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19 September 2006
"...a dream is the answer to a question we haven't learned how to ask."
-- Fox Mulder (X-files)
I was driven by a passion. In August, 2000, I went to work for Apple, and the Warp Core column at Applelinks went into hiatus.
It was an amazing five years.
These days, I have a card on my desk that punctuates that Apple experience. I don't remember where it came from or I would quote a source. Here's what it says.
"If you ask people about their perspective on life, you'll get many different answers. Some will say that life is a roller coaster, a minefield, or a puzzle. Others will say its a symphony, a journey, or a dance.
The way you see life shapes your life. How you define life determines your destiny. Your perspective will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents, and value your relationships."
In my case, I see life as a journey, and the only purpose of a journey, for me, can be awakenings and new understandings. Awakenings, taken in context, lead to quiet wisdom and tolerance. But they must also be absorbed with a passion and savored. Without passion, our observations of life are visual events that have no lasting influence on our lives.
The stars in the night sky make us hungry and fill us with passion for our destiny.
For a writer, the passion and awakenings beg to be shared. It's not that a writer always wants you to see something exactly his or her way. Rather, the writer wants to reach out and share an experience or a dream that struck a chord with him. We're invited to feel what the writer feels and journey along with him.
One time, years ago, I was listening to Aspen leaves rustling in the wind on a cool, blue-sky September day in Breckenridge, Colorado. My wife and I were living in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time and on vacation in Breckenridge. It was at that moment, I made the decision to launch "Operation Rockies," to begin a campaign to return to Colorado. It worked, and it changed our lives. We've been back for ten years now.
Sometimes, as we walk down a mountain path, even the leaves of a tree can talk. If we're listening.
We choose our authors the way we navigate our life. Our perspectives influence our time, build our relationships, and create our enduring sense of self. We should read with a spirit that hungers for awakenings -- even more so in our hectic, high-tech lives.
Passion is what I always tried to embrace in the first 76 Warp Cores, and I sensed that the readers shared the spirit. Together, we became the ...
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
I was crazy enough to think I could change the world, and I did.
Apple at a Loss
When I think back to the late 1990s, when I started writing, there was a prevailing feeling that something valuable was being lost. The microcomputer revolution started with people who dreamed of a future in which our computers would be joyful companions, instruments built by the brightest men and women, and tools to empower us. Instead, we saw Apple dying and Microsoft in ascendancy, bludgeoning us with a bad dream right out of Apple's "1984" commercial.
We were, quite frankly, pissed off.
John Farr and I conceived of the Warp Core back in 1999. The premise was simple: I wrote about my passion -- making the case for Apple.
Apple was too bright a light in the wilderness to be snuffed out by the mindless barge of the PC world. I was just one of several writers who stepped up, started rallying the troops, and tried to articulate just why Apple was worth saving. By 1999, Apple was doing better, but not assured success. Apple had not yet shipped Mac OS X. Their positioning in the industry was still poor. While mistakes were not numerous, Apple was making dramatic decisions, and not every customer understood why Apple had to break with its past. Interpretation was called for.
When I was hired by Apple, a dream came true, but it was also an awakening. Seeing Apple from the inside is a very different experience than watching from the outside. And so, continuing to write about my employer was bad form -- and much more than frowned upon. The Warp Core went into hiatus.
Pondering the New Mac Web
Jump forward six years.
Things have changed since I wrote here at the Warp Core. I spent just under five years at Apple during the very time when the company breathed new life into itself with Power CPUs, Mac OS X, great industrial design, the iPod and the iTunes Store. Apple went from about $5B/year to $18B/year in gross revenues. Today, Apple's success is pretty much assured.
Writing with passion about Apple is more complex now. The Apple engine is humming along, and so our passions are no longer simply about Apple's salvation.
In 2006, what I call the "Mac Web" is very different -- that eclectic collection of Websites that defines the temperature and atmosphere of the Apple body and spirit. The writing is different. In previous times, the spirit of the Apple community reached out and lent mutual support. Today, one finds articles about virtualization and digital rights management. You'll have to look hard to find a writer revealing his passions.
Also, the Internet is much more saturated with channels of talk today, and talk is cheap. Bandwidth is hundreds of times greater than it was when Business Week published its tentative obituary for Apple in 1996. Today, everyone is so anxious to get their own viewpoint across, no individual's viewpoint has much value.
In 2006, there is a lot of noise out there. Websites, Blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, personal videos. It takes an act of great courage and concentration to sort out the crap from the good stuff.
That is, if you even realize that you need to.
Finding Your Path
In 2006, we've fallen into feeding on ourselves. The PC world is so hosed up, it hardly takes a minute to think up a sarcastic slam on the fumbling Microsoft. When Microsoft isn't the target, Macintosh authors pick out a column they disagree with by another author and bitterly dissect it. Sarcasm substitutes for articulate passion. And we all stand by, amused by the butchery, titillated by the verse of assassination.
Good writers spend hours and hours formulating their best thoughts and their best language. Good writers have experience, passion, judgment, and some wisdom about writing. They want you to feel what they feel, roll it around in your head, and decide for yourself if new understanding has emerged. They'll take you on a road that's worth traveling. They're a life coach for the digital lifestyle.
If what you read isn't an awakening, it isn't worth your time. And, by the way, just how does one go about teaching oneself what's valuable reading on the Internet? Just what course was that in high school we took? Sadly, there is no signpost on the road through the Internet's Twilight Zone.
As for me, I read the man, not the title of the article. I listen to his heartbeat. I read the authors who earn my respect not just my attention. Amidst the tossing of electronic lightning bolts at each other, fellowship is all we have, and it should be savored. There is precious time for little else.
Today, I find much to write about as Apple navigates into the 21st century. Of course, it's no longer the case that Apple needs saving. In fact, it might well be ourselves.
The Warp Core is all about technical passion, dreams, and the journey of awakenings with Apple.
Are you in?
The Warp Core archives are here:
John Martellaro is a senior scientist and author. A former U.S. Air Force officer, he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple Computer. During his five years at Apple, he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager for science and technology, Federal Account Executive, and High Performance Computing Manager. His interests include alpine skiing, SciFi, astronomy, and Perl. John lives in Colorado. He can be contacted via his Website.
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