Now that I'm having so much fun in school (not!), I've been coming
up with tons of ideas for articles. Realizing that this is my 10th
article writing for Low End Mac, I decided
to look at Apple's special "anniversary" computers and computers that
were out for Apple's anniversaries.
1981: Apple's 5th Anniversary
Okay, Apple didn't have a special 5th anniversary computer in 1981,
but they did have two nifty computers (and a project). The first of
these two computers was the Apple //e, the first Apple II with lots of
power (and goodies that were standard on many other computers at that
time, like a functional Shift key). The other was the Apple ///, a
relatively advanced (but evil) beast, as it was too expensive, too
prone to failure, and too "un-anything else" for it to be successful.
It did run a powerful (at the time) operating system called the
Sophisticated Operating System (Apple SOS, pronounced like applesauce)
that could run Apple II ProDOS under emulation (like OS X &
Classic).
Then there was Apple's project: the Lisa, which was still under
development. This was an early start to the Macintosh.
1984:
Apple's 8th Anniversary
Sure, this wasn't a real milestone date in terms of years from when
Apple was founded, but it was when the first Mac appeared, so
all the Mac anniversaries will be from 1984.
1986: Apple's 10th Anniversary
Apple didn't do much for this one. All they did was make the
Mac Plus this year and
various peripherals. Some 10th anniversary....
Early '90s: (Not Really An
Anniversary) the JLPGA PowerBook 170
This was a special edition PowerBook 170 that had a special case for
the Japan LPGA. Each component of the case was a different color, so it
looked like an oversized Rubick's Cube. Even the sliding brightness
control dial was a different color! Colors used were dark blue, maroon,
dark green, yellow, white, and PowerBook gray.
1994:
Macintosh 10th Anniversary
There actually was a 10th Anniversary Mac. It was not highly
publicized or very fancy, but there was one. Although its technological
specs were rather lame for the time, Apple chose the PowerBook 170 (again), enclosed it in a
beautiful white case, and sold very very limited quantities.
1996: Apple's 20th Anniversary
This
was probably one of the classiest looking desktop Macs ever, the
Twentieth Anniversary
Macintosh. Somewhat similar to a Power Mac 6400/6500, it was rather expensive
(over $5000 originally), but the price dropped when sales never took
off. Included were wooden palm rests for the PowerBook-style keyboard
that included a trackpad. Nice, brushed metal pipes provided support
for the computer. Don't forget about the kick a** Bose sound system.
Oh, and did I mention the leather-bound owner's manual? Let's just say
that this was the no-compromise Mac - with a price tag to match.
2001: Apple's 25th Anniversary
A rather good and rather lame anniversary year for Apple. The Mac
Web made a bigger deal about Apple's anniversary than Apple did
themselves. Apple had many milestones this year, including two really
good notebooks, retail stores, OS X, and SuperDrives. Although OS
X was Apple's main focus this year, I think they should've had a
special edition Mac. After all, being around for 25 years is something
that no personal computer company can claim (except the ones that built
mainframes or minis).
2004: Macintosh 20th Anniversary
What will the future hold? Will Classic be gone by then? Will I be
working for Apple, or will Microsoft dissolve Apple? Who knows? Who
cares!
The products they've already made will be around for awhile. Long
live older Macs! 
