An Apple story
By Alan Zisman (c)
2000. First published
in Toronto Computes,
September
2000
The
story
of Apple Computer is the stuff of legend. It's the archetypal
tale of
two
guys
named Steve, a garage, and a big idea that quickly grew to become
a
billion
dollar corporation.
Like
any
good saga, that wasn't the end of the story.
Instead,
success
was corrupted, leading to decline, a
near-death
experience,
and finally, a resurrection. Pretty
mythic.
Of
course,
reality was more complex. Yes, there were
two
guys
named Steve. But there were also others
around
at
or near the beginning, without whom Apple
Computer
would
never have become a success.
A
book
blurb about Owen Linzmayer's Apple Confidential, claims it
"debunk[s]
many
of
the myths and half-truths surrounding Apple.
The
book
lives up to this promise, offering respect for Apple's real
accomplishments
yet
cutting through the hype.
In
a
highly readable fashion, Linzmayer shows both the genius of the
people
behind
Apple
and the many opportunities they missed: The Apple III, the
rise
of
Windows,
the on-again/off-again clone policies, Newton, the search for
an
operating
system,
and more.
Filled
with
hundreds of photos, the book also includes timelines at the
end of
each
chapter,
loads of delicious quotations, and enough Apple trivia to
satisfy
even
the
most Mac-addicted amongst us.
Find
out
about Apple's code names, or view the signatures of the orignal
Mac
team,
inscribed
inside the cases of the first-generation Macs.
"The
Greatest
Commercial That Almost Never Aired" tells the inside story
of
Apple's
TV
ad promoting the not-yet-released Macintosh, directed by Blade
Runner's
Ridley
Scott, with a 1984-like theme. It was shown during the
1984
Superbowl,
ironically,
alongside an ad premiering IBM's lamentable PC-Jr.
Apple's
story
isn't over. Apple Confidential takes the tale up to January
1999,
at
which
point the company, back in the hands of an older and perhaps
wiser
Steve
Jobs,
is once again profitable. Linzmayer's conclusion: "... if the
past is
any
guide,
you can be sure that Apple's future will be anything but dull."
Anyone
with
an interest in Apple, Macintoshes, or the history of personal
computing
will
find Apple Confidential anything but dull.
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