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Macintosh, history and nowJun 13 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Software
The Bottom Line Get one if you want a computer with style and character
And so what is Macintosh? To many, it refers to a type of Apple. To those that are devoted to this, eye catchy and minority OS platform, it is one of the¡°insanely great¡± things ever made. Macintosh began in 1984. Its inception was a historical event, immortalized by infamous and unforgettable TV commercial, ¡°1984¡±. It is supposedly one of the most famous ads ever even though aired once and Apple purportedly spent several million dollars to make it. In the ad a young woman runner throws a hammer to a screen where the big brother or some Hitlerian dictator is preaching for the greater good and harmony. Apple is positioning itself to be a rebellious player against the big brother- IBM. With a such fanfare, Macintosh was brought to the market. A clever marketing wasn¡¯t all that Macintosh had to offer. It was a groundbreaking machine, with revolutionary graphics user interface (GUI) using a mouse. People ran applications by clicking icons not by typing commands. Though the original concept of GUI was invented by predecessors like Xerox, Apple was the first one to popularize. It changed the way we used PC forever. All Macintoshes since then had been descendants of the original Macintosh. Though processing power and hardware capacities have been exponentially increasing, the core idea and the look-and-feel of OS have been same until the recent update MacOS X. Another radical change was the switch of CPU from Motorola 80XXX to PowerPC codeveloped by Motorola, Apple and its old nemesis IBM. But history isn¡¯t everything, is it? Macintosh is more than computer. To many it represents a cultural institution and a subject of intense loyalty and love. Many may view it as fetishism. So what¡¯s is that makes Mac so special? Simple answer. ¡°It is freakin¡¯ cool.¡± And computers are not supposed to be cool. To many Mac users the choice is obvious. Why do you drive Ford when you can drive Porsche? PC is like a MacDonald¡¯s Big Mac while Mac is like a gourmet burger from a family owned restaurant. Sure, Big Mac is cheaper and easy to find wherever you go but ain¡¯t taste as good. Because Apple makes both hardware and software, it can ensure that both works well and seamlessly. I think this is quite true. You will less likely to worry about drivers since Apple can afford to include all in the OS. Apple hardware are high-quality and designed with fanatical attention. Plus, its OS is so much straightforward and easy to use. PC is always more confusing and problem-prone. Yes, there are problems of Mac such as lack of software and openness of architecture. It turns away quite a lot of users from the platform. But I see that as far as a large number of PC users are concerned, those problems don¡¯t really matter. Take the software issue. Apple runs Microsoft Office, all Adobe and Macromedia apps. It has Real player, QuickTime, Windows Media etc. To my estimation, Mac cannot run, let say 20% of features that PC can. But most of users won¡¯t even run 50% of features. Moreover, most recent Macs have good ability in reading PC files which lessen the problem of compatibility. The recent change of MacOS to UNIX based codes opens up a large opportunity to the platform. Apple can now run not only many Windows applications but also UNIX apps which may be a boon to those hardcore techies. I like that. Anyway Macintosh is an exciting and often underrated platform. I am not a totalitarian Mac addict but do believe that Mac deserves some credit. It made many interesting innovations that are beneficial to all of us and a great computer to consider. At least to me it has been a joy to use.  |
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by texas-swede
