http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Did anyone else catch that?]]>Mar 10th 2008 12:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/May 3rd 2010 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/May 27th 2008 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Jul 23rd 2008 2:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Apple need Steve Jobs. He is an artist.]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
On top of that, the free version refused to play videos above a certain resolution, attempting to force us to pay Apple to watch movies they didn't create or distribute.

Fortunately, the default installation is a bit more friendly today, and it's no longer necessary to fix my relatives' and friends' media playback every time they install Quicktime...it's become another innocuous browser plugin that only shows up when it's needed.

It does still tick me off, though, whenever I see the name Quicktime.]]>Jul 19th 2007 5:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
And what about OS X?]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Even the products you have in the bad section all seem to start with "The wasn't a bad computer. On the contrary..."

Yes, mistakes have been made, but this article shows what an innovative company Apple really is. Not afraid to go against the grain, sometimes it has paid off, at other times not. What is remarkable though is that, although Apple only has a 5% market share considering there must be close to a million PC manufacturers out there, Apple still holds it's head high above the water, with many 'borrowed' designs and innovations...even down to Vista 'borrowing' the OSX features.

I look forward to many more years of innovation, and 'borrowing'.]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Best, Ryan]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Macs have gone a long way since those, a nice, solid, industrial design in their whole product line.

Now where is that birthday celebration where we see Intel iBooks?]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Sorry guys, I think not.
2003 may be more like it.

Great article though!!]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Also, total irrelevant is that I don't know why my posting time is always wrong. Sometimes my post time is before the post time!]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Apple has never failed to enthuse me with the possibilities computors are capable of. My two sons constantly harass me for having taken the MAC path long ago. I can, however, run circles around their Windows computing originality even on the old 8600. AND, I can maintain my own equipment without calling out on a "Whimper Call".

Bravo for Steve.........Congratulations to each of you.

Over 70 years old and NOT counting further.

Don Brigham

]]>Apr 1st 2006 3:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 3:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
One thing that always sort of gets lost in any article like this looking back at Apple's history is that the Mac was sort of forced upon the world - the world didn't want it. The world was perfectly happy with what it had in the Apple II, which was more expandable, more powerful out of the box by that point (the IIgs) and was also capable of running a GUI OS (as well as other non-GUI OS's).

When Apple killed the II in favor of the Mac, its market share dropped from close to 50% to around 3% in the span of less than 10 years. I'd put the original Mac in the "bad" category for that reason - it was also in part responsible for Wozniak's departure from the company.

Apple deserves credit for turning what was perceived at the time to be a bad joke into a product line that's used in a variety of professional industries today. They'll never reclaim their former glory from the II days, but they've at least gained back a couple of points of market share.

But still, the original Mac was just crap, any way you slice it.]]>Apr 1st 2006 4:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 4:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 4:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Apple never had a 50% market share, nor did it drop to 3% a decade after the Mac's introduction. In 1994, the Mac had a 9% market share. A decade earlier, the Apple II had about a 16% share of the market, its peak.

see http://www.pegasus3d.com/total_share.html]]>Apr 1st 2006 4:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 4:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ You should be a PC user. seriously, "the mac wasn't powerful enough", "I didn't want a GUI, everyone should use the command line, the terminal is my favorite part of OS X", "wawawawa". Give it up, computers would never be where they are today without the mac. It was not forced upon users, they loved it and they never wanted to go back. ]]>Apr 1st 2006 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
]]>Apr 1st 2006 4:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
It warmed my heart that you put SE/30 on the "good" list. It was my first Mac, and at age 7 there was nothing better. I would gleefully save my meager allowance for $10 diskette games. Anyone remember "Toxic Ravine"?]]>Apr 1st 2006 5:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 5:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 5:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
And I remember the Pippin. :)]]>Apr 1st 2006 6:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/I'm old school Apple also. Since my GS I have not bought an Apple product and because of the treatment of the Apple ][ by Jobs, I will never buy nor recommend an Apple product. I do own an iPod that was given to me and I find the thing annoying.
.02
]]>Apr 1st 2006 6:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Alfred Stielau-Pallas
(German book author)]]>Apr 1st 2006 6:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 6:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
But I don't think those products fit so neatly into good / bad / ugly slots, and some of the choices are questionable. And one moment you're ranking things on aesthetics, the next specs.

Putting the smooth cornered and relatively compact (you could carry it under one arm with no problem) Quadra under the "Ugly" heading, while at the same time admitting it was a powerful machine, was an incorrect choice.

And you've missed out on some of the most beautiful and influential Apples:

Apple //c
- the 1984 "laptop" (with very early LCD option) which appeared in the film of Arthur C Clarke's '2010'

Macintosh LC
- aka "the pizza box" - sleek, low cost, cultish and beautiful]]>Apr 1st 2006 6:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
For those complaining about the lack of software mentions, Block says in the beginning that he is only covering Apple Hardware. Maybe another "Good, Bad, and Ugly" article should be written covering software.

This article brought back great memories. I might just open up my storage space to check up on my performa, bondi iMac, and Cube (still upset it was put on the bad list, but I understand). Agree with the previous post that the Pippin should be up there. Great job once again...]]>Apr 1st 2006 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
The fascinating thing about the launch in NYC was that everyone wanted to feel how hot the Cube was - since it didn't have a fan. At the Mac Expo at the Javitts Center Apple had lined up about 40 Cubes - everyone kept putting their hand over the vent to feel the heat - problem was the on/off switch was right next to the vent and you didn't have to touch the switch to turn it off - everytime they felt the heat the Cubes shut down - oh the mayhem...

That of course was after the giveaway of free Mac mice at the press rollout - coupons stuck under the seats - madness reigned as everyone dove for unoccupied seats to get more coupons...each walking off with several Mac mice that day.

Ah what a launch to remember...]]>Apr 1st 2006 7:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
You guys have given me flashbacks to high school, when all the Apple // loyalists hated with a vengeance all us GUI kids with our glitzy new-fangled Amigas and Macintoshs.

Jeff, It may interest you that Woz actually worked on the Macintosh team before his plane crash encouraged him to take a life career redirection. His signature was one of those stenciled on the inside of the Mac shell.

Glynne, read some history. It was clear the intro of the IBM PC spelt the writing on the wall for the Apple II. The Apple IIGS was a poor Amiga'ized verison of the Apple //e and there was no future in it. Its GUI was sitting on top what was primarily a command-line computer, sort of like DOS & Windows on a PC. But unlike the PC, without the sheer marketing clout of IBM, any future Apple II derivative would have died an ignoble death and taken the company down with it.

The Mac, built from the ground up as a GUI computer, with its suitability for the publishing and creative industries, saved Apple from oblivion. Sorry to hear you hate iPods because of Jobs' betrayal of the Apple II. ]]>Apr 1st 2006 7:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Best, Ryan]]>Apr 1st 2006 7:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 7:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/Apr 1st 2006 7:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/01/30-years-in-apple-products-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
But I guess that's part of the reason the Cube flopped, because of the bad writeups. Also I remember it was stated in reviews it HAD to be bought with an Apple Cinema Display, which at that time cost $$$.

I actually sold my Power Mac G4 in mid-2000 and bought a Cube, and had money left over... because I used my existing monitor. The Cube was actually cheaper than an equivalently spec'd G4 (and as powerful, minus the expansion slots which most people never used anyway).

I still love my Cube. It runs Tiger and is plugged into a plasma screen on which is shows a rolling "photo wall" of images. And the beautiful hovering Cube is always a talking point for visitors. The PCs I have from the same era (2000) are in the attic gathering dust. Says something, that.]]>Apr 1st 2006 7:41PM