One day last month, Apple quietly dropped support for the first
desktop computer to use RISC technology, the first desktop computer
to beat the Pentium, and the first desktop computer with "power" in
its name. This was the extremely popular Power Macintosh 6100 series. With many still
in use today, this may not have been the best decision that Apple
could make.
Apple is very lucky that people are keeping their computers for
so long. It shows something about what Apple makes - that Apple
makes good, solid computers that refuse to go out of date without a
struggle.
Let's go to another computer that Apple doesn't support. The
Power Computing clones. Okay, so
these aren't Apples, and it is debatable whether Apple should
support them. But since Power Computing Corp. sold their license to
manufacture Macintosh clones back to Apple, I think Apple should
take some responsibility with support.
Even though these machines are not supported beyond OS 8.1, it
doesn't mean that you have to run 8.1 on them! (See OS 8 or 9 for My Clone?.) Depending on
your system, the installer looks at is as a 'real' Apple computer.
For example, the PowerBase systems
would be looked at as the 6360/6400
series. This lets the installer install up to Mac OS 9.1 on
them.
These models were often very inexpensive. With an Apple you were
(and are) paying partly for the logo on the front of the case. If
you didn't mind a little less fruit, you could get a great deal on
a great system.
From the back, these clones look just like PCs. Some of them
even sound a bit like PCs with their noisy fans. The good news is
that they were very well made, just like Apple's Macs, and acted
just like Apple's Macs (they have the startup sound and use Apple
ROMs) all while saving you money - and often giving better
performance.
You also can check out the reviews of these clones in back
issues of Mac User. Most of
them got great reviews.
I can see why Apple finally pulled the plug on clones in 1997.
These companies were constantly coming up with newer, faster,
better things than Apple. Power Computing Corp. even made one of
the first machines to use the "Arthur" chip - now called the
PowerPC 750 or G3 - even though it was never released.
We are seeing this "lagging behind" again. And again, it's in
MHz. Power Computing, Umax,
and other companies had computers with faster MHz ratings than the
Macs of the time. MHz is important to help sell the product. Saying
that a G4/733 is faster than a 1.4 GHz Pentium PC doesn't mean
anything to the consumer. They consider MHz as "proof." If
something is 1.4 GHz, it has to be faster than 733 MHz, right?
Wrong. Since these chips are two different types, they are
measured differently. And this is where Apple needs to catch up.
Someone needs to make a standard so that both chips could be
measured on the same scale. Or maybe the G4 should have a "Pentium
equivalent" rating like some of the Cyrix Pentium-compatible chips
did - the 133 MHz was equal to a 166 MHz Pentium, so it was called
166 MHz.
Remember Power Computing's more aggressive ad campaigns such as
"fight back for Mac" with Sluggo? A statement to get everyone
excited, and one single character that people would associate with
the slogan and the company. Chances are that when I mentioned
Sluggo, you thought of Power Computing (my apologies to you if you
have no idea what I am talking about). This was a good ad campaign,
and with it Power Computing sold a lot of systems. Power Computing
had a good image as well - rebellious and tough. Kinda like the
MacAddict magazine of the computer-manufacturing world.
Apple currently has "Think Different." Good slogan, but perhaps
the ads aren't working? They aren't bad ads, but in my opinion, the
older Apple ads are better - they leave you thinking "maybe I need
a Mac, too." For example, the "dinosaurs" ad: A boy is at a PC with
his dad, and wants to play a dinosaur game on his PC. His dad tries
to install the game, and after a long time still can't get it
working. Toward the end of the ad, the boy is getting his coat on.
His dad asks him where he is going. The boy says, "to the
Crandalls." His father asks him, "What's at the Crandalls." The boy
replies, "They have a Mac."
Now that's an ad that leaves you thinking.
iMacs spinning around to "Blue Suede Shoes" aren't exactly
thought provoking.
Apple has blocked off a lot of good advice. The companies who
made Mac clones must have been doing something right, otherwise
they wouldn't have sold so many systems. Apple's response? The
Power Mac 4400 - a high priced Mac
using industry standard parts. It much resembled the Power
Computing PowerBase low profile models. When that system didn't
sell, Apple decided to end the licensing agreements with the other
companies. As a result, no Mac clone could ship with OS 8.0 or
higher. That was a mistake. Apple needed to look a little harder
into how these clone manufacturers were able to afford to build
these systems, and then take them on with competitively priced
systems that offered similar speeds and options.
Apple didn't do this, and the clone market died, along with
another chance for Apple [and the Mac] to possibly become number
one in the computing world.
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