Think Different

2/12/2006

Macintosh Group Having Fun and Learning About Computers

From the Caledonian Record
Think Different:
Macintosh Group Having Fun And Learning About Computers
BY TODD WELLINGTON Staff Writer

Charter members of the Northern Vermont Macintosh Users Group. From left are Hartley “Jim” Jackson of Sheffield, Waren Walker of Cabot, Midge and Richard Lubot of St. Johnsbury and Stephen Farber of Wolcott.

Every month , at schools, private homes, businesses and other meeting places, people across the country and throughout the world meet to talk about their computers. And not just any old computers, Macintosh Computers.

Known as user groups, the gatherings are a place for Macintosh, or “Mac” users to share their knowledge of the computer system that reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s, nearly became extinct in the mid-1990s and was reborn two years ago with the iMac - a machine known not only for its computing power, but for its distinctive design that has become a popular culture icon and influence.

Locally for Mac users, the place to be is in a board room at the Community National Bank on Route 5 in St. Johnsbury and the group is the Northern Vermont Macintosh Users Group

The members of NVMUG meet on the third Saturday of each month at noon at the bank for a couple of hours to talk a little Mac. And there is a lot to talk aut

Despite being wildly outnumbered by PC users, those with Macs have a reputation for being creative thinkers and just a little bit different by nature. It is a reputation that the Mac’s maker, Cupertino, Calif. -based Apple Computer, encourages and even exploits with its now famous advertising campaign, Think Different, which features pictures of such legendary different thinkers as scientist Albert Einstein and photographer Ansel Adams.

It is a label that many Mac users themselves are unlikely to deny.

I think Mac users tend to take the road less traveled by, agreed NVMUG Treasurer Richard Lubot of St. Johnsbury, … and that has made all the difference, he joked, making reference to the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken.

Lubot and his wife, NVMUG President Midge Lubot, are themselves creative thinkers who own and operate Martensen Industries, a frame art manufacturer in Wolcott whose customers include chain stores, boutiques and hospital gift shops.

People that own Macs have an emotional attachment to them, said Midge Lubot. People including advertising and design professionals across the country who have borrowed heavily from the distinctive iMac design and the Think different campaign.Everything is trying to be more like the iMac, she said.

The Lubots use Macs to run their business and have been doing so since the 1980s when they owned “Sewin’ in Vermont” in St. Johnsbury.

Warren Walker on Macintosh, Hartley Jackson and Stephen Farber in back.

Even back then it was the unique support provided by the Mac community that directed them away from PCs and into the arms of a Mac.

We had much better support in the Mac world than in the IBM world, said Richard Lubot. Even today there aren’t many user groups in the Wintel (Windows) world.

There are 43 members of the NVMUG and their meetings - which attract about 10 - 15 regular members each month - are reportedly both informative and entertaining.

Organized chaos, said a half serious Midge Lubot.

Anarchy, joked Richard Lubot, who then turned a slightly more serious side. These meetings keep me much more aware of what I can do with a computer, he said. By going you get a good chance to see what can be done with your Mac.

NVMUG member Stephen Farber, a freelance Macintosh consultant and repairman, poses with an old Macintosh Plus while photographer Ansel Adams looks over his shoulder via one of Apple Computer’s Think Different advertising prints.

Hartley Jim Jackson, a retired statistician who lives in Sheffield, is the editor of the NVMUG newsletter. He has been an Apple computer user since 1982 - years before the Mac was even invented. His first machine was a Apple IIe with a tape drive (he now has a Performa 6400).

Jackson joined his first Apple user group in Madison, Wisc., in 1983 and remembers when the argument wasn’t PC vs Macintosh, but the first Apples, which ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970’s, vs. the next big thing of the day, the Macintosh.

There were big arguments, he recalled. People were saying why do we need this?

Jackson uses the NVMUG meeting to learn as much as he can about his Mac. I like to learn on the computer, said Jackson. People in user groups share their knowledge so when you go to meetings you always learn something new.

NVMUG schedules programs each month on different topics ranging from hardware to software to the Internet. Past programs include presentations on the newest Macintosh operating system OS 9, scanning and printing with a color printer, and most recently a demonstration of FileMaker Pro.

They always have a program where somebody covers some aspect of using the computer, said Jackson.

The group occasionally takes a field trip as well. In April a group of about 20 members visited The Caledonian-Record which uses Macs to publish the newspaper and its Web edition, caledonian-record.com.

Jackson was intrigued by the combination of the older publishing equipment, such as an old Graflex large format camera and copy chutes, in the same building as a digital camera and network of brand new Mac G–3s.

What I liked the most was the contrast, he said. It’s an indication of how fast things have changed.

I was impressed that the paper is run on Macintosh, said Midge Lubot, who signs all her e-mail with Proud to be Microsoft free.

And despite her Geek T-shirt, Midge Lubot says the group isn’t all about computers all the time. Sometimes we go out for pizza after, she said.

NVMUG has now secured some server space and is developing its own Web site as a group project.

For further information on NVMUG send e-mail to nvmug@mac.com or browse their listing at the Apple home page www.apple.com/usergroups/locator/, Select USA and Vermont for the NVMUG link.

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