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English
International school in Switzerland gave and left me with three things that were very big to me:
- I was the only student from China until just leaving for more challenging schools (something that the former headmaster saw as really important);
- I designed much of the school’s Arts Fest posters, signage and publicity material in 1997 — I gave this my maximum effort;
- I was the first student to finish touch typing courses in 3rd grade — something that, to me this very day, still remains something big.
All it took to get me into the IT world was one very respected computer teacher in 4th Grade. Mr Pat D’Arcy was all that was needed to get the whole class into Mac mode, starting with his classic “grand!” Hangman of comp jargon. Next thing we knew, HyperCard was big: this hypertext-based application that allowed you to create your own apps (or stacks) was so much part of us that by 9th grade, I had, at home, come up with a mock travel app where all you needed was to choose your destination, input your name (and the number in your entourage), and boom — out would come a full itinerary (including a copy for the make-believe travel agent). (And all this, at home, while every other soul in class was desperately dating the hottest girl in school. Dad did, after all, make me a real student…)
Fast forward to the new century, and there I was, in 2002, starting the Beijing Macintosh User Group, a group that’s being converted to the all-new beimac circle. For nearly ten years, this group has seen the Chinese Apple world completely change — from the beginnings, when Macs were sold at a lone, semi-hidden “Apple island” sandwich between two city ringways, to the Apple China of today — with four Apple Stores and counting in the PRC. We’ve redefined the Mac club so that now, it not only caters to Macintosh computers, but to state-of-the-art, next-generation Apple products such as the iPad, iPhone and the iPod. (Whew. What an iWorld.)
But to say Apple is “everything IT” to me doesn’t quite cut it. I’m on social media a lot, and that has paved the way for me to, in a quick late 2007 stint, to create from scratch the China version of a previous Web 2.0 blogging network — and to drag that thing to the Top 3 list in the former blog network. Since 2008, I’ve been blogging about IT independently, and I’ve also been involved in IT events, including offline ones. Right now, I’m giving the new beimac circle much of my attention. Apple is doing good in China and we want to stay part of it.
瑞士的國際學校給我留下三件很深的影響和事情：第一，直到即將換到更具有挑戰性的學校前，我是唯一一名來自中國的學生（前校長視我為一種學校的「國寶」級學生，凡是遇到訪客且我在場時一律前來特意介紹我；第二，1997 年的學校「藝術節」大部分圖片和指示牌、宣傳物品設計等，由我一人完成；第三，三年級時我是全班第一名完成快速鍵盤輸入即「盲打」課堂，甚為榮耀。
四年級時，現在和我依然在臉譜網上保持聯絡的愛爾蘭籍電腦老師 Pat D’Arcy 先生讓大家快速捲入歡樂之蘋果電腦世界。到了初中，我已經基本上能使用以「超級鏈接」為本的 HyperCard 程序變成；九年級許，甚至於在自家初步完成一個模擬旅遊企業的「電子紙質訂單系統」。
進入 21 世紀，我與來自六個其它國家的蘋果電腦用戶於 2002 年發起當時稱為「北京麥金塔用戶會」的蘋果電腦組織。該組織於 2011 年，為迎接蘋果界的巨大改變，重新改為「北麥圈」社群，事業從過去限於蘋果電腦改為舊老電腦及蘋果新一代電子產品，如 iPad、iPhone、iPod 等。2007 年末，我曾為一個英國資訊科技網站撰稿並經營某資訊科技世界聯合網站中國站點，使其從「一個普通網站」迅速升到前三名。2008 年以來，我又參加了各項資訊科技活動，包括獨立撰寫資訊科技博客、參加線下「環遊中國」資訊科技活動等。現在大部分精力都在忙著將成立將近十年的北麥組織順利帶入新時代。
The Apple China of today is quite different from that nearly a decade ago. In 2002, Apple was a mere niche player — even a niche of a niche player — and its products remained remote from the masses. The cheapest, most low-end of all Mac laptops costed us something in the five digits — an astronomical price for a still developing nation.
But the Apple world in China today is vastly different. Step onto a Beijing Subway train, and you encounter a fair number of young riders talking on their iPhones (or tweeting away on Sina Weibo). At many Starbucks coffee shops around the city, PCs and even older-generation Mac laptops are less and less common sights: the iPad is now the thing to bring in (along with your favourite drink). More and more high speed rail riders are tuning into their iPods. Apple’s more into China today than it was ten years ago.
The Apple community has also seen its fair share of change in these past years. Apple has moved beyond its Macintosh computers and now has the iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Apple’s also seen some pretty big changes “higher up”: it now commands a pretty visible presence with some very cool-looking Apple Stores all over the world. A new generation of players are taking their place higher up the Apple corporate ladder as the “two Steves” progressively hand the flame of Apple revolution and innovation to newer, more creative folks.
That’s the good news. But with the good must also come the bad. The underbelly of the Apple world in China is something more startling than we think. Piracy’s still here; jailbreakers abound. Fake, low-grade, pirated and otherwise suspect goods are waved too often in the faces of customers by scalpers, those who profit by breaking the rules and upsetting the legal economic and IPR order. The Apple Stores in China are sometimes staffed by incompetent staff, and anarchy sometimes hits those stores, however unfortunate that may be.
We — as in the beimac circle — have a raison d’être by fixing what’s broken and keeping the Apple world in China in check. We started in 2002 as the Beijing Macintosh User Group and we remain here today to keep the Apple world growing in health. Here are our goals:
- Connect all Apple product users
- Provide them with high-quality information and support services
- Keep the Apple world soundly developing, and at the same time, remove obstacles to growth
回顧蘋果在中國的過去不到十年的快速發展，蘋果已經從一個小眾電腦系統演變成一個嶄新的資訊科技企業。今天，上了北京地鐵，就能看得到年輕旅客使用自己的 iPhone 手機；在星巴克等咖啡店，昔日的 PC 和甚至於 Mac 筆記本電腦已經逐步被新一代 iPad 平板電腦所取代。高鐵列車上，也能見到更多旅客從自己 iPod 收聽音樂。這充分證明蘋果已經初步進入中國市場和中國中高端社會。
蘋果社會也在過去幾年，發生了深刻變動。蘋果已經從「單一電腦製造商」逐漸演變為「多元電子設備製造商」，今天，除了 Macintosh (麥金塔) 電腦外，還有多媒體播放器 iPod、新一代通訊設備 iPhone、平板電腦 iPad 等。同時，蘋果在較為高層方面也出現了較大的變動。蘋果已經將其銷售方式由單一授權經銷商變為多樣，包括開設自己的直營店。我們偉大蘋果創辦者喬布斯和沃茲聶克也隨著其「退居二線」，為新一代蘋果創先領導者鋪好創新之道路。
同時，隨著蘋果的快速發展，個別對蘋果無益的行為依然沒有得到有效解決。這裡包括盜版軟件、設備「越獄」和違法犯罪兜售非正規產品等危害市場經濟、危害知識產權行為。同時，蘋果開設的四家蘋果直營店雖然對廣大蘋果用戶是一種福音，但是較低的資訊科技知識水平和甚至於個別時間的混雜管理方式，也給蘋果界帶來不必要的麻煩。
新一代「北麥圈」用戶社群繼承了老的「北京麥金塔用戶會」，以獨立，脫離於蘋果內部體制的資訊科技用戶組織，致力於進一步改進中國蘋果界，也同時致力於協助蘋果在中國的可持續健康較快發展。我們的目標是:
- 聯絡各蘋果用戶
- 提供高質量可靠資訊服務，包括蘋果資訊和維修蘋果設備資訊
- 引導整個蘋果界的健康發展，杜絕對蘋果的無益行為