Two Years Later: We Remember Tera, Her Mac Life.

Mac users were blessed with Tera Patricks’ enthusiasm, energy, and wit as she wrote about all things Apple and Mac.

We remember the original Mac360 diva two years after she passed away. Why? What would Tera think of today’s Apple?

I have no doubt that Tera would have scolded Apple the past two years, while extolling the virtues of OS X Leopard, and applauding the groundbreaking future set by the iPhone.

Tera loved eye candy, of course. What technobabe can resist something that glitters, and the iPhone is full of glitter. I’m confident that she would have approved of OS X, but with a raised eyebrow and a few sharp and biting words for the the bucket ‘o bugs Apple gave us.

She applauded the bold move when Apple embraced Intel Inside for all Macs. She correctly called the future iBook replacement as the MacBook, and likewise the MacPro.

Tera longed to see a handheld Mac, a mini tablet of sorts, but alas, it has not been seen making the rounds, either in this life or the afterlife.

How would Tera have described the iPhone? We can only guess, but it’s reasonable to assume that she would have pointed out the contrasts between the iPhone and everything else in a similar form factor.

The iPhone is her kind of technogadget.

We miss her razor wit, willingness to concede a point for the sake of peace, and desire to get to the heart of a matter, despite of the clutter—whether from readers who failed to do their homework, or a technopundit who failed to dig up facts to support a flimsy premise.

Mac360’s Tera Patricks was one of a kind and we miss her. But life goes on.

In the two years since she died Apple has grown immensely, the Mac is back in a big way, the iPod and iTunes Store rule portable music, and the iPhone is the target to hit for competing telecommunications products.

Also in that two years Apple has put up record numbers—sales, unit sales, profit. Her favorite Cupertino, CA Mac maker has never been healthier, never had more customers, never made so much money.

Would she smile or poke holes in Apple’s self inflated balloon? I’m willing to bet she would have a few choice words for Apple’s quality control issues—Mac, OS X, iPhone.

They say that only the good die young. So it was with Tera Jean Patricks, 1959 - 2006. We miss you, Tera.