30 years in Apple products: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Engadget ^ | 4/1/06 | Ryan Block

[qam1]

Has it really been 30 years since two buddies named Steve sold off their prized possessions (Woz's HP calculator and Jobs' VW van) to raise money and launch a company? Has it really been 30 years since the two Steves, tired of selling blue-boxes, built the Apple I and began selling it for $666.66? Yes, it has, and if you don't believe it, just compare Jobs' hairlines from 76 and today. And while the company has become known for many things, from its groundbreaking GUI to the iTunes Music Store, we know Apple has always been a hardware company at heart. So here's to you, Apple: the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly from the past 30 years. Happy Birthday.

The good
We're not going to go on about the contributions Apple's made to consumer electronics and personal computing. We don't really actually think they're all that innovative a lot of the time, they just have a knack for taking what's out there, what's a little higher end or out of reach to the average user, and bringing it to the mainstream at just the right time. Apple is Apple because they bring that technology home, and then package it with a friendly user experience and with an eye for style. High tech, good user experience, stylish presentation, it's not like those aren't things being done elsewhere, just usually not all together at the same time. Perhaps that's the essence of the Apple mystique. We've gathered some of the more groundbreaking devices of Apple's career; oh sure, we could have rounded up more, but we had to be fair to the bad and the ugly, too.

..Snip..
1976 - Apple I
1977 - Apple ][
1984 - Macintosh
1989 - Macintosh SE/30
1991 - PowerBook 100
1994 - QuickTake
1995 - Power Macintosh 9500
1998 - iMac
2000 - Apple flat panels
2001 - PowerBook G4
2001 - iPod
2006 - MacBook Pro

The bad
We like a good Apple as much as the next guy, but if you think we're gonna let 'em off easy for their flubs, flops, or complete misjudgments of their consumer base, well, you might not realize we dislike a bad Apple as much as the next guy, too. Sure, they may have some regrets over the years (seems to us like most probably come from simply pricing themselves right out of the hands of potential buyers) but occasionally concept and forward thinking become high concept and too-forward thinking, and what you wind up with is a device that people just aren't ready for yet -- or devices that just aren't ready for people yet.

..Snip...
1980 - Apple III
1983 - Lisa
1993 - MessagePad and Newton OS
1997 - Twentieth Anniversary Mac
2000 - Power Mac G4 Cube

The ugly
Let's face it, not every device in Apple's career has been lustrous, no matter how illustrious Apple may be. Now, we're not saying that Apple's continued success has been reliant strictly upon aesthetics, but there are a number of reasons why 1985 through 1997 were the lean years, and we don't think John Sculley's, Michael Spindler's, and Gil Amelio's sense of style exactly helped. Hey, even Jobs can't escape the fact that some serious fuglies made their way out the door under his watchful eye. We could make a gallery of Apple's egregiously uncomely, but we picked a few of our fav eyesores that we're no longer cursed by the gadget gods to gaze upon (at least not until we put together this piece, anyway).

..snip..
1989 - Macintosh Portable
1991 - Macintosh Quadra
1992 - Macintosh Performa
1996 - Network Server
2001 - Flower Power iMac

[George W. Bush]

The biggest thing Apple would have to deal with is the variety of hardware it would have to support. Dozens of video cards, hundreds of different drives, etc.

Well, drives aren't really an issue any more. Haven't been for some time. But video cards (and audio cards) have been a stumbling block for Apple.

Apple has implemented EFI on their new machines. It replaces the standard BIOS. EFI is intended for use on all types of machines and allows the use of universal video cards. Microsoft's Vista was supposed to support it but now it is delayed/cancelled for consumer-level machines, like so many other Vista features (it may appear in Vista server editions in 2007-2008, heck, 2010).

However, the industry banked on replacing all BIOS-based machines and is ready to go now with full EFI firmwares for their product lines. So Apple will benefit from embracing the upcoming industry standard and Vista-based machines will not. This is one of the reasons why Intel wooed Apple so hard. They and other industry players like Apple's willingness to embrace and offer new hardware interfaces and standardization. USB and Firewire are two examples of this.

This time, Microsoft's pullback will likely benefit Apple and hurt Microsoft. As with Firewire and USB and other hardware innovations that helped Apple stay alive and prosper, EFI is an Apple advantage. And Intel Macs will still run Windows XP just fine. Given that Vista has dropped nearly all its touted new features and is still a year away from release and that XP will run all the standard software for years after Vista is released, Apple still won't get hurt.

The switch to Intel just keeps paying off. For one thing, the reason Intel Macs boot so fast is due directly to using EFI. It also contributes to system stability and hardware compatibility, something Vista won't benefit from.

I think Microsoft shot themselves in the foot. It seems to be Microsoft's main purpose in producing Vista.

The industry is betting on EFI. For networked media servers and players and set-top boxes and all sorts of gadgets. To make the Linux people happy along with the Macsters. To support all OSes without having to duplicate driver writing and testing. If nothing else, EFI will allow the manufacturers to support all non-Microsoft OSes with a single firmware/driver set.

EFI is the future. On the Vista side, you have heavy repulsive DRM and the lackluster hit-and-miss features of Windows XP Media Edition which will be in Vista. And Vista will require massive computing power to run well (read new machines all round) and it requires 800MBs of RAM just to idle. And Vista will have something like seven different versions available, a nightmare for all the hardware makers.

Apple's hardware position looks pretty good to me.

[LibKill]

In a closet at work is one of the very first iMacs, teal blue.

It was new and on my desk when I arrived on my job several years ago. It crashed more often than any windows machine I have ever seen. A Macphile taught me how to "rebuild desktop" which I would do at least once a day. It kept crashing.

I am now using a windows machine.

In fairness I have heard that the first couple of thousand or so iMacs that shipped had this fault and that it was later fixed.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Forget the machines as a whole. What about Apple general concepts?

BAD
*Not being able to physically turn off an Apple.
*Not being able to physically eject a disk (those old-fashioned 3-1/2ers, at least; I haven't tried a Mac in years). At least, until you find out that you can use a paper clip to stick in the tiny hole hiding in a low corner somewhere on the base PC.