( CNN ) -- Ben Cahan wishes he had n't damaged his old snapshot of a person in a prosthetic alien suit sitting with his Macintosh . Luckily , he still has a late-1980s picture of actor Kurt Russell with his boxy Mac desktop . Ben Cahan worked with Hollywood films and spotted Kurt Russell sitting with his Mac in the 1980s . Rubbing elbows with big-name celebrities was not unusual for Cahan , who is a software developer . He used his Mac to create Hollywood screenwriting software that formed the basis for programs still in use today . Cahan never expected his old computers to become museum pieces , and he did n't think much about saving funny photos of them at the time . He almost wants to kick himself when he thinks about the lost photo of extraterrestrial attire . `` Who would have thought that would be an interesting picture ? '' he mused . But as the Macintosh computer celebrates its 25th birthday Saturday , Cahan and other iReporters are seeking to preserve memories and the history of what they consider to be simple , classic and timeless designs . At the same time , they ponder the purpose of preserving such a short legacy . Gil Poulsen of Franklin Park , New Jersey , says he can understand confusion from people who see the meticulously curated collection in his basement . iReport.com : Go behind the museum 's velvet rope . `` Computers almost become like antiques or dinosaurs very quickly . It does seem like a contradiction in terms to have a computer as a museum piece . '' Watch Poulsen talk about his museum » . Poulsen keeps an elaborate stash of vintage Macs , portable devices , accessories and artwork . Two of his favorite pieces are a special vertical flat-screen unit made for Apple 's 20th anniversary and a chassis cover designed to deflect radiation . Small placards explain the details of each item in the collection , and a velvet rope gives the space a real museum feel . He remembers the days when the computers ran exclusively on floppy disks , necessitating frequent disk switching whenever the onboard memory filled up . As storage innovations cropped up , users sought to purchase additional floppy drives and , later , units with hard drives . His collection chronicles many of these changes . Upstairs , he keeps a couple `` Macquariums '' on display . Among Mac enthusiasts , a popular form of artwork is the conversion of an old Mac case into a shell for a fish tank . The resulting aquarium setup mimics a popular screen saver on the units that featured swimming fish . iReport.com : See iReporter Bob Mushchitz 's Macquarium . Building inspectors and plumbers who visit are sometimes taken aback at the little computer museum . `` I often get very strange reactions from contractors visiting the house because they do n't quite know what to make of it when they see it , '' Poulsen said . Blake Patterson of Alexandria , Virginia , can certainly relate . His family is in awe of the computer room downstairs , which he calls the `` Byte Cellar . '' He maintains a blog by the same name that chronicles his experiences with vintage computing . iReport.com : Get a peek inside the Byte Cellar . `` My wife is quite amazed and sort of frightened by that . She stays out of the computer room . It 's a little bit scary . '' He purchased an original 128K Macintosh in 1985 and has owned several more machines . Much of his collection was built in the past eight years or so . Patterson , who operates Web sites , currently uses a three-screened Mac Pro for high-end tasks . See both old and new photos of vintage Macs » . The legacy of the Mac , now 25 years old , is one of innovation , he says . `` It was quite a notable achievement 25 years ago when the Mac first came out . It was a big , new thing . People were a little bit baffled by the innovations . '' Classic Macs were some of the first commercially successful home computers to incorporate a graphical user interface , mouse and streamlined chassis . This new form of design allowed flexibility for manipulating graphics and page layouts onscreen . Mike Tuohy of Seattle , Washington , acknowledges that artists and the Mac seem especially well-suited for one another . In fact , he likes to do much of his art on Mac cases themselves . `` There are certainly out-of-the-box kind of approaches that appeal to me , '' he said . `` That technology appeals to the more artistic side of the population . '' Over the years , he has amassed several old Macintosh units . Some are complete with signatures from Apple developers molded onto the inside of the chassis . He likes to paint the outside of the computers to create artistic interpretations . iReport.com : See the painted Macintosh cases . One piece spins the concept of a `` vintage computer '' on its head with a wood paneling design . Another almost exudes a glow of primary colors . `` I do n't want to create a lot of canvas work that I have to drag across the country , '' Tuohy said of his preference for art created on -- and with -- computers . Cahan , the software developer , says he relishes the heyday of the early Macintosh computer lines . He could see the appeal for artistic types like himself . `` I loved Macs in the '80s and '90s , '' Cahan said . `` The entertainment industry was one of the big movers for the Mac back in those days . '' But after all these years , he has opened up to using Windows-based PCs . He points out that perhaps the greatest legacy of the Macintosh 's innovation may be the many permutations and inspirations that later occurred . iReport.com : Read about Cahan 's encounter with Kurt Russell . `` All the innovation is on the Mac , '' he said . `` But that 's what competition is all about . You think the PC people are supposed to sit around and lose their market share ? It 's just plain old business . '' Looking back , Cahan is n't sure he would have been as successful with computers today as he had been back then when things were simpler . Software development manuals have bloated to upwards of 3 feet thick . `` It costs a million bucks to make stuff nowadays , '' he said . `` Back then , I could do it in my bedroom . ''
iReport.com : Outpouring of photos , taken ahead of Macintosh 's 25th anniversary . Software developer Ben Cahan photographed Kurt ##z with his old Mac . Gil Poulsen 's basement computer museum includes placards , and rope . Mike Joyce painted his old Mac ##s to look like wood and primary colors .