While it was fun to see Windows 3.1 running on Nokia’s N95, it probably didn’t sit well with some Apple fans. “What about our iPhone? Isn’t there anything that can be done to install a Mac OS on it besides the mobile OS X that it’s already got?” I don’t really know why anyone would want that, but a group that has been working on what is called the “MacOS iPhone Project” for a few weeks now have released photos showing the iPhone running Apple’s System 7. System 7 was first introduced in 1991 and was where QuickTime made its first appearance.
Some photos from the MacOS iPhone project show that it is possible to run applications like MacPaint, Calculator, and MacDraw on the iPhone. This is apparently done using QEMU, the same processor emulator that made running Windows 3.1 on the N95 possible. Mac OS 7 can be launched via an application launcher that resides on the iPhone’s home screen. I’m not sure where this will all lead (running old, outdated operating systems on new hardware), but at least the people working on projects like these have things to spend their time on. And that’s a good thing, I guess.
In early 2007, I wrote that a growing number of Windows users were considering switching to Apple’s Macintosh platform.
I called this “the Macintosh tide” and predicted then that it would swell quickly (see www.chron.com/macstampede).
Indeed, I think you can say that the tide came in. By some estimations, Apple’s market share has grown from the midsingle digits to close to 10 percent in that time, and that growth likely came from the legion of Windows users. After all, there aren’t that many computer neophytes left.
But now I’m wondering if we’re past high tide. For a variety of reasons, the pace and intensity of Windows-to-Mac switching may be starting to ebb.
Don’t get me wrong. There are still a lot of people out there interested in making the leap. During Wednesday night’s episode of Technology Bytes, the computer help call-in show I co-host, we took a call from someone interested in buying his wife a new notebook computer, and he was eyeing a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a price tag of more than $3,000. She was a Windows user, studying accounting at a local college, and was planning to use Parallels Desktop software to run Windows on that Mac.
Four of the five co-hosts on the show use Macs, including me, but all of us suggested the caller’s wife would be better off with a much-less-expensive PC. She already had the software she needed, doesn’t know the Mac OS and isn’t particularly computer-savvy. Using virtualization to run basic productivity apps would have added a layer of complexity she didn’t need, as well as greatly increasing the cost. We suggested she buy a Windows-based notebook at about a fourth of the price and be done with it.
This is a good example of the problem Apple is starting to face in growing its share of the market by winning over Windows users. There are a growing number of factors at play:
• The economy. It’s true that, even in tough times, those who still have money to buy luxury goods will do so, but those folks are fewer and farther between. Despite the legion of die-hards who’ll tell you that Macs are a better value than PCs because of quality, security and feature set, they have a much higher out-of-pocket cost.
You still must have the $2,000 to get a 15-inch MacBook Pro if you want one. But if you only have $800 to spend, you can find a pretty powerful 15-inch Windows notebook. If Apple wants to continue its growth, it’s going to have to lower prices. I still hear from Windows users interested in switching, but more and more, they indicate they’ve decided not to do so because of the cost.
• The cool factor. No one does interesting design or innovates on features like Apple, but it’s my impression that the company’s design juggernaut has stalled in the last year. It had been pumping out interesting and market-changing products, but I haven’t seen anything since the MacBook Air that’s impressed me.
The new MacBooks were impressive, but they didn’t knock it out of the park for me.
New iMacs and a rumored revamped Mac Mini haven’t materialized. The tech universe evolves quickly, but in terms of its Macs, Apple seems to be taking a breather.
• The hype. Apple’s a master at getting others to do promotion on its behalf. The fanboy nation is a powerful force — watch for its presence to manifest itself in the comments under the online version of this column at chron.com — and it saves Apple a bundle in marketing costs.
But at the moment, Microsoft is winning the buzz contest because of the impending launch of Windows 7. With the release of the public beta, the gang in Redmond has tech pundits and bloggers writing about it on a regular basis — including me.
Apple, of course, is working on an update of its own operating system, but it doesn’t do public betas. So, while Snow Leopard is expected to have some impressive, mostly under-the-hood improvements, it doesn’t have much excitement outside of the traditional Apple user base.
Microsoft’s edge here comes from the fact that Windows Vista was perceived as such a dog, and Windows 7 is getting much better reviews. We’ll see in the end if Win7 lives up to the hype generated by its early release.
If the Macintosh tide is indeed ebbing, we should start to see it with Apple’s next quarterly earnings report.
The company did remarkably well at the end of 2008, but it warned that things would be tougher going forward. I think Apple’s leadership also suspects that the tide of Windows switchers may be receding for a while.
For a supposedly cutting-edge firm, Google surprised many when it launched its Chrome browser first on Windows only, leaving Mac and Linux users in the cold.
The Chrome launch in September last year on Windows inevitably spawned legions of Mac fans eager to help with getting their own version ready. Now, five months later, the first evidence of progress has been made public. Simple start
A Google Group for Chrome developers has posted the first screenshots of Chrome running on OS X, along with a detailed description of the work done to date.
Before anyone gets too excited, we should say that the OS X Chrome project so far shows just a simple browser window running, with no bells and whistles and plenty of crashes in the screen-rendering engine that powers Chrome.
Clicking links doesn't work yet, but developers are positive about the groundwork they've done and are hopeful more progress will follow soon. Keeps on running
One dev, Mike Pinkerton, explained: "Now mind you, clicking doesn't work, and the renderers crash like nobody's business, but the other great thing is that the user interface stays running even if they do. Just open a new tab and keep going!"
So far, so good, in other words “ we predict a Mac release for Google's browser by spring, with something for Linux to follow soon after.
Apple may abandon its plastic MacBook design in favour of aluminium, a source close to the production of the notebook case claims.
An assembly worker at a Taiwanese case manufacturer said in a forum posting that his employer has received orders from Apple to produce aluminium enclosures for new versions of its MacBook and MacBook Pro.
More fuel for the fire
Soon after the worker violated his non-disclosure agreement and posted information about the aluminium MacBooks, a promotional picture surfaced on the web showing the possible redesigns.
First published by MacRumors, the image shows aluminium MacBook and MacBook Pros featuring what looks like a substantially altered design.
Since the site first published the pictures, it has denied any claim that they are real and said that the legitimacy of the designs can be put into question considering how similar they look to current versions.
Apple has yet to comment on the leak, but look for much more on this as we get closer to the Worldwide Developer’s Conference this summer, where Steve Jobs is expected to announce updates to the company’s current product line.
Macs are built to last – but even Apple kit can and does die.
If it's beyond repair, that means you need to dispose of it. You wouldn't dump an old computer in landfill, but many people do.
Every year, mountains of electronic waste are shipped to Asia where they're broken down to their component parts in shocking conditions, with heavy metals and hazardous chemicals leaking into the Earth.
Back in 1997, the average lifespan of a computer was six years. By 2005, that had dropped to two years – and the lifespan of a mobile phone is even shorter, with many people upgrading or replacing their phones every 18 months.
In an ideal world, everybody who buys an iPhone or switches to a Mac will send their old phone to Oxfam and give their old PC to the Apple Store for recycling. Sadly we don't live in an ideal world, and Greenpeace estimates that up to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste is dumped each and every year.
However, the good news is that things are slowly getting better. Apple has unveiled its greenest Macs yet, it's cut down on bulky packaging, it's removed some of the worst nasties from its products and it's now happy to take old computing kit when you buy new Apple kit.
So how green is Apple – and is there anything we can do to make it greener still?
Biting Apple
In 2004, environmental campaigners including Greenpeace began publicising the problem of electronic waste. Some firms were more sympathetic than others – in 2005 Steve Jobs described criticism of Apple's green record as "bullshit" – campaigners decided to put as much pressure on Apple as possible. The Green My Apple campaign urged Apple customers and shareholders to put pressure on the firm to clean up its act.
Tom Dowdall is the co-ordinator of Greenpeace's Toxic Tech campaign. "The most important factor was probably the huge, enthusiastic response of Mac fans," he recalls. "The site received over 690,000 visitors, 50,000 people wrote directly to Steve and thousands of Mac-related blogs, from the biggest to the smallest individual Mac user blogs, linked to the campaign." As Dowdall explains, campaigners felt that Apple would listen to Mac owners. "Apple customers did speak up, and that's maybe what changed Steve's mind."
Was Jobs' cry of "bullshit" justified? Were campaigners picking on Apple unfairly? To an extent, yes. Campaigns need to generate publicity, and "Green My Apple" generated headlines that "Green My Acer" simply wouldn't.
Then again, Apple wasn't entirely blameless. While Apple was gradually becoming greener, it was only doing so when and where laws compelled it to – and as Ted Smith, chair of the ComputerTakeBack Campaign pointed out, "They [were] out there lobbying against recycling bills supported by Dell and HP, they have a limited takeback programme that they don't promote and that's hard to use, and they refuse to commit to a timeline for phasing out toxic materials… maybe 'think different' really means 'don't think about it'."
There was also an inconvenient truth. While other technology firms might have poorer environmental records than Apple, they didn't have Al Gore on the board of directors. The firm's board voted "unanimously" against two shareholder resolutions on environmental issues in 2007 – which means Gore voted against resolutions that the TakeBack Campaign described as "very mild". As campaign vicechair Robin Schneider put it: "how can he be against making improvements in recycling and phasing out toxic materials? We expect more from someone who is such a strong leader on global warming."
In May 2007 Steve Jobs posted an open letter – A Greener Apple – on the Apple website. In typical Jobs style, he took swipes at the competition and showed some frustration at the way Apple had been singled out, but he made some key promises. Jobs pledged to eliminate the use of arsenic in displays by the end of 2008 and to eventually switch to LED backlighting, eliminating the use of mercury from displays.
He also pledged to remove PVC and Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) from the entire Apple product line by the end of this year. Most importantly, Jobs said: "Apple is already a leader in innovation and engineering, and we are applying these same talents to become an environmental leader."
Since then, Jobs has stuck to his word. Unnecessary packaging has been eliminated, Macs are more environmentally friendly than before and the new MacBooks are the greenest laptops Apple has ever made.
In his 2008 environmental update, Jobs notes that Apple's recycling has increased 57%, that the firm offers "takeback" recycling schemes in 95% of the countries where Apple products are sold, that the firm is making efforts to reduce not just the carbon footprint of its manufacturing processes but the energy consumption of its products too.
What you can do
Apple could make the greenest electronics on the planet, but if its customers don't go green too then it's all pretty pointless. As you'd expect, being a green Apple owner isn't particularly difficult: keep stuff that works, pass it on if you don't need it, and recycle it when it dies.
Apple has two kinds of recycling programmes in the UK. If you buy online – or if you haven't bought anything and just want to recycle old kit – then the UK distributor takeback scheme means you should take your hardware to a council recycling point. You can find the nearest one at www.recycle-more.co.uk.
Alternatively, when you buy something from an Apple Store you can recycle your old kit by taking it to the Store within 30 days of purchase. In some cases you'll even get a discount, so for example if you recycle an old iPod (except the shuffle) you'll get 10% off a new one.
Apple Stores won't just recycle Apple hardware: if you're buying a Mac to replace an old Windows box, you can recycle that. However, the Apple website is a little bit confusing, because it says that you can recycle "one equivalent piece of electronic equipment" by taking it to the Apple store. But what does "one" mean? Is it one item, such as the CPU, or is it one system, which would include cables, keyboard and monitor? We have no idea and the Apple website doesn't say – so we decided to ask our friendly neighbourhood Apple Store.
Nicola was happy to help. We told her that we'd like to buy a shiny new iMac and dump a decrepit Dell desktop, but we were not sure what we could actually recycle. Is it the whole kit and caboodle, cables and all, or can we only recycle the actual PC bit? Nicola wasn't sure, so she double-checked. Bring in the whole thing, cables and all, she told us. Can we bring the monitor? Yep, that too. Bring everything!
Inevitably, there are limits to what your local Apple Store will take. Cracked monitors, extra batteries, uninterruptible power supplies and nuclear waste are no-nos, and Apple's definition of "equivalent" doesn't include "microwave ovens or washing machines".
Everything's gone green
Apple has delivered exactly what Greenpeace asked for: a greener Apple. So the protesters have stopped protesting, the emailers have stopped emailing, and every time you buy a Mac a polar bear bursts into tears of joy.
Well, not quite. Apple has made huge steps, but going green is a long process – and like all PC manufacturers, Apple can do even more to lessen the environmental impact of its products. One of the problems is that the electronics industry thrives on making us buy new stuff, and Apple is particularly good at it – which is why people with perfectly good first-generation iPhones were queuing outside Apple stores to get the iPhone 3G on the day of release.
As Dowdall points out, "The marketing approach… to always ditch the old and buy the latest new version of a gadget you already have is not sustainable. A greener approach would be to offer hardware upgrades to existing gadgets instead of a whole new model, or to change to a leasestyle arrangement where customers buy a service instead of a product."
Cutting down on packaging and removing hazardous chemicals is a big step in the right direction, but campaigners would like to see even bigger changes. "Apple is leading the way among PC makers in eliminating toxic chemicals," says Dowdall.
"However, they still have much to do on improving recycling, their climate change policy and energy use. Clear leadership on recycling would be offering a free global takeback scheme. Clear leadership on climate issues would be Apple committing to cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions – like HP has – and increasing the total amount of renewable energy it uses globally – like Nokia has."
We can play our part, too. "Don't be afraid to ask for continuous improvement on environmental policies," Dowdall says. "That's a powerful way to push for better corporate practice." Steve Jobs has already pledged to make Apple an "environmental leader". We can make sure he sticks to it.
Statistically speaking, starting up from cold is the time when your Mac is at the greatest risk of suffering a problem. Inmany cases, it will be software rather than hardware that causes anystrange behaviour, which is the lesser evil since it's usually easierto fix. Failure to boot up reliably can be symptomatic ofsomething more serious, but much more common problems are slow boottimes and slow logins. Let's look at these in turn. Starting up YourMac loads an awful lot of code before it gets to the Finder view you'reused to seeing, and the longer you've had the Mac, the greater thechances that there's a lot of legacy stuff hanging around which canslow down the startup process. A "vanilla" or completely freshsystem will generally start up quickly on any modern Mac, but as youinstall programs over the years and fill up your boot drive, thecomputer has to perform more disk activity and sift through morestartup items, even unused ones, before it can finish booting. Oneremedy for this is to use an uninstaller program like AppZapper orAppDelete to delete any unused apps on your system, including allassociated support and library files. You can trash the application'sfolder, but this by itself won't get rid of other resources placedelsewhere in the system when it was installed. If you go toMacintosh HD > Library > StartupItems you will see theuser-installed things that your Mac is loading as it boots. Typically,these are services that applications or peripherals need to runproperly such as printers, scanners or dongle security enablers. It'spossible to delete items from this folder, but be careful that youdon't trash anything that you actually need. If you are absolutely surethat you can go ahead – for example, if you find resource files for aprinter that you no longer use – removing them can help improve boottimes. This folder is part of the system and is read beforeanyone logs in, so changing its contents will affect all user accounts.In addition, keeping your boot drive relatively clear by offloadingmedia files and large iTunes libraries onto secondary drives will helpoverall performance. Slow logins are another potential problemand are solved in a similar way to that just mentioned. In this casethe offending items are likely to be located in the System Preferences> Accounts > Login Items section. When you install someperipherals like scanners or printers, or if you ever choose to allowan application to open at login, these things will appear in this list.Each one must be loaded by the system, which takes time. If you select any unwanted items and hit the minus button to remove them you should notice an improvement in login speed. Nuts and bolts Ifyour Mac exhibits startup problems following a system update, you mayhave to boot from the OS X install DVD and run disk repair on the bootdrive, then try a restart. If you are running OS X 10.5 andregularly back up using Time Machine, it should also be possible toroll back the system to its pre-updated state by booting from a systemdisc, connecting the backup drive and choosing Restore System from Time Machine. This will replace the corrupted system with a working one, though it's something of a last resort.
Before you have to do that, though, or if you are not using TimeMachine as your backup choice, there are a few other tricks to try tofix startup problems. Holding down Ctrl+Alt+[P]+[R] at startup untilyou hear the startup chime twice will reset the Mac's PRAM, whichsometimes clears out strange glitches. On a PowerPC-based Mac like a G4 or G5, you can hold down Ctrl+Alt+[O]+[F] to boot into Open Firmware. Then, if you type reset-nvram followed by reset-allyour firmware will be reset and the Mac will reboot, which can dealwith some otherwise unexplained booting or stability issues. Startup modes There'sno easy way to access an Intel Mac's version of open firmware, which isknown as EFI, but on all OS X systems you can boot straight into theUNIX heart of your system, bypassing the normal startup procedure in anattempt to solve startup problems. Be aware that as well ashelping, you can unwittingly do great harm to your system from thecommand line, so if you're brave enough to enter this world, stick tothe exact commands. If you hold Ctrl+[V] during startup you will enter Verbose Mode,which uses text to display what is being loaded during startup. Thiscan help you to identify the point at which a fault may be occurring byseeing where the startup fails. By holding Ctrl+[S] during startup youenter Single User Mode. Here you can run deep level disk checking. At the command prompt, type /sbin/fsck â€"fyand the system will check the drive thoroughly, which may take a while.If any errors are found, repeat the command to run the check a secondor even third time until it stops reporting problems. At that point,type reboot and press [Enter] and see if that has solved the problem. Afurther option, if none of the above methods work for you, is toperform an archive and install procedure. Boot from the OS X installDVD, choose to install OS X and then choose the Archive and Install installation type. This will install a fresh system and 'quarantine' the old one without deleting it. If you think some element of the system software may be the problem, you can check the box marked preserve users and network settings and this will import your Homefolder and personal data and settings. The trick then, if the newsystem works, is to bring it back up to date without repeating the stepthat caused the problem in the first place. As an aside, whenmajor system updates are released it's often advisable to wait at leasta few days before installing them and watch for reports on the web tosee if they exhibit problems. This way you can save yourself somepotential headaches. How to manage login and startup items 1. Go to your boot drive, Macintosh HD,then navigate to Library > StartupItems. You will see the items yourMac loads during its initial startup phase associated with third-partyapps. Since we no longer need the interface driver, it can be deleted,which will speed up booting a little. 2. Go to System Preferences> Accounts > Login Items. Here you can see what is set to loadwhen you log in. It could be that when you installed peripherals likeprinters, scanners or gaming devices they placed code or applicationsin here. If you know you no longer need a particular device, you canremove its associated login items. 3. To choose a differentstartup drive, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and choosefrom available local volumes including bootable CDs or DVDs and a BootCamp partition if there is one. Or, when starting up, hold down [C] toboot from CD/DVD or hold down Alt to bring up the volume selectionscreen.
Tomorrow marks the 25th Anniversary of the original Apple Macintosh - the 68k computer that kick-started the PC revolution.
Here, TechRadar presents a potted history of Apple's perennial machine - the first to offer a graphical user interface, replacing the command line hassle techies had previously been used to.
The Mac was launched with that US$1.5 million ad by Ridley Scott known as 1984, which is where we pick up the story...
1984
On January 25th, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reveals the first Mac to the world - an 8MHz 68k all-in-one with a 9-inch display, 3.5-inch floppy drive and 128k of RAM. Its biggest selling point is its graphic user interface (elements of which were 'borrowed' from Xerox Parc), that could be controlled with a mouse. It even packs in two then-revolutionary applications: MacPaint (a graphics program) and the MacWrite word processor.
1985
Microsoft delivers two exclusive apps to the Mac called Word and Excel. It also buys up PowerPoint from a company called Forefront. In addition, 1985 sees the arrival of the first Apple laser printer and the Aldus PageMaker desktop publishing program - two developments that kick-started the desktop publishing revolution. By the end of 1985, co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had both left Apple, while Microsoft had unleashed Windows 1.0.
1986
The Mac gets a major upgrade in the form of the Macintosh Plus. It now sports 1MB of RAM and SCSI: a new peripheral connection standard that enables devices such as printers and external hard drives to be daisy-chained together. The Mac operating system reaches version 3.0, enabling folders to be nested inside one another.
1987
The Macintosh Plus makes way for two new Macs: The Macintosh SE offers a choice of two floppy drives or an internal hard disk, while the Macintosh II is aimed at business users. The Mac II has a 256-colour 13-inch display, a 16MHz processor and can hold up to 128MB of RAM. The Mac OS reaches version 5.1 and this enables background printing.
1988
Apple introduces the Macintosh IIx: one of the first personal computers to sport a CD-ROM drive. The Mac OS reaches System 6.0 and Steve Jobs reveals the first fruits of his new computer company, NeXT. It's an all-in-one box called the NeXT Cube that ships with a magneto-optical drive (instead of a floppy) and has 17-inch monitor as standard.
1989
Apple introduces three new Macs - the SE/30, Mac IIc and Mac IIci. Of these, the Mac IIci is the most interesting. It's a modular Mac with a separate colour monitor and a more compact desktop case, but ships with a 25MHz 68k processor - making it the fastest Mac made to date. Apple also introduces its first laptop - the 7.25kg Mac Portable. At NeXT, Steve Jobs reveals NeXTstep: a new Unix-based OS.
1990
Apple introduces its fastest computer yet - the 40MHz Macintosh IIfx. It also includes AMD RISC-based graphics card that's 5-30 times faster than its predecessors for certain tasks. The upgrade is important, because it combats the perception that PCs running DOS are much faster than their GUI-wielding Mac rivals. Microsoft Windows 3.0 makes its debut. Apple now has 20 per cent of the total computing market.
1991
Apple launches six new Macs, including two high-end Quadras - desktop tower PCs with new Motorola 68040 CPUs that are up to 2.5 times faster than their predecessors. Apple also introduces a new range of Mac portables called PowerBooks: the first laptops to have their keyboards at the back and the trackpad at the front. The Mac OS reaches System 7.0.
1992
The wheels start to come off the Apple happy bus. Firstly, it ships a range of underpowered consumer Macs called Performas. Then Microsoft teams up with Intel to deliver better-performing x486 PCs running Windows 3.1 - the first 'true' version of the PC operating system we know today. Things are going better at NeXT, with version 3.0 of the NeXTstep OS transitioning from Motorola 68K to Intel CPUs. It's released the following year.
1993
Apple introduces 19 new Macs split across six different ranges, encompassing the ColorClassic to the low-end LC, mid-range Centris and upmarket Quadra. In addition to Performas and PowerBooks, Apple announces that it's shipped its 10 millionth Mac, but competition's getting tougher and Microsoft says Windows is now being used by over 25 million people.
1994
Apple starts the first of three major transitions that it will make during the Mac's 25 year history. It begins with the arrival of the first three Power Macs - machines that run on PowerPC RISC architecture. The PowerPC chips are much, much faster than the CISC-based chips that Apple has been using up until now. 1994 also sees the arrival of System 7.5.
1995
Apple is hit with a double whammy: the arrival of Windows 95 and Intel's Pentium Pro CPU. Its PowerPC-equipped Macs are selling well, but the rest of its line-up underwhelms. Apple licenses its OS to belatedly compete with the Windows and Intel systems, but by September Steve Jobs is telling Fortune that he knows how to turn Apple's fortunes around and no-one at the company will listen.
1996
In February, Steve Jobs shocks many by telling Fortune: "If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it's worth - and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago." Apple finally lays the old 68k processors to rest and begins work on System 8.0 - the next version of the Mac OS. By the end of the year Apple also acquires NeXT, its NeXTstep operating system and Steve Jobs is back in the fold.
1997
Apple has too many product lines, too few customers and is haemorrhaging money. Jobs, now interim CEO, explains Apple's predicament to Time in October, saying: "Apple has some tremendous assets, but I believe without some attention, the company could, could, could... could, could die." Apple persuades Bill Gates to buy $150 million worth of shares in Apple. Jobs kills off the Mac clones. The Mac OS reaches System 8 and Apple starts work on Rhapsody, the precursor to Mac OS X. Year end sees Apple shipping Macs with PowerPC G3 chips that easily outperform their predecessors.
1998
Steve Jobs continues on wage war on Apple's inventory, killing off the Newton PDA. He focuses the company on a new product that takes Apple back to its origins: the iMac. Jobs' vision takes shape as an all-in-one system boasting a 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32MB of RAM, a 4GB hard disk drive and a 15-inch display. It has no floppy disk drive or legacy sockets, but instead offers easy internet hookup and USB - a nascent peripherals connection from Intel. It's a smash hit with consumers worldwide.
1999
The iMac gets faster and becomes available in more enticing colours. It's joined by the bondi blue Power Mac, which includes PowerPC processors running up to 450MHz. Apple also introduces a new range of G3 laptops, including the toilet seat-shaped iBook. The biggest surprise is the Power Mac G4 tower, which Apple calls the 'world's first desktop supercomputer'. Finally, Apple announces AirPort, the first 802.11b Wi-Fi router and launches Mac OS X Server - the world's first taste of a major leap in the Mac GUI.
2000
Steve Jobs heralds the consumer version of Mac OS X, with the first betas appearing at the end of the year. Ultimately, it looks good, but lacks features and is too slow. Apple's existing Mac products - the iMac, iBook, Power Mac and PowerBook - get speed bumps and colour changes rather anything revolutionary. There's also the launch of the Power Mac G4 Cube - a headless Mac that harks back to Steve Jobs' days at NeXT. It's a flop.
2001
Apple ships the consumer version of Mac OS X - its second major transition. Mac OS X 10.1 is chiefly remarkable for its Aqua colour scheme, use of translucency and missing features. Its still very slow and the 'spinning beach ball of death' quickly becomes a familiar phrase in a Mac user's vocabulary. Apple also reveals a totally new design for its laptops, with the PowerBook packing a 15-inch widescreen display and G4 CPU into a 1-inch-thick titanium case. The first iBooks make their debut, but the revamped iMac is a disaster: its patterned Blue Dalmation and Flower Power case designs keep buyers away. Finally, Apple releases a 5GB music player called the iPod. Microsoft launches Windows XP.
2002
Apple launches a revamped version of the iMac with semi-spherical base and a flat panel display that 'floats' on a cantilevered chrome arm. It also launches new consumer iBooks, revamped G4 Power Macs and the eMac, which is aimed at schools. OS X 10.2 'Jaguar' also comes into the fray, offering 150 new features and a long-awaited speed boost.
2003
Apple practically kills off Mac OS Classic and revamps its entire Mac line - iBooks, PowerBooks, Power Mac G4 towers, the iMac and the eMac. The Mac line also get a major speed boast with the arrival of the Power Mac G5 in June. It has two 64-bit PowerPC G5 processors from IBM running at 2.0GHz apiece. The iPod hits 40GB and is accompanied by the launch of the iTunes Store and the arrival of the iPod and iTunes on Windows.
2004
The year is dominated by the iPod rather than the Mac, with Apple even touting the Mac as being 'from the creators of iPod'. The iMac gets a major revamp - the floating LCD and hemispherical base replaced by an all-in-one design that packs a computer behind a flat panel LCD. Apple is now in rude health, but it's PC marketshare falls to its lowest point - just 3 per cent worldwide. The UK's first Apple Store opens in Regent Street, London.
2005
IBM delivers the first dual-core PowerPC G5 chips to Apple, enabling it to offer Power Mac G5s to its professional customers with two dual-core CPUs inside. However, IBM isn't able to deliver what Apple really needs - a fast, low-powered PowerPC G5 chip that can be used in Apple's ailing iBook and PowerBook line. In June 'hell freezes over' when Jobs announces that Apple is to undergo its third major transition - a major switch over to Intel processors. Mac OS X 10.5 'Tiger' is announced in April.
2006
Every Mac Apple makes ditches the PowerPC chip in favour of Intel Core Duo processors, starting with the iMac, Mac Mini and MacBook Pro in January, and ending with the Mac Pro in August. By the end of the year the MacBook Pro had been revamped again, this time sporting Core 2 Duo processors.
2007
Apple's year kicks of with a bang and they announce 8-core Mac Pros will be available as a buy-to-order option. Apple also adopts the Intel Santa Rosa chipset for the MacBook Pro in August and revamps the iMac so that it now sports an aluminium and glass enclosure with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. 2007 also sees the introduction of the iPhone, with banners at Macworld Expo in January declaring "The first 30 years were just the beginning", which refer to the company's history. Over at CES, Microsoft introduces Windows Vista, which is widely criticised. In October, the next version of the Mac OS X - 10.5 Leopard - goes on sale. It becomes Apple's biggest-selling OS X upgrade so far.
2008
Apple's most successful year ever kicks off with the announcement that the Mac Pro is to offer 8-core processing as standard. It's joined by the iPhone 3G and the third-party App Store, plus faster iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Apple also announces the MacBook Air - an ultra-light notebook with a multi-touch trackpad for carrying out gestures.
By the end of the year, the MacBook and MacBook Pro gets another revamp - this time with a new 'unibody' enclosure that sees the bottom cases milled from solid block of aluminium. Steve Jobs announces in June that the next version of Mac OS X - 10.6 Snow Leopard - will consolidate and enhance the existing user experience, chiefly by enabling all apps to harness the power of the multi-core processors used in all Macs.
Apple becomes the world's sixth largest computer maker.
Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the original Apple Macintosh.
And while Apple may currently be cooler than a Slush Puppy cocktail in an ice hotel, it hasn't always been that way.
In fact, some of the decisions it has made have been downright disastrous. Here are just seven of them.
1. It used too much proprietary technology
Apple's determination to do things differently has often cost it customers, cash and cachet. Early Macs were stuffed full of proprietary connections, formats and programs. Examples? It was virtually the only company to adopt NuBus expansion card slots (Steve Jobs' NeXT computer was another), when everyone else was plumping for PCI. And it ensured file incompatibility with Windows PCs by using Group Code Recording (GCR) for floppy disk media; while the Windows world was using Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM). Other proprietary technologies primarily adopted by Apple include SCSI, ADB and LocalTalk - the Mac equivalents of serial, parallel and Ethernet ports on a PC.
2. It took a big RISC with its processor tech
In the early days of computing, coming up with standards you hoped would become industry practice was commonplace.
When Apple adopted Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC) chips supplied by IBM and Motorola for the Mac, a lot was made of their superiority to the Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC) chips pioneered by Wintel.
RISC architecture has the ability to carry simple instructions in a single processor cycle (Hz), while CISC architecture carried out complex instructions across multiple cycles.
In other words, a CISC-based PC needed a lot more processing power to achieve the same result as a RISC-based Mac.
RISC CPUs had numerous other advantages over CISC: they consumed less power, ran less hot and so were better suited to laptop applications. The downside, of course, is that RISC chips weren't very widely adopted, partly because Intel was big enough and powerful enough to plough on with CISC regardless.
Intel also won the marketing battle between the two architectures - by measuring processor prowess in megahertz or gigahertz, Intel chips were always going to sound more powerful. Which would you buy: a Mac equipped with a 1GHz PowerPC G4 CPU or a PC with a 1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4? The PC, obviously, even though in practice they both benchmarked the same.
By 2005, it became obvious that Apple simply wasn't big or powerful enough to demand faster, better chips from IBM or Motorola - and none of the three could match Intel's R&D. Result: Apple jumped on the Intel bandwagon and hasn't looked back since.
3. It lost the plot in the 1990s
For five long years between 1990 and 1995, Apple drifted rudderless while Microsoft and Intel carved up the PC market between them. What went wrong? Everything! Apple employees seemingly forgot they were working for a company that had to sell products and frittered away its cash pursuing ideas it hardly ever put into practice.
Apple's reached its nadir in 1995 when it had over $1 billion worth of orders for the new Power Macintosh and no way of supplying them, and a chronic over-supply of PowerBook laptops it couldn't find any customers for. Apple's problems were so bad that you couldn't mention the company without attaching a 'beleagured' tag to it. Time summed up Apple's situation best in 1996: "One day Apple was a major technology company with assets to make any self respecting techno-conglomerate salivate. The next day Apple was a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future."
4. It became synonymous with over-priced, under-performing PCs
One of the greatest myths about Macs today is that they cost way more than their PC equivalents, when a direct spec-to-spec comparison between the two often proves that is not the case. But the myth persists because that was exactly the situation in the 1990s when Apple churned out a succession of indifferent computers that costs hundreds, if not thousands, more than their competitors. The Macintosh IIfx was a great example. It would have set you back between $9-$12K.
5. It had no answer to Windows 95
In 1992 Apple took Microsoft to court over the 'look and feel' of Windows and its similarity to the Mac operating system. Apple lost - chiefly thanks to an ambiguous contract it had signed with Microsoft some years previously.
The court case set Microsoft free to develop its OS, eventually resulting in the release of Windows 95. Apple saw the threat coming, but simply couldn't answer it with any weapons of its own.
Apple certainly tried - Copland, announced in 1994, promised many features common to modern operating systems including protected memory and pre-emptive multi-tasking. It was abandoned two years later.
Increasingly desperate, Apple contemplated buying up BeOS and even licensing Windows NT, before eventually settling on NeXTstep - a Unix-based operating system created by NeXT - a computing company founded by ex-Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. NEXTstep became the basis for Mac OS X.
6. It licensed the Mac OS to third-parties
One of the biggest mistakes Apple made during its lost weekend in the 1990s was to license its operating system to third-party PC makers.
The reasoning seemed rational enough - Microsoft got big by licensing its operating system to PC makers, why not Apple?
The problem was that Apple was both a software and a hardware company, so all the Mac clones made by Power Computing and others did was cannibalise demand for Apple's own computers.
Steve Jobs kicked the clones to the kerb when he became interim CEO in 1997.
7. Apple forgot about its core business
Apple offered a bewildering array of products in the mid-1990s, ranging from over-priced, under-performing Macs (see above) to laser printers, digital cameras and even a touchscreen PDA in the shape of the Newton - most of which lost money.
Steve Jobs canned practically all of them in favour of the new iMac in 1998, cutting the crap and renewing Apple's focus on making great computers.
If an application is not responding, if it's continually bouncing in the Dock or appears to have frozen, you may need to force quit it. You can do this by holding Command+Alt+[esc] to bring up the Force Quit window, or by choosing Force Quit from the Apple menu. After quitting the program, try relaunching it. If it still doesn't work it may be incompatible with your version of OS X. Thankfully, force quitting programs on Macs nowadays doesn't generally affect the stability of the system and doesn't require a restart.
2. Fixing software update errors If you run the Software Update application (which can be found in System Preferences) on your Mac and are presented with any kind of an error, it could be that you need to repair permissions. OS X is based on a system of permissions telling it which user has access to what files. If these become corrupted, your Mac might erroneously think that you don't have the right privileges to run and install software. Go to Applications > Utilities and open Disk Utility. Then, choose your boot drive, this is usually called Macintosh HD, and then click the Repair Disk Permissions option. After this process has been completed, try the software update process again. Everything should be running back to normal just by going through this simple process.
3. Opening files in specific programs If a file or document is refusing to open but you know which application it should work with, try holding Command+Alt while dropping the file onto the relevant application's icon, either in the Dock or in Finder. This should force your chosen application to open the file. It will also force any application to try to open a file, though success rates will vary. Alternatively, select the problem file and press Command+[I] to open up the Get Info window. Then, choose Open With: and, from the pull-down menu beneath that option, pick an application to open the file. To make every file of that kind open with that application in the future, click the Change All… button.
4. Making some space and adding more RAM If your Mac is feeling sluggish and simple tasks are taking longer than usual to do, check that the boot drive isn't getting too full by selecting it and pressing Command+[I] to Get Info on it. Look at its size and how much available free space is left on it. If it's less than 20% of the drive's size that's free, you'll need to offload some stuff either onto DVDs or onto external hard drives to free up space. Good candidates include movies, iPhoto and iTunes libraries, plus any applications you don't use much. Also look at fitting more RAM to your Mac as this will also help greatly with performance.
5. Ejecting a disc that's stuck in your Mac If a CD or DVD refuses to eject, and it's definitely not in use by any programs, try restarting the Mac whilst holding down the left mouse button. This should force the opening of all optical drives and eject your troublesome disc. You could also open Terminal and type drutil tray open, then hit [Enter]. If other devices like USB or FireWire hard drives, memory sticks or iPods refuse to eject, the safest course of action is to shut down the Mac, disconnect the device and then restart. Often, a device will then behave normally.
6. Finding a file that's missing on your Mac We all like to think that we're super organised by storing our documents and files in relevant folders on our Macs, but every now and then we forget to put them somewhere sensible and a file ends up somewhere completely obscure. If you can't find a file or folder that you think may be somewhere on your Mac, you can use Mac OS X's built-in Spotlight search system to find it. Click on the Spotlight icon (small blue circle with a magnifying glass inside) at the top-right of the menu bar and type the name of the file or even just part of its name. From the resulting list you should be able to see the missing file and open it – as long as it's on your Mac, of course! Alternatively, press Command+[F] to open the search window, and run a search based on its filename and also date opened, date created, file type or any of the available criteria. The more information you can enter, the easier the search will be.
7. Resetting your admin password Forgetting your Administrator password can be a real pain when you want to install a new piece of software or run Apple's Software Update application. If you have a vague idea of what the password is you can try entering it, but if this doesn't work you will have to boot the Mac from the OS X install DVD that came with it, by restarting with the disc inserted in the optical drive whilst holding the [C] key down. Then select Utilities > Reset Password and choose a new one. When you reboot the new password should be working.
8. Detecting a second or external monitor If you connect a second screen or external monitor but it isn't recognised, try using the Detect Displays button in System Preferences > Displays. The port may be set to use a resolution that the screen doesn't support. If this doesn't help, restart whilst holding down Command+Alt+[P]+[R] until you hear the startup chime twice. This resets the PRAM and often forces the Mac to scan its ports and look again at what is connected. This usually brings the monitor online. It also helps with forcing a Mac to recognise external audio devices.
9. Getting back your lost Airport connection It's always a pain when you want to work over a wireless network but you can't get a connection. If you lose your WiFi connection, check to see that AirPort hasn't accidentally been switched off. Or, go to System Preferences > Network and, from the AirPort > TCP/IP section, click the button called Renew DHCP Lease, which may fix the problem. Another reason for the loss of signal could be that you have simply wandered out of range of a network, so click the AirPort icon to see if the network is still available. If all else fails, try logging out and in again or even restarting, as this sometimes cures any glitches with AirPort.
10. Fixes for viewing WMV files The web is awash with video formats and not all of them are particularly Mac friendly. The one you're most likely to encounter is Windows Media Video. Download Flip4Mac, a free codec that enables the QuickTime Player to read WMV files. Alternatively, download the VLC Player from the disc. It can play back many weird and wonderful video formats, though it's not the world's most elegant piece of software. Finally you can install Perian, which provides QuickTime with a raft of codecs to help it open other kinds of videos you may come across.
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