The MacBlogosphere is getting heavy with nostalgia as the occasion of Apple’s 30th birthday approaches on 1 April.

Wired.com seems to have the best content for the occasion, including a series of Apple Heroes and Villains , Steve Job’s best quotes ever , Wired’s best articles on Apple and a set of screenshots on the evolution of the GUI.

Guy Kawasaki’s video interview on Steve Jobs and Apple’s future at C|Net is interesting too.

When confronted by all this gushing talk of excellence and innovation, I turn my mind back to Apple Mail’s early years as NeXTMail.

Perhaps recent switchers like me, who haven’t travelled with Apple through the Valley of Death and back, don’t deserve to have an opinion. Even so, it seems to me that while Mail.app has come a long way, it has lost some good things too.

Just like Apple iteslf. Just like a real 30 year old.apple, 30th birthday, nostalgia, wired, guy kawasaki, NeXTMail, mail.app, apple mail

To help mark Apple’s 30th birthday, C|Net is asking for Apple users to submit stories of how Apple’s products have changed their lives. For the better, one imagines.

It also welcomes photos of users with their favourite Apple computers or gadgets.

You can send your submissions to apple-birthday@cnet.com.

(The image here is the cover of Leander Kahney‘s book, The Cult of Mac. Buy it and read it. Not only is it nicely written and diverting, it will reassure you that your own love for Macs is really quite rational and moderate).apple, cult of mac, 30th birthday, apple love stories, macs