades. As for computer generated art and drawings... hey! isn't that cheating when you use 'Clipart' or 'Photoshop' modified images to substitute hand drawn illustrations that require actual skill?
But I digress... it was sometime in November 98... because of advancement in technology, PC (personal computer) games were getting more and more impressive. Hundreds of titles were literally begging for me to play them... the immensely popular Tomb Raider (Lara Croft!), the groundbreaking Tresspasser (a 3D environment with real physics!), the cute Creatures (virtual pet with artificial intelligence), etc.... Being the ex-console (Atari & Sega Gensis) addict that I was, the temptation was just too great.
At that time, E-mails and internet were the rage... I was begining to feel left-out whenever friends talk about these stuff. One day, I just made up my mind that it was time I got myself re-acquainted with the PC and internet... I am an engineer by training.... how difficult can it be?
There was just not enough reasons why I should deprive myself of enjoying all these wonderful PC games out there. The was however one big problem.... there is not enough spece in my cluttered room to fit a PC.
Then came along the i-Mac... which literally opened up virtual a window of opportunity for me. Being extremely compact, the system seemed like an ideal solution for me. I could place the i-Mac's compact monitor cum cpu on a small coffee table next to my bed... hmmm playing games and surfing from the bed...
With this option, I began to find out more about computers in general by asking friends basic questions like : "what is RAM? CPU?", etc. One important question which I am very glad I asked was : "Which is better? the i-Mac or Pentium PC?" The resounding answer I got was that the PC has more gaming options, easier to upgrade and also much cheaper. At that point, it also suddenly occured to me that the coffee table arrangement could still work... the computer case would just have to sit on the floor beside the bed...
