Post by Alyssa on Oct 6, 2011 10:01:17 GMT -5
30 years in Apple products: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Read more: www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
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.
1976 - Apple I
Where it all began. It took a Palo Alto man with a flair for showmanship and a curious love of turtlenecks (and bowties) to convince his garage-dwelling, technologically-gifted friend with a love of facial hair to take the simple computer that he was building for personal use and distribute it to the "masses." Unlike other computers of the day, which came in kits and required an engineering degree to assemble, the 200 original Apples shipped as complete circuit boards (although users still had to add their own cases, keyboards, and monitors -- kinda like a Mac mini, actually). Sure, the specs of the Apple I seem humorous today -- 1MHz processor (even back then they were "thinking differently" and eschewed the popular Intel chip of the day), 4KB RAM (expandable to 32KB), 1KB of video memory, and a maximum resolution of 40 x 24 characters -- but the $666.66 price tag of the machine was vital in crafting the company's philosophy: providing consumers with the easiest PC on the market to use and maintain (and also to look at, if not to afford).
1997 - Twentieth Anniversary Mac
If you're waiting for Apple to unveil a media computer, maybe you should try looking back instead of forward. In 1997, the company released its 20th Anniversary Mac (despite the fact that the company's 20th birthday was actually a year earlier, in 1996). The flat-screen PowerPC-based computer included a Bose-designed integrated speaker system, radio and TV tuner -- along with a $10,000 price tag. While it was a sleek computer that foreshadowed future flat-screen models such as the iMac G5, it ended up being something of a bust -- even as a limited edition model -- and today you can pick one up on eBay for about $1,500 with upgrades including a faster processor, RAM, larger hard drive, USB, Ethernet and Firewire.
2001 - Flower Power iMac
There was nothing technically wrong with the "Flower Power" iMac. The computer had plenty of power for a little bit of iMovie enjoyment, and the "SE" version even included a CD burner for enjoying Apple's new iTunes music player. Unfortunately, the computer was subject to one of the most hideous case designs of all time, thanks to special techniques developed by Apple that allowed them to apparently imprint drug-induced patterns onto molded plastic. We all know Jobs and the early Apple crew were hippies -- perhaps the idea for the Flower Power came to him in an acid flashback -- but to make matters worse, it was accompanied by the almost equally atrocious "Blue Dalmatian," and plain Jane blue iMac in the low end. All three were quickly replaced by the much classier "Indigo" and "Snow" iMacs, leaving Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian forever relegated to enjoyable Mac-centric cartoons and the desks of a few hippies who thought the color schemes were the best thing since "Freebird."
A great man, a man with a vision, a man that changed our world.
RIP Mr. Jobs. 
Read more: www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
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.
1976 - Apple I
Where it all began. It took a Palo Alto man with a flair for showmanship and a curious love of turtlenecks (and bowties) to convince his garage-dwelling, technologically-gifted friend with a love of facial hair to take the simple computer that he was building for personal use and distribute it to the "masses." Unlike other computers of the day, which came in kits and required an engineering degree to assemble, the 200 original Apples shipped as complete circuit boards (although users still had to add their own cases, keyboards, and monitors -- kinda like a Mac mini, actually). Sure, the specs of the Apple I seem humorous today -- 1MHz processor (even back then they were "thinking differently" and eschewed the popular Intel chip of the day), 4KB RAM (expandable to 32KB), 1KB of video memory, and a maximum resolution of 40 x 24 characters -- but the $666.66 price tag of the machine was vital in crafting the company's philosophy: providing consumers with the easiest PC on the market to use and maintain (and also to look at, if not to afford).
1997 - Twentieth Anniversary Mac
If you're waiting for Apple to unveil a media computer, maybe you should try looking back instead of forward. In 1997, the company released its 20th Anniversary Mac (despite the fact that the company's 20th birthday was actually a year earlier, in 1996). The flat-screen PowerPC-based computer included a Bose-designed integrated speaker system, radio and TV tuner -- along with a $10,000 price tag. While it was a sleek computer that foreshadowed future flat-screen models such as the iMac G5, it ended up being something of a bust -- even as a limited edition model -- and today you can pick one up on eBay for about $1,500 with upgrades including a faster processor, RAM, larger hard drive, USB, Ethernet and Firewire.
2001 - Flower Power iMac
There was nothing technically wrong with the "Flower Power" iMac. The computer had plenty of power for a little bit of iMovie enjoyment, and the "SE" version even included a CD burner for enjoying Apple's new iTunes music player. Unfortunately, the computer was subject to one of the most hideous case designs of all time, thanks to special techniques developed by Apple that allowed them to apparently imprint drug-induced patterns onto molded plastic. We all know Jobs and the early Apple crew were hippies -- perhaps the idea for the Flower Power came to him in an acid flashback -- but to make matters worse, it was accompanied by the almost equally atrocious "Blue Dalmatian," and plain Jane blue iMac in the low end. All three were quickly replaced by the much classier "Indigo" and "Snow" iMacs, leaving Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian forever relegated to enjoyable Mac-centric cartoons and the desks of a few hippies who thought the color schemes were the best thing since "Freebird."
A great man, a man with a vision, a man that changed our world.
RIP Mr. Jobs. 
RIP Steve Jobs.. 
