The Alaska Mac Store sells computers, peripherals and supplies, including software. They do training and consultations all over the state. He mentioned that Alaska has a huge number of long-time Macintosh users, many of whom are content with older models which are still going strong after ten or more years.

Windows is a good system if you live somewhere with 24-hour technical support, he said. But if you live in the bush, you want a computer you can troubleshoot. This reminded me of my first Alaska community: far more remote than Valdez, it was out on the Alaskan Peninsula, reachable only by air or water, and my old Performa made the trip by barge from Seattle. When it finally reached us, weeks after we got there, we unpacked it and found that it wouldn't start up, and because I'd upgraded the system software, I couldn't even get it to start up with with a floppy. And the CD-ROM drive, of course, didn't work.

We had no idea whether rough seas, software corruption or both were causing the problem. There were a few despairing moments, and we envisioned finally having to ship it out for repair. I sent out an email alert on my old laptop, and Mac users from all over the world answered with suggestions. One sent me the right disk, my Mac started right up, and because I'd backed up, I was up and running after a clean sweep and reinstallation of everything. We Alaskans prize self-reliance.

4 In addition to the Mac being well-suited to bush life where trouble-shooting is concerned, I would now like to draw your attention to the quality of life in Alaska where, depending on where you live, you may only get four hours of daylight per day, or none for weeks. Jason mentioned this, when he said, Alaskans have a lot of time on their hands for 6 months of the year.

1234 It's dark, it's cold, no one really wants to go anywhere or do anything [somewhat of an exaggeration, since the majority of Alaskans are crazy about winter sports]. Many of them become interested in expressing themselves creatively.

1234 I think the Mac has always been the best platform to do this on. I say this because, since the Power PC came out, Apple's computers have been the fastest available. Their OS has always been the easiest to use, and most of the creative software available is designed on the Mac and then ported to the PC, a good example being Photoshop.

1234 I have heard many a PC user ask the question, When is Adobe going to do a GOOD port of Photoshop to Windows? If you are a musician who likes to do their recording and mixing on their computer, the Mac exclusively has the tools that I think are best for these tasks: Deck II and Sound Edit 16. So I think the Mac offers Alaskans a superior (to PC) creative outlet during those long, dark, cold winters.

1234 I'm sorry to say that most native and non-native businesses and corporations have indeed bought into the Windows hype. At a recent meeting of our school board here in Valdez, the town fathers stated that they don't want to keep spending money on Macs--the whole world uses Windows these days.

1234 I am glad to say that my 11-year-old daughter reports that there are few Windows computers to be seen in her school, with more iMacs and G3s and G4s all the time.

What role do the Imac play in the schools of Anchorage?

I asked Jason Buck about Macs in the schools in Anchorage, and he said, The public schools in Anchorage are almost entirely Mac-based. They just upgraded most of their computers to iMacs. James Christie enthused about the new iTools Apple has produced, reporting that recently a local teenager got busted for surfing adult sites on the Internet while at school. If only they had KidSafe, he laughed. As therapists in the counseling center in our native village, we worked closely with the local school, where both principal and teachers told us they wouldn't use anything but the Mac.

1234 When I lived on the Alaskan Peninsula, I provided mental health services for two outlying fishing villages, one with 75 people and the other with only 25--a common life for many Alaskans. I flew, via bush plane, up the coast of the Bering Sea, through the most spectacular landscape of mountains and sea most people will ever see, let alone set foot on.

1234 I often looked down, flying close to the ground as we did to avoid the winds, and saw a pod of whales or a caribou standing out in solitary splendor against the landscape. In my villages, the phone lines were echoing and unpredictable.

1234 My old 145b and modem allowed me to keep in touch with home, though, and as the villagers began to access the Internet (and remember, there is often no local access), their lives changed dramatically. I love my new G4, but I could always count on any of my Macs.

Alaskans are a peculiar, unique group of people. As James said, they are independent, they don't follow the herd [except during hunting season!]. It makes sense to this writer that the phrase Think Different evokes the Alaskan way of life.

special thanks to amidha k. porter and joe buck