August 5, 1997: Apple gets into a standoff with Power Computing, a maker of Macintosh clones. A very public clash at the Macworld Expo in Boston marks the beginning of the end for Apple’s mid-1990s strategy of licensing the Mac operating system.
“If the [Mac] platform goes closed, it is over,” predicts Power Computing CEO Joel J. Kocher of Apple’s strategy. “[It’s] total destruction. The kiss of death.” Of course, things don’t turn out exactly like that for Apple…
Mac clones: A divisive strategy
The dispute in question played out over the course of Macworld Expo that August. The problem stemmed from the arrival of Apple’s revolutionary new operating system, Mac OS 8, which shipped about two weeks earlier.
Unfortunately for Mac clone-makers, a bit of legal jiujitsu on Apple’s part meant that Mac OS 8 was not covered by the original licensing agreement Cupertino signed with the manufacturers of third-party Macintoshes.
Power Computing showcases Mac clones
With Apple becoming skeptical about licensing its operating system, Power Computing took to the stage at Macworld to show off impressive new Mac clones. The company showcased desktop and notebook computers powered by the new PowerPC 750 chip.
However, Power Computing bosses warned attendees that they shouldn’t “clap, because I don’t have the confidence that you will ever see this.”
In an attempt to start a grassroots movement celebrating clone Macs, Power Computing employees fanned out through the crowd. They handed out flyers that read, “We demand choice.”
Licensed Macs were once a thing
As strange as it seems today, the idea that Apple should license the Mac operating system was widely voiced by tech fans in the 1990s. They had seen the success of Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy for Windows.
Maybe it was just a case of doing too little too late. But by the time Apple got around to licensing the Mac OS, it wasn’t a financially viable move. At the time, Apple CFO Fred Anderson calculated that the strategy actually lost money for Cupertino. The $50 fee Apple earned for each clone Mac that was sold did not come close to recouping the revenue lost from people buying third-party Macs instead of Apple computers.
Macworld 1997 was the first Macworld after Steve Jobs returned to Apple following the company’s acquisition of NeXT. After the big event, he wasted little time ridding Apple of the clone Mac albatross.
Apple buys Power Computing clone Macs biz
Ultimately, Power Computing’s Kocher resigned on August 19 after his board of directors refused to take Apple to court for breach of contract. Apple wound up buying Power Computing’s clone Mac business for $100 million. And thus the clone Mac era came to an end.
Do you remember Apple’s struggles with Mac clones? If so, do you have fond or less-than-fond memories of the third-party Macs that arrived at the time? Leave your thoughts and other recollections below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Today in Apple history: Beginning of the end for clone Macs”
I purchased a PowerComputing Power Center 132 tower as my first “Mac”. That machine was awesome. I swapped the processor from the 604e(?) to a G3 from Sonnet Tech. It actually still fires up and runs great considering that some of PowerComputing power supplies were suspect.
One of the best things during that time was PowerComputing’s ad campaign – Fight Back for Mac
I appreciate the drive in innovation that the clones provided, but the problem as I saw it then (as now) is that Apple is a hardware company. They started with hardware, they continue as hardware, and I see no end to that (recently becoming a power company not withstanding). They make and sell software and operating systems to make their hardware more attractive to buyers who think they’re buying the software and not the hardware.
Apple has no problem with users putting any OS they want on the hardware – wether it’s a PPC version of UNIX (Yellow Dog), or Windows or Linux on the intel machines. If Apple ever switches to ARM I’m sure they’ll be indifferent to an ARM-based OS being installed. They’ve made the hardware sale so they’re happy.
The clone makers directly cut into their underlying business. And it hurt. Apple shouldn’t have tried to mimic Microsoft, because Microsoft (then at least, still mostly today) isn’t a computer make. They’re a software company. They don’t care what computer you install their OS onto. Wether its a PC or a Raspberry Pi.
I highly doubt Apple will ever switch to ARM for macOS. I don’t know why people think that they will. ARM is their platform for mobile devices with iOS and not macOS.
Apple already made the switch from RISC to CISC when they adopted the Intel X86 processors and there is a magnitude of reasons why they’ll stick with it.
I can see Apple putting a file system, multi user support and other facets of macOS in iOS to make it more macOS like before they would ever replace X86 chips with ARM chips.
Yeah, Microsoft’s method was being a software company and just signing up any Tom, Dick or Harry to stick their OS on any hardware box. Then they came out with Office Apps, then Server OS and Server Apps and since they created the monopoly by going after Enterprise business, Apple was spending time with Education and consumers.
What Apple needed and is now doing Is getting companies like IBM to validate Macs in the Enterprise, and they are gaining traction, and it started with iPhones and iPads, which has gained a lot of traction as a mobile device.
There are pros and cons to both business models. The thing that Microsoft may have to end up doing is buying out failing PC mfg and getting more into getting hardware as their main source of income. Maybe Dell might be their first victim since Microsoft gave them money to go private and they don’t need SEC approval if they did buy Dell.
I don’t know what Apple expected with signing on Power Computing other than losing hardware sales.
i immensely enjoyed Motorola’s clones, they were cheaper and more power than Apple.
The only regret i have today with the loss of clones is, apple is still expensive and not supporting enterprise, with the lack of Mac Pro updates and cancellation of xServes.