By Chuck Hauge

In the late 70s Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer, to become the "Henry Ford" of the personal computer industry. This wasn't good enough though. The tale of how he had seen a technology called the graphical user interface or GUI (pronounced goo-wee) at a Xerox research facility he had toured is now legend. He wanted to master the GUI technology and he wanted to bless the world with it. In 1984 Jobs' wish came true with the first Macintosh.

At first the Macintosh was thought to be a toy for most, a beefed up Atari for games and music programs as its practical applications were limited to graphics. But the design community embraced it ardently. Although the public didn't realize it at that time, the GUI later became one of the single-most important revolutions in personal computing, and Apple lead the way. Apple became a giant and its grass roots beginnings were quickly forgotten. The jeans and t-shirts were replaced with suits and ties.

Some argue that these early successes and Jobs own contagious ego bred arrogance into the company that would nearly destroy it. Ignoring market trends, the cheaper price of the emerging IBM clone PCs, dismissing licensing opportunities all have been cited as reasons Apple began to lose the strong lead they had held. After having once been the preeminent leader in the personal computer market, pundits were predicating their demise by the end of the decade and Jobs found himself ousted from the company he had founded.

Apple wavered for a few years, as others donned the mantle of leadership trying to steer the company to a position of competitiveness if dominance was now out of reach.

In the meantime, Jobs had been working with a couple of projects on his own while in his exile from Apple. One being a computer company he call Next Computer. Next had an operating system technology that Apple wanted and needed. It was felt that this OS could help them recapture some of the lost ground. Apple knew that they needed help, that their experiments with new leadership had not produced the results they needed and they turned to a few potential sources, one being the previously ousted Apple co-founder. Negotiations were made and Jobs found himself back in the lead chair at Apple.

Currently at Apple, the Modern Macintosh

With the return of the seasoned Steve Jobs just over two years ago also came renewing spirit to the Apple Computer empire. Rising sales (166% from April 1998 to April 1999), rising market share (once at a low of 3% recently reported at 12%), rising stock price (50% over a three month period) over 5000 new software titles released since a year ago, and rising hopes. This time around Jobs and Apple are taking a simplified and solid approach to their Macintosh computer product line to meet the needs of their four identified categories of computer users. These categories are:

1. Consumers and education - the iMac 2. Business and graphics (and serious power users) - the Blue and White Tower 3. Portable consumers and education - the iBook 4. Portable business and graphics - the "Bronze Keyboard" PowerBook

Now these are Apple's intended target markets for these computers, however, the iMac is a popular low cost work-station in business and graphics settings. On the flip side the towers and PowerBooks are popular amongst students and consumers. As of this writing the iBook has not been released, but is expected in September; we'll see where the market heads on this.

It's interesting to point out all of Apple's computer solutions have similar power -- they all carry a Motorola or IBM G3 microprocessor running at 300 to 450 MHz. The differences are in the expandability options, memory maximums and portability. It is also important to point out that a 450 MHz G3 is significantly faster than an 450 MHz Intel Pentium II or III processor, so don't compare Apples with err... oranges. Also important to mention, software emulation and hardware options are available to allow the Macintosh to run nearly all Windows software.

The iMac and iBook

First thing on everybody's mind when they hear the name Apple Computer is the iMac. The iMac was and is still a big splash for Apple. This all-in-one computer packs a 333 MHz G3 processor and is ideal for the Internet, in fact the "i" in iMac stands for Internet. The iMac comes with an internal 56K baud v.90 modem to connect to the Internet, 32MB of RAM, a 15 inch color monitor and an auto-sensing 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port to connect up faster Internet options such as Broadband cable or DSL. And best of all you get to choose the color (flavor): blueberry, grape, strawberry, lime or tangerine. This is a very powerful machine, but to use its maximum potential, this writer suggests adding at least another 32MB of RAM.

The rugged iBook is the iMac's portable compliment. Although they are comparable, they also have some distinct differences. First, the iBook will come in only two flavors, blueberry and tangerine. It hosts a 300 MHz G3 processor, a 12.1 inch TFT active matrix screen, 32MB of RAM, up to six hours of battery life, an auto-sensing 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port for connecting to cable-based networks, and like the iMac, is ideal for the Internet, maybe even more-so than it's sister.

Fast Connections Through Your Local Airport

The reason for this is, this little charmer has not one but two bulit-in antennas to wirelessly connect to something Apple calls the Airport. The Airport could be described as a stand-alone router to interconnect iBooks (or other computers with the Airport connectivity option installed) to share data amongst themselves, or connect Airport enabled computers to the Internet, simultaneously. That's right, all computers connected to the Airport (must be within 150 feet of the base Airport device, works through walls, too) can connect up to one Internet service provider (ISP) and be online simultaneously. But you really don't need the Airport to interconnect computers, you can set-up a wireless peer-to-peer network without it, with only the Airport card installed.

The Airport station itself is an incredible little device. Manufactured for Apple by Lucent Technologies it offers the ability to connect one or more Airport "enabled" computer(s) to the Internet through its built-in 56K baud V.90 modem. It also sports a auto-sensing 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port that could be used to connect to a high-speed Internet connection such as Broadband cable or DSL. You could also use the Ethernet port to share a printer without being cable-locked! Each Airport device connects wirelessly up to ten Airport enabled computers at a rate of 11Mb per second, 10% faster than standard Ethernet. Further an Apple computer is not needed to connect to the Airport; the Airport uses current IEEE industry standard communications, a radio frequency connection method, that allows any computer to connect to it as long as it is enabled with the same capability. So finally the wireless home or office can become reality.

iMac and iBook Internet Software

The iMac and iBook tout a plethora of software titles, including Intuit's Quicken Deluxe 98 and AppleWorks preinstalled, and other software on CD-ROM to be installed at the user's discretion. These computers also come with an impressive line-up of Internet software, including Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, Netscape Navigator (Communicator), AOL, Ed View selective web site access software, and all the necessities such as PPP and TCP/IP built into the operating system to get connected to the Internet. There is an "assistant" to help you collect all the proper information about your ISP in one handy place to automatically connect to the Internet, no matter what Internet software you use. Software for AOL and Earthlink, two popular national ISPs for Macintosh users are preinstalled for the user's convenience.

Mac OS and Sherlock

The one most important piece of Internet software available only on the Macintosh is a new and extremely powerful search tool called Sherlock. You may ask, how can one piece of software, especially an Internet search tool, be the most important part of the this platform's Internet capabilities? Sherlock is much more than just a search engine, it's a new way to think about the Internet and use it to your advantage and best of all it's all part of the current Macintosh operating system (Mac OS). I'll save the Mac OS and Sherlock discussion for a later article as it deserves its own space, it's that important!

Other Macintosh Internet Software

Actually, all Macintosh computers come with the same Internet software including Personal Web Sharing so that you could create an intranet at your business or home, or use it to produce a low volume Internet server. There are many industrial strength programs available for the Macintosh including OS X (the "X" stands for the Roman Numeral 10), a high-end Unix based operating system. OS X contains Apache Web Server, a very popular Unix based web server software package used on the Internet today. Apple also has a powerful networking/Internet server solution for the current Mac OS called Apple Share IP. WebObjects is a powerful web server software package produced by Apple for the current Mac OS. Go to Apple's web pages at www.apple.com to see WebObjects in action.

Business and Graphics - Desktop

The new Blue and White towers are amazing machines. Not only are they impressive looking, but also they are extremely functional, very powerful and easily expandable. And Apple is "getting it", they are using some of the less expensive parts that the Wintel side is using such as Ultra ATA drives. But these machines have the capacity to handle 1 GB of RAM, five internal drives, three PCI cards and one video accelerator card in a specially adapted video acceleration slot. Just like the iMac cousin it comes with a 10/100 Base-T auto-sensing Ethernet port for networking and fast Internet connection options. Another option is to add an internal 56K baud V.90 modem that does not use a precious PCI slot. There are also numerous modem options that can be connected to one of the USB ports.

The Blue and White Macintosh comes in four basic packages that include a G3 processor ranging from 350 MHz to 450MHz. One comes with a Ultra2 SCSI hard drive, one with a DVD-ROM drive, one with a ZIP drive and have either 64 MB or 128 MB of RAM. All have the ATI Rage 128 graphics accelerator card with 16MB of VRAM for driving the largest of monitors in millions of colors. They have all the same Internet software as the iMac and iBook, less the Ed View software, so are fully functional as Internet machines.

Business and Graphics - Portable

The Bronze Keyboard PowerBooks logically get their name from their translucent-bronze colored keyboard. They provide desktop power, unlike their Wintel portable counterparts that can't support the faster processors due to heat problems.

There are two laptop models available, one with a 333 MHz G3 and a CD-ROM drive, the other with a 400 MHz G3 and DVD-ROM drive. Both models contain an internal 56K V.90 baud modem and a 10/100 Base-T auto-sensing Ethernet port for faster alternative Internet access methods. Both models have a built-in 14.1 inch display, effectively the viewable area of a 15 inch analog monitor you would connect to a desktop machine. It has 8MB of video RAM, enough to drive both the built-in monitor and an external monitor with separate views, or to run both built-in and external monitors in "mirror" mode. And so as not to feel left out, this PowerBook will be capable of connecting to the Airport technology.

The interesting thing about these is that Apple claims up to five hours of battery life on one battery. Of course all computer manufacturers calculate maximum battery usability under ideal conditions, but a Wintel laptop with a similar setup claims up to 2.5 hours, also under the manufacturers ideal conditions. I consistently get about 3.5 hours of usage off a fully charge battery on the PowerBook I am using to write this article.

But lets face it, a Wintel laptop also weighs in at 8.4 pounds or more, where the Apple is only six pounds. Anyone who has carried a computer on their shoulder through an airport knows that 2.5 pounds is a big deal, especially if you have to carry extra one pound batteries to keep it running.

Again, the laptop comes with the same Internet software the Blue and White tower carries for complete Internet access. With the Apple laptop you sacrifice nothing and gain portability.

Wrap Up

Overall Apple has been delivering solid solutions on their hardware and software strategies for the past year and a half. They have also been promising quite a bit more in the coming several months, offering occasional sneek-peeks for everyone to salivate in expectation. But rest assured, whatever Apple is brewing up, the Macintosh and its operating system will become more powerful, user friendly and Internet savvy.