September 26, 1997: In one of his first tasks after returning to Apple as interim CEO, Steve Jobs reveals the company’s massive quarterly loss of $161 million. It’s Apple’s biggest loss ever.
Giving investors the bad news is miserable, but things are about to change dramatically for Cupertino.
May 11, 1998: As part of his mission to turn Apple around, CEO Steve Jobs spells out the company’s strategy for the Mac operating system going forward. The big news is that Apple is hard at work creating a major new operating system called OS X, he says at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California.
However, first the company will ship Mac OS 8.5 and the first customer release of an OS called Rhapsody that fall.
May 2, 1995: Apple enters the wearables space with its first watch. However, the first Apple watch is a timepiece with no fitness-tracking tech, no on-screen notifications and a whole lot of 1990s styling.
The device comes two decades before wearables actually will become a thing. A regular wristwatch, the freebie gadget is available via a special mail-in offer to Mac OS upgraders.
December 4, 1992: Apple engineers demonstrate a “proof of concept” of the Mac operating system running on an Intel computer. More than a decade before Macs will switch to Intel processors, getting Mac OS to run on PCs is an astonishing feat.
It’s part of an aborted plan to make Apple’s software available on other manufacturers’ hardware. Apple ultimately chickens out, fearing (probably correctly) that such a move would hurt Macintosh sales.
November 25, 1996: A midlevel manager at NeXT contacts Apple about the possibility of Cupertino licensing NeXT’s OpenStep operating system. The phone call sows the seeds of Mac OS X and Apple’s rejuvenation.
The talk in question takes place between NeXT’s Garrett L. Rice and Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technology officer. While just the first formal step in a long process, it ultimately leads to Apple buying NeXT, the creation of Mac OS X, and Steve Jobs returning to the company he co-founded.
November 21, 1985: Following Steve Jobs’ departure, Apple comes close to signing its own death warrant by licensing the Macintosh’s look and feel to Microsoft. The Apple-Microsoft deal — struck by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO John Sculley — comes hot on the heels of the Windows operating system’s release.
The pact gives Microsoft a “non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nontransferable license to use [parts of the Mac technology] in present and future software programs, and to license them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.” If you’re wondering when did Bill Gates step down as CEO, his departure marked a major shift in Microsoft’s leadership.
Oh, boy!
Long before we all started carrying around powerful computers in our pockets, there was the tiny Toshiba Libretto. A game-changing device when it arrived in the 1990s, the Libretto downsized the entire Windows PC experience into a subnotebook the size of a paperback.
As the world’s smallest commercially available Windows PC, it certainly proved revolutionary. The only problem is the Libretto was … well, a Windows PC.
YouTuber Action Retro recently set out to right that wrong with an awesome Hackintosh project. After transforming the diminutive Libretto into a miniature Mac, he spoke with Cult of Mac about the experience (and his love of vintage Macs).
This year, fewer of us will spend Labor Day weekend at the beach or on a road trip. Luckily, it’s still a good time for retail therapy.
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Anyone wanting a serious dose of nostalgia should install a just-released emulator of a classic Apple desktop computer running Mac OS 8, first released in 1997. There’s even a bunch of games and productivity applications from the same era.
Google has poached senior macOS engineer Bill Stevenson to help build its upcoming Fuchsia OS.
Stevenson will make the switch in February after spending 14 years at Apple, where his most recent role was senior manager for Mac and Windows program management.
Do you want a blast of Apple nostalgia which takes you back to an earlier time in macOS or iOS history, but don’t want to go as far as actually using older hardware? If so, then you’re in for a treat, thanks to a new archive of classic Apple wallpapers which just popped up online.
Dating back to the classic Mac days of System 7 and the original iPhone OS (remember when it wasn’t yet called iOS?), the archive boasts full resolution copies of most of the vintage Apple background images.
Apple is busting out a fresh batch of beta updates for developers today ahead of next month’s big WWDC announcements.
A new beta for OS X El Capitan had been seeded to developers along with an update for tvOS and iOS 9.3.3 that was released earlier this morning.
Apple Watch wearers received a new software update today in the form of watchOS 2.2.1 that has been made available to the public after two beta versions were tested by developers.
Since it was first released, people keep asking when the iPad will be able to run OS X, and while iOS keeps on becoming more like OS X with every passing version, you still can’t run Mac apps on your iPad… right?
Not quite. Technically, it’s possible to run Mac apps on your iPad Air 2. But prepare for it to be sloooooooow, and don’t expect El Capitan, Yosemite, or even Snow Leopard compatibility. This technique tops out with Mac OS 7.5.5, which was first released 19 years ago.
Having the ability to switch from iOS to OS X on your iPad when you need to get real work done sounds like an awesome idea, but Apple’s full desktop operating system isn’t designed to be used with a touchscreen. That’s why a new rumor that claims the upcoming 12-inch iPad will run both platforms is just downright crazy.
Graphic designer Susan Kare is iconic — literally. The mastermind behind the friendly 32 x 32 and 16 x 16 icons used in the original Mac operating system, Kare’s work has reached more people than almost any other graphic designer on Earth.
Yet the way she stumbled into designing the icons for the Mac operating system was pretty much a lark, and in a recent presentation at the EG conference in California, Kare spoke a little bit about how she stumbled into the job.
It’s a fascinating talk, not just for the details she shares about early Mac operating system development, but also because Kare finally reveals why Apple switched from the Apple symbol to the Command key.
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After the holiday season, there are usually a lot of new Mac owners. Many of those new Mac users aren’t familiar with the platform, having switched from a Windows machine. Instead of relying on more seasoned Mac owners, wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy way to point new users in the right direction? Thanks to Cult of Mac Deals and Mac Dojo, now there is.
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