| Cult of Mac

Today in Apple History: Bill Gates hails Mac as the future of computing

By

Bill Gates
Bill Gates offered high praise for the Mac in 1984.
Image: Fulvio Obregon

November 26: Today in Apple history: Bill Gates praises Macintosh November 26, 1984: “The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC,” claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a BusinessWeek cover story.

The claim would seem almost unthinkable coming out of Gates’ mouth just a few years later. But it lands at a time when Microsoft is best known as one of the biggest Mac developers.

Today in Apple history: Apple signs damaging deal with Microsoft

By

Windows used a number of elements of the Mac UI
This 1985 pact with Microsoft was one of the most damaging deals in Apple history.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

November 21: Today in Apple history: Apple signs Microsoft deal licensing Mac look and feel 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 deal, between 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.”

Oh, boy!

Today in Apple history: The forgotten first Mac with an internal CD-ROM

By

Why did the Mac IIvx fail to take the world by storm?
Why did the Mac IIvx fail to take the world by storm?
Photo: Apple

October 19: Today in Apple history: Mac IIvx, the forgotten first Mac with an internal CD-ROM, launches October 19, 1992: Apple launches the Mac IIvx, the first Macintosh computer to ship with a metal case and, more importantly, an internal CD-ROM drive.

The last of the Macintosh II series, the Mac IIvx experiences one of the more notorious price adjustments in Apple history. Within five months of shipping, Apple slashes the computer’s launch price of $2,949 to $1,899. That’s one way to reward early adopters!

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs and Jef Raskin clash over the Mac

By

Apple Mac
The war over the Macintosh's soul started on this day in 1979.
Photo: Apple

September 27: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs and Jef Raskin clash over the Mac September 27, 1979: Years before the Macintosh will ship, Steve Jobs and Jef Raskin clash for the first time over the direction of the R&D project to produce the revolutionary computer.

Raskin, the founder of the Macintosh project, wants to produce a machine that’s affordable to everyone. Apple co-founder Jobs wants a computer that’s going to be the best, regardless of price.

Guess who won?

Today in Apple history: iMac G5 takes a page out of the iPod’s playbook

By

The iMac G5 looked like the world's biggest iPod.
The iMac G5 looked like the world's biggest iPod.
Photo: Matthew Pearce/Flickr CC

August 31: Today in Apple history: iMac G5 takes a page out of the iPod's playbook August 31, 2004: Apple launches the iMac G5, a distinctive, white plastic computer that looks a little like the world’s biggest iPod.

Housed in a 2-inch-thick enclosure reminiscent of Apple’s Cinema Displays, the new all-in-one machine bridges the gap between the pleasing plasticity of the iconic G3 iMac and the minimalist form factor of the ultra-slim aluminum Macs that will follow.

Today in Apple history: Meet the ‘world-saving’ PowerBook 5300

By

Today in Apple history: The top-spec PowerBook 5300 remains the priciest (and most famous) laptop in Apple history.
The top-spec PowerBook 5300 remains the priciest (and most famous) laptop in Apple history.
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac/Serged

Aug25August 25, 1995: Apple releases the PowerBook 5300, the Mac laptop that will save the world from alien invaders in the 1996 blockbuster movie Independence Day.

The computer will make many more big-screen appearances, too. See some of the laptop’s most high-profile Hollywood cameos below.

Today in Apple history: Mac marketing guru Joanna Hoffman is born

By

Kate Winslet (left) plays Joanna Hoffman (right) in Steve Jobs.
Kate Winslet (left) played Mac marketing guru Joanna Hoffman in Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs biopic.
Photos: Kate Winslet/Apple

July 27: Today in Apple history: Mac marketing guru Joanna Hoffman birthday July 27, 1955: Joanna Hoffman, who will join the original Macintosh and NeXT teams and become Steve Jobs’ first right-hand woman, is born in Poland.

Six months younger than Jobs, the marketing executive is one of the few people willing and able to stand up to the oftentimes-fierce Apple co-founder during the first part of his career.

Today in Apple history: Multimedia Macs take on the world

By

LC 630 Macintosh
Did you own one of the 630 series Macintoshes?
Photo: Computers.popcorn

July 18: Today in Apple history: Apple launches Quadra, Performa and LC 630 Macintoshes July 18, 1994: Apple launches the Quadra, Performa and LC 630 Macintoshes, three similar computers with slight differences tailored for the professional, home and educational markets.

Buyers can configure the new 630 series Macs for less than $2,000. Today, the idea of paying more than $4,100 (adjusted for inflation) for a decent multimedia computer sounds over the top. But in 1994, these new Macs looked like a total steal.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs visits the Soviet Union

By

Soviet Apple flag
Steve Jobs' one and only trip to the Soviet Union yielded lots of intrigue.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

July 4: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs visits the Soviet Union July 4, 1985: Steve Jobs visits Moscow for the first time, with the aim of selling Macs to the Russians.

During his two-day trip, Jobs lectures computer science students in the Soviet Union, attends a Fourth of July party at the American embassy and discusses opening a Mac factory in Russia. He also reportedly almost runs afoul of the KGB by praising assassinated Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky.