The then-, now ex-spouse was working for a software house in Berkeley that was subsequently sued out of existence. We had, at her initiative, purchased an "Apple ][+" in 1982 for about $3500 (my annual salary was not thrice that in those days, and hers was rather less), and by that time I hated the original device so much that I could scarcely bear to look at it. I had seen the original Macintosh in a shop window, and thought it the ugliest piece of consumer electronics ever unleashed.

The future ex-spouse called me, asking for a ride back home from downtown Berkeley. I arrived. Her meeting ran late. "Wait here," she said, and led me into an empty room with a first-gen Mac booted up. I had no previous acquaintance with a GUI. When she returned after an hour, I said "Where do I sign?" —September 1984.

Three years after that she had left me, but in that year, 1987, I began to make my living on the platform, and have since.

cordially,