Colin Holgate



Originally trained in the R.A.F. as a telecommunications technician. Got into computing as a hobby after buying an Apple II+ in late 1980. Fixed microcomputers after leaving the air force. Then had a company that made Apple II based sound samplers (Greengate Productions). The company died horribly after four years, so I started to work for Apple UK in their tech support department. Four and a bit years later I moved to Santa Monica to work for The Voyager Company. Worked on a lot of titles over the next six years, then the Voyager CD-ROM line went to another company. Since then I have been mostly working with New York design company Funny Garbage.

 
How did you personally
get into using the Macintosh family of computers? 		I had about two hours of experience playing with MacPaint and MacWrite on a friend's Mac 512K before I applied to work in Apple tech support. That may sound like I was a tad under qualified, but they were lacking in Apple II knowledge at the time, so that's where I was useful. One of my early tech support calls went like this:
Dealer: "What's the current version of Finder?"
Me: "Hold on a moment." (to colleague: "What's the current version of Finder?")
Colleague: "5.5"
Me (to dealer): "5.5"
Dealer: "Thanks" (hangs up)
Me (to colleague): "What's Finder?"
Status: I'm not a geek, I'm a free man.
First Mac:
Mac SE picture		 The First Mac I worked with was a Mac Plus. Apple had a Loan to Own scheme where employees can take home the latest greatest setup. For me that was a 1 MB Mac SE with a 20 MB internal hard disk, and an Imagewriter II printer.
Current Mac:
PowerMac 8500 picture
 I have a PowerMac 8500/120 and a PowerBook G3 292MHz that I bought, and I have a Twentieth Anniversary Mac that I won at the WWDC two years ago. Ok, you can get jealous now.
When did you get your first modem? Three years ago when I bought the 8500.
Who did you call first? Ghostbusters.
Present Occupation: Programmer, doing almost entirely Director programming for shockwave, downloadable projectors, and for CD-ROMs.
Claim to Fame: I was the first person anywhere to use System 7 full time, which was when it was on alpha 9. Even the System 7 team didn't go full time until alpha 12.
Dream Job: Concubine for IleneH.
Not So Random Thoughts...
Was there ever a time in your life that you had to "Think Different?" What was the situation and what did you do?
Too many to list. That's my basic skill, thinking differently.
How has using the Macintosh computer changed your life?
It's probably truer to say that HyperCard changed my life, it just happened to be on a Mac. Getting into using HyperCard really lead to me doing the work I'm doing now, which is in a different continent from the one I was in at the time that I started using HyperCard.
What is the weirdest thing in your office right now?
You would really need to see the office. A weird thing would not stand out.
My Passions are:
I have to restrain my passions, due to failing eyesight. I do juggle though.
If you could have dinner with one person dead or alive who would that person be and what would you ask them?
IleneH: "Can I be your concubine?"
Do you play a musical instrument and/or are you in a band?
I know which end of a guitar to blow. Otherwise, I'm not too musical, but I have friends who are musicians.
When I grow up I want to be:
It hasn't happen so far, and all indications are that it won't, so I'm not planning too carefully.
The question never asked:
"Are you going to bang your head on that doorway?"


Just The Facts, Please...
Biographical Tidbits: Programmed the Expanded Books, A Hard Day's Night, the Marvin Minsky, Don Norman, Stephen Jay Gould CDs, Comic Book Confidential, and a bunch of other titles. I even did This Is Spinal Tap (in C).
I programmed the 1997 and 1998 I.D. Magazine CD-ROMs. I'm currently working on the 1999 one.
I can almost do a five ball shower, but I can't do continuous five ball cascade. Strange, huh? My best count for eyes closed three ball juggling is 124 catches. 		Education: I'm not really educated. I left school at when I was 16, and did a two year apprenticeship in electronics in the R.A.F.
Location at Birth: Somewhere near my mothers legs. She was in Cheltenham, England, at the time. Current Location: At home in Brooklyn, NY.
Where you've
been in between: 		Quite a few places, including many towns in England, the Shetland Islands, and island in the Middle East, and California. Astrological Sign: Atheist.
Available? Hoping someone will discover me. Chat Nick: Don't have one yet. On AOL I use the screen name coiin, with the C and first i capitalized to make it look like CoIin.
Favorite Books: I've read a lot of Isaac Asimov books. I found his science fact books to be more entertaining than his fiction. I like some of Stephen R. Donalson's books too. I'm a slow reader, so I don't read books too often. Favorite Music or Band: Instrumental biased music, like Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Cirque du Soleil. Also bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis.
Favorite Food: Any domesticated pet. Cat or Dog Person: Depends on how they're cooked.

No Personal Web Site
Colin's Professional Web Site - Funny Garbage
Favorite Web Site: Altavista
Favorite Color imac: They're all a bit ugly.
"I never delegate, I always get someone else to do it."






*Note: Status Categories are: Luminary, evangelist, user, bigwig, hacker, geek, dweeb, visionary, hopeless, hopeful, etc.)
Some Mac icons used came from the Icon Factory.

Created Saturday, February 27, 1999; Edited: 3/14/99


Page design and updates by Ilene Hoffman, MS.
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