About a year ago my wife and I crossed the wild unknown to enter a new land called Macworld. We did so by purchasing our first Apple Macintosh computer, a 12-inch PowerBook G4 laptop. We fell in love with its elegant simplicity and user-friendly interface and once bit by the Apple bug, we proceeded to purchase an iPod Shuffle soon after getting our laptop. And one year later, we are also the proud owners of an iPod Nano as well as a 17-inch Core 2 Duo iMac desktop computer.
What’s more, our journey to Macworld took a literal leap earlier this year after we read in Macworld magazine [that we subscribed to soon after getting our first Mac] about the annual Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Blessed with some extra time and cash and looking for a good excuse to visit Frisco for the first time, we quickly registered for the expo, booked our flight, got our hotel room and prepared for our trip.
Not only is San Francisco one of the most beautiful cities to explore, we experienced a camaraderie at the Macworld Expo that we never imagined. Reminiscent of a school reunion, minus the awkward moments, the expo also featured a cornucopia of Apple-related products and peripherals, of which I purchased my fair share. But it was the friendly atmosphere and helpful people that most impressed my wife and me.
Being relative newcomers to the world of Mac, there is much for us to learn and we know it, but the learning comes so much easier with the gentle guidance of those who have made the journey and are generously willing to share what they know. At the risk of sounding dramatic, I dare liken the entire experience to an epiphany of sorts, for while technology can simplify life, it rarely succeeds at simply being fun to use. Yet Apple makes computing fun, and in my book, that is worth the price of admission to Macworld. For more about the conference, including Steve Jobs’ keynote, visit http://www.macworld.com/.
