Mike Levin

A disturbing amount of my self-image comes from the fact that I connected up with Commodore Computers in the boondocks of the Philly suburbs where I grew up. I was 18 when I went to work part-time for them. There was no (popular) Web back then, so this was a rare and fortuitous event that catapulted me forward professionally. At some blurred crossover point, the association actually started holding me back, and I’ve been overcoming that ever since. But still, I can’t help but cheer for the underdog, especially when it’s a good product. This has been on my mind alot with the smartphone wars. The ironic parallel of iPhone/Pre Mac/Amiga is not lost on me. We have the popularly acclaimed iPhone not multi-tasking (Mac), then the kooky Palm Pre (Amiga) coming along derriving it’s whole identity from multitasking.

A disturbing amount of my self-image comes from the fact that I connected up with Commodore Computers in the boondocks of the Philly suburbs where I grew up. I was 18 when I went to work part-time for them. There was no (popular) Web back then, so this was a rare and fortuitous event that catapulted me forward professionally. At some blurred crossover point, the association actually started holding me back, and I’ve been overcoming that ever since. But still, I can’t help but cheer for the underdog, especially when it’s a good product.

This has been on my mind alot with the smartphone wars. The ironic parallel of iPhone/Pre Mac/Amiga is not lost on me. We have the popularly acclaimed iPhone not multi-tasking (Mac), then the kooky Palm Pre (Amiga) coming along derriving it’s whole identity from multitasking.