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

Engadget ^ | 4/1/06 | Ryan Block

[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.