Some people love Mercedes; others prefer BMW. Some drink white wine; others drink red. Some live in red states; others in blue. Some are pro-life; others, pro-choice. Some believe in God; others don't. And some like PCs, and others are Mac fanatics. These things are genetic. I was born PC.

Today I did some reconnaissance on the other side. I can imagine how German soldiers felt as they invaded Paris in World War II: I know fraternization with the locals is forbidden, but I could really get used to this.

Apple is cool.

Steve Jobs is cool. His keynote is online. And inspiring.

At one point, Steve shows a stock-ticker widget. "Um. I see our stock's down. Well, the keynote isn't over yet." (Cheers from the crowd.) He has the audience eating out of his hand.

Years ago I was in the front of the auditorium when Steve introduced the Think Different campaign. The video showed Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson, John Lennon, Bucky Fuller, Edison, Mohammed Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Gandhi, Amelia Earheart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson, and Picasso, as a voice intoned:

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.

The rebels.

The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.


They’re not fond of rules.

And they have no respect for the status quo.


You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,

disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.



They invent. They imagine. They heal.

They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.


Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.



While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve described talking with Gandhi's son (nephew?) about licensing the Mahatma's image. The son was a Mac user; he felt the Mac's values mirrored his dad's. I was blown away. It brought tears to my eyes.

Today's Expo at was totally unlike what you see at a PC show.

• Everywhere you turn, you see stunning photographs and hear throbbing music.
  
• There are no training vendors in evidence.
• The exhibitors have style. Neat logos, attractive gear, exciting-looking software.

Eilif and I watched a demo of part of iLife. The software was creating photo albums. A few clicks here, a slider there, and bingo, in seconds you had created a very slick book. You can get the album printed for a reasonable price -- $29.95 hardcover down to $3.95 for a mini book. I'm convinced the fellow doing the demo was a magician, but the interface and the results were to die for.

Seeing is believing. We looked at a mini-Mac; it's smaller than the answering machine on my desk. 6.5" x 2". It comes loaded with the OS X operating system, the iLife Suite ( iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, and GarageBand), and Apple Works. For $500, more if you bump the 40 GB hard drive up to 80 GB. I want one of these things for the software alone. My video editing software for the PC cost as much as this little Mac unit.

If you just realized that you forgot my birthday last year, no problem. Just send me one of these mini Macs.