We all know them. They disrupt the flow. They are the arrogant ones.
Recently, the billionaire heiress of one of America's most successful retail chains exhibited "the trait" after being stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. She said to a state patrolman, "Do you know my last name?" Apparently the officer did not care what her last name as as he wrote her a ticket.
Many years ago in a land far away, the creators of the world's first mass-marketed graphical computer exhibited the same trait. They didn't cooperate. They created and pushed proprietary technologies when industry-standard technologies would have worked just fine. They were brash...they were the arrogant ones.
That's all changed now. With the operating system war seemingly lost forever to Microsoft, these arrogant ones almost lost their shirts. They almost had to close shop. They had to make changes. And they did.
Everything I read tells me that the words "not invented here" have for the most part disappeared from the hallowed halls of Apple Computer in Cupertino, California. Steve Jobs, co-founder and self-appointed "savior" of the company, has brought the likes of Microsoft into the fold, and has proclaimed that Apple will not longer snub its nose at technologies birthed outside Apple.
What is ironic is that Jobs, father of the Macintosh, pushed a closed system that had few upgrade avenues in the 1980s. Today, Jobs' mentality lives on in the iMac, an impressive, but at first glance limited of computer technology. However, let's remember that it's not you and me -- devoted Macintosh users -- that Jobs wants. He wants the first-time buyer and computer user. He wants a positive and exciting user experience. He wants to sell them the Volkswagen Beetle they have read about but never owned.
What a brilliant move! After all, isn't everyone is into "retro" these days? The iMac certainly fits the bill for something completely different and exciting. What's more exciting is that Apple's new "innovation" streak won't stop with the iMac. The iMac is only the tip of the iceberg of what we'll see from Cupertino in the years to come. With the OS wars over, Apple needs to continue to focus on its core strength Big Time -- which is innovation, innovation and more innovation!
Get ready Mac users and Mac users to be. Get ready to hang on for the ride. Steve and the Mac are back and they're ready to rumble!
The Arrogant Ones
How Do You Sleep at Night?
As I watched the sex scandal debacle surrounding President Clinton in late January, I couldn't help but let my thoughts drift toward Apple Computer.
While the feeding frenzy of the press pursuing a U.S. president is certainly much more serious than the fortunes of a computer company, nonetheless, certain comparisons can be made.
Like Mr. Clinton's frequent missteps, so have the frequent missteps of Apple Computer. Some openly wonder how Mr. Clinton, a man at the pinnacle of world power, could risk it all by a sexual indiscretion.
At the same time, it seems handlers of Apple Computer over the years have flown in the face of common business sense and have flirted with disaster...that of the demise of one of the most innovative computer companies ever to exist.
The story of Apple Computer is an amazing one. Those faithful who love and revere the legendary ease of use of the Mac OS winced many times as the losses mounted in 1996 and 1997. While Steve Jobs apparently has secured a bandage over Apple's gaping wound, it is still unclear just how Apple will recover financially from its woes.
Concerning the Macintosh, market share figures don't always give an accurate account. It is widely known that PCs running Microsoft Windows are replaced at a greater frequency than Macintosh computers. This in itself spells doom for the Macintosh as it relates to market share.
We all know that millions of older Macintosh computers are still in everyday use in our nation's public schools. For that matter, there are still millions of Apple IIs in use in many of those same schools. What Apple Computer cannot afford to happen is to lose these schools to the PC world when they upgrade. Unfortunately, there is some evidence this is happening. Face it, with all the bad press Apple has received the past two years, what school district wouldn't weigh its options on another platform without such baggage?
It's like the press saying over and over that the president is guilty of lying and sexual indiscretion. Despite whether the accusations are true or not, after awhile it begins to sink in and there are those who "convict" before all the evidence is in.
Much like a president under siege, I feel that's what's happened to Apple over the past two years. In many ways, Apple already has been tried and convicted by the popular press, convincing the public that the Macintosh has lost its "relevance" in the marketplace.
The sad commentary is that if Windows is the only operating system that has relevance today according to the press, then what will happen if Microsoft captures the lion's share all other relevant technologies and applications? It is entirely possible that Bill Gates could control all desktop computers by 2005, that is, if companies like Apple go under.
"Where do you want to go today?" If a scenario such as this is played out, no matter where you go, Mr. Bill will be right there with you.
I don't know about you, but that scenario doesn't make me sleep better at night.
Apple Out of Luck and Out of Business
Dateline: The Future.
"Well, now that Apple Computer is gone and the Macintosh is dead, the PC world is definitely going to be a safer place.
"There will no longer be any question of compatibility in the workplace, because everyone will be running one flavor of DOS or Windows, unless of course they need some industrial strength system like Sun or whatever. But they are the few. Windows is for everybody.
"Publishers will eventually see the light and convert their inferior graphic systems to the future operating system, Windows NT. Then anyone running one or another of the flavors of DOS or Windows out there will be compatible with printers and service bureaus. In time, graphic designers and other content creators will see the light and will convert (or should I succumb). They cannot make a living on an outdated computer forever. It was inevitable.
"The writing was on the wall when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company peddling another outdated operating system, NeXT. The hoopla over what was to be Rhapsody eventually ran into reality. Apple never delivered a state-of-art modern operating system. The smoke and mirrors died out and attempts to prop up the System 8 wained with consumers. Apple-branded network computers never made it to market. IBM pulled the plug on PowerPC chips. Despite Jobs' best efforts, the MacOS could not be ported to Intel technolgy quick enough. The bottom dropped out..."
Will these words be written at some future date by a technology writer, pronouncing the death of Apple Computer. It's not likely.
Granted, it's certainly been a roller coaster ride for Mac devotees of late. Assessing the status of the Apple Computer and the Macintosh is like predicting the life cycle of computer technology.
To understand why Apple Computer and the Mac will be around for the forseeable future, all one has to do is look around: major downsizing, renewed focus, on schedule products releases, on schedule to release what could be another revoluton in computing (Rhapsody), the best and fastest computers in its history...the list goes on and on. Apple is a long way from throwing in the towel and it very well looks as if Steve Jobs is the right man at the right time. Yes, Jobs makes crazy decisions that no one understands. But isn't that kind of direction what has made the Mac great? Why, he's even considering staying on permanently. Indeed, we'll be in for a wild ride for sure. Name another computer company that creates that kind of excitement.
Personally, I'm buckled in and bracing for more. What I see coming from all of this is perhaps some of the most insanely great products in the history of computerdome...can lightning strike the same place twice?
Contrary to popular believe...scientists now say "yes."
What if Apple Had Licensed the Mac Sooner?
There was a time when computer technology was expensive and only obtainable by a few. Computer enthusiasts did their computing on a mainframe. It was like the Old West: An untamed world filled with excitement, intrigue and exploration of the unknown.
Youngsters like Bill Gates (who today owns a major computer software company) cut their teeth on the mainframe. Gates, like hundreds of others, did programming for others and eventually made money selling software (Gates' has a number of software packages on the market today).
But then Steve Wozinak and Steve Jobs came along and refined and marketed the "personal" computer. It was an odd beast at first. It's not that anyone knew what exactly they would do with the personal computer. The fact was they just wanted one.
Eventually, "Killer Apps" were written for personal computers and the use and need for the machines was realized.
Then came Macintosh.
The Mac was a dream. It was a dream that started at the Palo Alto Research Center. One day Jobs saw a demo and let's just say, "He was impressed."
The rest is history.
I still believe the Mac to be the best implementation of "personal computer" technology ever. We can thank Apple Computer for that. And we can thank Apple Computer for the OS the majority of the world runs: Windows (after all, the Mac was the first mass-marketed computer to use "windows).
I read an interesting analysis recently about the marketing of the Macintosh platform in Geoffery Moore's book, Inside the Tornado. Moore goes against popular Silicone Valley thought that says, essentially, if Apple would have licensed its Mac technology sooner, it could have had the lion's share of the desktop OS today.
Moore believes all markets must have a "Gorilla." Microsoft, obviously, is the Gorilla of the operating system world. He also states that surrounding the Gorilla are Chimps and Monkeys. Once the "Tornado" of market development ends and the Gorilla is established, several supporting and/or competing Chimps and Monkeys emerge.
Apple Computer and its Macintosh platform is seen as a Chimp by Moore. But what Apple has done with the Mac is essentially establish itself as a Gorilla in the niche computer markets of the world.
Desktop publishing, multimedia authoring, schools and the home are areas that Apple traditionally has been strong, despite Microsoft's dominance in the overall OS market.
Moore says if Apple would have licensed its Mac technology that in itself would have not guaranteed it would have won the OS war. In fact, it probably wouldn't have, he says. Microsoft benefited heavily from its "legacy" status with MS-DOS and basically has never looked back. Does Win95 contain DOS? Of course it does. Backward compatibility with IBM-based business applications (at least perceived backward compatibility) has helped drive Microsoft to the top of the OS heap.
I was one who felt that Apple could have owned the OS desktop market had it licensed its technology earlier. After reading Moore's book, I have paused and re-evaluated my thought processes and have to admit he has a point.
Well, I guess we will never know what "might have happened," but as Apple fights for its life today it is good to know that there is a possibility that the quirky computer company has made some good decisions in the past that as enabled "the rest of us" to enjoy the Cadillac of computer operating systems.
Thanks Apple.
The Brillance of It All
A few months ago I got back an old Mac Plus that my brother had been using as the family computer for several years. He upgraded to a Power Mac, so no longer had any use for it.
I brought it home neatly packed away in its original tote bag (remember those?) and put it away in the attic.
Recently, as I moved some boxes to the attic for my wife, I ran across the computer and decided to take it out of its bag and set it up. I carefully hooked up the small hard drive, mouse and keyboard, then switched on the buttons to give it life.
I soon heard the swirling of the hard drive as it booted the system software, which to my surprise, was version 6.0.8. Having seen old set of System 7.1 disks stored away in the office earlier in the week, I decided to see if the old Plus could run System 7.
Oops! The system software disks were high density and the Plus drive was 800K! I got around this by installing the software onto the external hard drive of the machine using my Power Mac; and then reconnected it to the Plus.
As I powered up again the familiar "Welcome to Macintosh" appeared, along with Balloon Help. The "old man" was running System 7.1!
With only 2.5 megs of ram, I wondered if I could move the machine to Word 5.1. Previously, Word 3.0 is all it had ever seen. I loaded it and everything ran smoothly.
I eventually dusted off old versions of software and installed them to run on the Plus. Everything worked fine--slow at times--but fine.
All in all, I realized the Plus is still a very usable computer. It supports graphics, a modem and other modern computer peripherals. I've read on the Web, where there are sites dedicated to classic Macs, that literally thousands of the computers are still in use today. As I worked with the Plus I wondered how many IBM XTs and ATs are still usable and produce the quality of output still attainable on an old Mac.
I long ago relegated myself to the fact that the Mac wasn't for every computer user. This is despite the fact that when the Mac was launched it was touted as "The Computer for the Rest of Us."
This is what the Mac has become. For those who don't care for the tin can-like feel of DOS/Windows machines, the Mac provides an elegant and intelligent interface. After all, do you buy a Porsche because everyone has one and you want to be like everyone else? Don't think so.
I joined the Mac bandwagon at a time when the Mac was clearly a different kind of computer. It was a time when you simply could not do on an IBM-PC what you could do on a Mac. I still recall the contrast between starting up a Mac and the cryptic amber screen featuring MS-DOS. Different worlds indeed.
Well, those days for the Mac are long gone, but as one who still uses DOS/Windows-based machine at work and a Mac at home, I still get a warm fuzzy from time to time when I see the familiar MacOS come to life.
Old-time Mac users must admit that we face a new day. There are millions of new computer users out there who believe the world begins and ends at Bill Gates' doorstep. They believe there is Windows95 and little else. The Mac is thought by this group to be an band of renegades that refuse to conform to "the system."
I kind of like being different, how about you?
Apple, Be and Bill Gates
If you have been a Macintosh user for long, you know why Apple Computer is such an easy target for criticism. Up until Macintosh clones began appearing, Apple was the sole hardware supplier for the operating system that it invented.
With Mac compatibles now flooding a market that was exclusively Apple's domain, this situation is sure to change. What remains to be seen is if the Mac operating system can stand up to the challenge of multiple vendors building boxes to run it. The PC-compatible market has gone through years of upheaval due to incompatibility issues and the lack of plug-and-play features.
Hopefully, the present Mac architecture is solid enough to answer the challenge until Apple delivers a new operating system.
Though there is still no doubt that Mac is still the easiest to use personal computer, everyone must admit that its lead has been seriously eroded by Windows. The public at large does not see the difference and Apple has essentially acknowledged this in recent months.
As hard as it is to admit, Microsoft has forged ahead on a number of fronts with Windows 95...particularly in the most important arena, public opinion. Getting a modern operating system to market is perhaps Apple's greatest challenge as it competes today's personal computer market.
This situation is ironic as Apple has finally licensed its hardware business. With that out of the way, Apple must keep its technology ahead of the competition. By not delivering on a new (and revolutionary) OS soon, it could seriously hurt the clone market which it so hesitantly started in the first place.
It can be argued at what point Apple should have licensed its OS in the first place. The reality is that licensing the operating system was only part of the problem for Apple. It still takes a special hardware configuration to run the Mac OS. This is where the next generation PowerPC platform holds so much potential. Gone will be Mac's proprietary hardware specs. The new platform is supposed to result in clone manufacturers being able to build cheaper machines. However, it will also usher in an era when the Mac OS will literally be going head-to-head on its own merits with the predominate operating system that the rest of the world uses.
It may be during this time that the realities of Apple not allowing the creation of a healthy clone market years ago will come to haunt it in full form.
Think of it. Had the Apple OS gone head-to-head with Windows 1.0 or even Windows 3.0, there certainly would been a different outcome than competing against Window 95 which is being peddled "as the most Mac-like ever."
Will Apple buy BeOS and merge it into what was to the System 8? Could a second revolution be on the horizon? I only hope Apple gets to Jean-Louis Gassee, Be Inc. founder and former Apple president, before Bill Gates does.
The "Bashing" of the Mac
I don't know about you, but I have had my fill of Mac bashing. Since Apple announced its (admittedly) enormous losses earlier this year, one magazine after another has decided to take its shot at Apple. While Apple has deserved some serious criticism by industry writers, I can't get over how negative the articles have been.
Take for example Business Week's "Death of an American Icon" lead article several months ago. Numerous other examples could be cited, such as the Wall Street Journal's coverage (it uses Macs) and network television's coverage of Apple's woes.
Long-time Mac users know all too well the company's tremulous past. If your a recent Mac convert, try reading "The Accidental Millionaire: The Story of Steve Jobs" or "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything." It is easy to see had it not been for Jobs and the Mac, there probably would not be an Apple Computer today.
I guess what bothers me most is the dismissal by large number of computer users of the Macintosh as a viable platform. I have found, by large, this category of "Mac Basher" has not used nor understands the Macintosh. If anyone ever questioned the Mac platform as being viable, they should talk to small and large businesses that use it (and believe in it) exclusively for high-end graphics and video production.
Apple has made its bed hard, so it is understandable that the company would at some point go through major upheaval to survive. I have never known an Apple retail outlet that did not have its share of customer relations problems. For whatever the reason, Apple dealers just never seemed to "get it" when it came to dealing with its bread and butter. Folk liked what they saw so much they, like I, overlooked arrogant attitudes of salespeople and bought Macs anyway.
When the first Power Macs were introduced I recall visiting the only authorized Apple store in Memphis, Tennessee, to see a demonstration. I was particularly interested in the machine's capability to run Windows applications, as the organization I worked for at the time ran "Bill's Boxes" almost exclusively. Upon asking a salesman for a demonstration, I got the abrupt answer: "Why the #$@*! would anyone want to run Windows on a Macintosh?" My answer: "For one thing, I work for a company that has 60 DOS machines!" It is this type of attitude that lost the interface war for Apple. If Apple would have not stood on its laurels for so long and licensed its OS, there is a good chance many of us who must settle for Windows 95 at our workplaces would be running System 7 or 8 or whatever today.
I believe in Mac technology, enough so that I have upgraded extensively this year during Apple's darkest hour. In the end, it is loyal Apple users that will continue to make the Mac OS a viable alternative to the Windows onslaught.