Apple and the Mac Module 1 – Section 7 Companies: Apple, Aldus Personalities: Steve Jobs, Jef Raskin, John Sculley Technology: The Lisa, The Macintosh, Desktop publishing Book reference: Accidental Empires, Chapter 10, ‘The Prophet’

Introduction  Apple II: Was produced before IBM PC  In 1977 Was the best selling microcomputer at that time Its sales was affected (slowed) by IBM PC and its clones sales  Apple III: Was the immediate successor of Apple II Expected to be equivalent to IBM PC, or surpass it

Introduction It had initial flaws  Gave the computer, in general, and Apple, in particular, a bad name (didn’t meet the expectation) and reputation  Its sales was very weak, compared to Apple II  Apple’s main intention or philosophy “Make computer accessible to every one and make them very easy to use”  seeking simplicity, or ‘user friendly’

Introduction  To achieve their target (or philosophy) They decided to use the GUI concept  Invented by Xerox at PARC PARC ALTO  That lead to the production of Lisa microcomputer In 1983 Used the GUI interface

The Lisa  Apple’s contingent visited Xerox PARC  Under the leadership of Apple’s manager “Steven Levy”  They saw PARC Alto, the first microcomputer with GUI system  It was the key to make computers accessible to everybody and easy to use  They applied this concept on Lisa

The Lisa  The Lisa had the following specifications Was based on Motorola microprocessor  Not Intel microprocessors, like IBM Required 1 MB of memory (RAM)  High at that time Required a hard drive  Unusual at that time  Based on these factors, it was very expensive and unaffordable as a PC Cost around $10,000 Failed to win the PC market !!

The Lisa  Disadvantages of Lisa Very expensive Slow, compared to IBM PC  Cause it was GUI-based, where IBM had a text-based OS  Advantages of Lisa Its ease of use Using the GUI concept, and introducing the desktop metaphor

The Lisa  Desktop is an example of a very powerful metaphor which changes the way we interact with something, and even the way we think about what we are doing Originally developed at Xerox PARC The screen of the computer resembles the top of a desk Includes files, folders, waste basket … etc. Everything (e.g. files) can be dragged, moved and repositioned (like move something on your desk) Mimics the reality and makes things easier to deal with it made the computer usable by a much wider range of people

The Lisa  Lisa didn’t sell well  Apple depended on the success of Lisa’s parallel project The Macintosh Project  Under the leadership of Steve Jobs

Developing the Macintosh  It was a project running in parallel to Lisa  Was lead by Steve Jobs His views were in conflict with those of Jef Raksin, the team leader, and Raksin soon left the projects, leaving Jobs in charge of the team Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are probably the two key personalities in the story of the microcomputer Jobs is often criticized for not being technically proficient (in comparison with Gates), but he does understand how to work with the technically gifted  The project team worked very hard to make it ready and meet deadlines 100hours/week

Developing the Macintosh  They used up-to-date technology for all its components to make it the state of the art in the PC market  Mac was late for two year Promised release year was 1982 Actual release year was 1984  Its price wasn’t as planned Target price was $1,000 Actual price was $2,495

Developing the Macintosh  It incorporated the Lisa style interface and even outperformed the Lisa  At the beginning, it wasn’t perfect Had many bugs Performed slowly Didn’t have a significant software  Although it was easy to use and user friendly, its sales wasn’t great  But its interface was enough to convince many that it was the next step in computing

Developing the Macintosh  Mac didn’t attract big companies and corporations They resisted the idea of easy computing (GUI) They consider Macintosh to be a toy, not a serious computer They stayed with IBM and its clones (command-line interfaces)  It was more robust  It was less expensive

Empowerment  Empowerment simply means giving power to someone, and the personal computer was seen as the means by which power was transferred from large organizations to individuals Apple introduced GUI and desktop concepts to general public It made computing easier and accessible This had improved people’s life

Empowerment  Improvements resulted from GUI and desktop introduction a- The ease of using and accessing information  distributing many GUI-based accounting and financial software  Benefiting from the Internet and its services Using the Web b- Encouraging people’s creativity (creativity products)  Word processor can seen as creativity tool Different fonts, tables, images …..etc  introducing many graphics (drawing and painting) software c- Allowing people to manage their business allover the world  via the Internet

Desktop Publishing  A computer without useful software, is simply useless Needs good applications or ‘killer app’ to gain popularity  The first killer app was a spreadsheet Lotus for IBM PC VisiCalc for Apple II  Microsoft (MS) Excel was the successor of Lotus Good application for Macintosh GUI system Similar to its predecessor(Lotus 1-2-3); didn’t add much!

Desktop Publishing  Apple was seeking a special software to be used with Macintosh and convince people that this computer was worth buying instead of an IBM PC  People at that time were interested in Desktop publishing  With a good desktop publishing software, the production of magazines and newspapers would be easier and faster

Desktop Publishing  Apple didn’t have a desktop publishing software ‘killer app’, although its GUI system was very suitable for this type of packages  Another company, called Aldus, have one called “Page Maker”  It was founded by Paul Brainerd  Apple used Page Maker for Macintosh as desktop publishing software Page Maker is killer app for the Macintosh

Desktop Publishing  It had influenced Macintosh greatly and pushed it into market Page Maker created a virtual board on which the user could layout their design Tasks that had previously required laborious work by hand or with different machines could now be achieved almost instantly Page maker allow people to answer ‘What if ?’ questions with minimal effort, e.g. if they want to change the background color it will just take from them few mouse clicks  Macintosh began to appear in the publishing department of many institutions  This had increased the sales of Macintosh  However, it never surpassed IBM PC, which remained as the dominant microcomputer in the market

After the Mac  Despite Macintosh’s success, Apple was losing market shares  IBM PCs and compatibles still dominating the PC market  In 1996, Apple lost $1 billion Although more recently it has been reporting profits again, and a growing market share Part of the problem is that Jobs ran unchecked after Mike Markkula retried. Job’s ideally suited to running a small start-up company, but unsuitable for multi-billion dollar corporation John Sculley had been brought from Pepsi (big mistake), he has no technical experience ?? Jobs was left with no real role and in September 1985 resigned

After the Mac  Reasons behind Apple decline a- Following the closed standard (not like IBM)  By following the open standard, cloning could well have made Macintosh-type computers cheaper and more popular (might not guarantee its success) b- The rapid change in the company’s leaders  Steve Jobs, John Scully(1985), Michael Spinder(1993), Gil Amelio(1996), then Jobs again  These executives (except Jobs) were not technically gifted (unlike Microsoft were all its executives are technically gifted)  This had affected the stability and growth of the company c- Apple computers were always more expensive that IMB PC and its compatibles

After the Mac  In 1997, Steve Jobs returned back to Apple Apple performance had improved in a noticeable way Jobs was the soul of Apple  He introduced iMac In 1998 It was the successor of Mac Competitive price (about $ 1,500) It used Motorola G3 microprocessor

After the Mac So It was capable of running PC applications effectively, and like the original Mac is easy to operate This has proved popular and in 1999 the company had net earnings of $ 601 millions, a significant improvement on previous years  Other products were also introduced PowerBook iBook New Unix-like OS

The personality of companies  Computer companies extract their personalities from their founders  These people have an enormous influence on the company’s development  They know precisely how to manage the company and which products should be made How it should be made How it should be sold

The personality of companies  Examples 1- IBM 2- Microsoft 3- Apple

The personality of companies  1- IBM Founded by Tom Watson in 1924  He was very good salesman and manager, he has also a strong sense of morality, But was not technically mined IBM is a large company with strong sense of history  Life-long employment cause them problem  Good customer support and strong family commitment, cause them problem  It has a large, multi-layered management structure, so it is very austere company with strict guidelines and a rigid management structure There seems to be an obvious connection between Tom Watson personality and the nature of IBM

The personality of companies  2- Microsoft Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allan in 1975  Gates is said to be very competitive. For instance, he is said to need to win (and usually does) even when playing trivial games  He is business man and very technically mined, with a passion for mathematical problems and computers Microsoft is a hugely success software company, with a reputation for producing good  But often not very innovative software  It has been fiercely competitive and successful, in nearly all of the different types of software (e.g., operating systems, Internet, Programming languages, …..etc

The personality of companies  It typically employs very keen, young programmers who work long hours and are loyal to the company  Organization at Microsoft is very technical oriented, and unlike IBM there are few layers of management  Also, again unlike IBM, the company is biased toward its software developers, Because Gates himself is a programmer Gates competitiveness is reflected on Microsoft which not contented themselves with focusing on one software (e.g. operating system), but have instead made themselves leaders or near leaders, in almost every other markets  MS culture has been accused of being male & youth dominated

The personality of companies  3- Apple Founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1977  Jobs is competitive and passionate about the projects he takes on, with a strong belief in his own vision of how they should develop  He is said to be very demanding to work for, as he is a perfectionist Apple is a company with reputation for innovation and style  It also has a reputation for haphazard management and chaotic structure Macintosh directly reflected Job’s desire to make the product he wanted, with good design and its own character. The relaxed, almost anarchic structure at Apple (mid of 1980s)  can again be related to Job’s rock ‘n roll attitude toward computing

Windows, OS/2 and Networking Module 1 – Section 8 Companies: IBM, Microsoft, Novell Personalities: Ray Noorda Technology: Netware, Windows Book reference: Accidental Empires, Chapter 14, ‘Counter-reformation’

Introduction  After the success of GUI in the Apple Macintosh PC and with technological advances in the micro processor industry There was a very big need for a new operating system, based on GUI concept  For IBM PC and its compatibles  It was very successful concept  IBM and Microsoft decided to develop a new GUI operating system, to be owned by IBM  OS/2  However, Microsoft continue to develop Windows, a GUI interface to DOS

Introduction  OS/2 operating system Was released in 1990 Many people predicted that it would be the operating system of the future It had failed, however! It is almost dead now  Some reasons behind its failure Marketing The need for a relatively powerful PC in order to work properly

Introduction  Windows 3.0 operating system It was developed in parallel to OS/2 Owned by Microsoft Just a GUI interface for DOS Released in 1990 Accomplished a great success Capture the PC market

Windows 3.0 & OS/2  Although OS/2 was technically superior, Windows 3.0 surpassed it… Why?? It was compatible with earlier software running on DOS OS/2 wasn’t compatible with DOS  Windows 3.0 has legacy, whereas OS/2 hasn’t! There were many software packages running on Windows 3.0 available shortly  One of the benefits of OS/2 was that it was designed from scratch to include features such as multi-tasking

Legacy and the year 2000 problem  For a software to be successful, it has to be compatible with older versions of the same product  Backward compatibility Example: The latest version of your word processing package, can probably read files from previous versions)  Backward compatibility is part of a general computing problem called Legacy Problem, which is a very famous term in computer industry

Legacy and the year 2000 problem  Regarding software, there is a huge amount of programs written They are so critical Changing them is too hard and expensive It’s too dangerous to stop their use They might result in legacy problem  Example: Year 2000 problem or the Millennium Bug

Legacy and the year 2000 problem  The year 2000 problem Many old programs (in 70s and 80s), used only two digits instead of 4 digits to represent a year  Example: Instead of 1974  only 74 was used  The programmers who wrote those programs never though that they would still be used in the year 2000  When we reached year 2000, how to represent it? 2000   00  conflict!!!, so computer think its year 1900 instead of year 2000 !!!

Legacy and the year 2000 problem Many dates will be wrong using those programs after year 2000 To solve this problem  Millions of code lines in programs had to be inspected  Many had to be changed The fixing cost was estimated to be around $500 billions!!

Network Operating Systems  Earlier operating systems for PCs dealt with the PC as a separate unit To control only its resources To communicate with the users  When networks appeared, new type of OS had to be used To allow the PC to interact with other computers and devices Such type of operating systems is called Network Operating System (NOS)

Network Operating Systems  Network Operating System (NOS) Needs to perform the same functions of a regular OS Also perform some additional functions by having some extra features These feature are as follows

Network Operating Systems  a- Multi-user The system needs to allow more than one user to access the computer resources at one time without interfering with each other  To access a shared printer, for example  b- Multi-task with multi-tasking, the CPU time is divided among more than one program so that the system allow more than one task (or program) to run at the same time  In fact though, the computer is doing a little bit of one task, then a little bit of another, and so on. It is switching between them very quickly to give the appearance of doing them simultaneously !!  Multi-tasking is possible because for much of the time computer’s CPU is idle (e.g., CPU is idle between your keystroke while you type your document)

Network Operating Systems  c- Portable This allows NOS to work across different types of computers with different architectures  Example: PCs, mainframes, minicomputers… etc  d- Secure Because more than one user can access the system, the system should provide its users with security features so that everybody can access only his own things  Giving users different access privileges (read-only, read and write… etc.)

Network Operating Systems  e- Compatible The system should communicate with other operating systems on the network  f- Safe Many companies use networks for what are called ‘mission critical’ tasks  Example: accounting systems of a company should be safe The system should be protected against unwanted intruders and accidental damage  like a computer virus and sudden failures  Some systems can cope with these by detecting them and closing themselves down safely, no data loss !!

Competition, collaboration and co-operation  The computer industry has many features that distinguish it from many other industries Everybody is seeking his own benefit  These features led to companies being partners in one computer product, and big enemies in another IBM and Microsoft  partnership Netscape and Microsoft  competition IBM and Apple  competition

Competition, collaboration and co-operation  Reasons, which led to dynamic and fast shifting relationships between computer companies are a- Moore’s law:  Due to this law, the computer industry develops at a very high rate  So companies try to keep up by making alliances and breaking them if necessary

Competition, collaboration and co-operation b- Being passionate about computers  Most of the leaders in computer companies are not regular businessmen  So, there are many products that were developed by people who made the product free for any one to use c- Personalities  The founders of the computer industry were holding strong opinions about computer issues that often conflicted with other leaders in the industry

Competition, collaboration and co-operation d- Development costs  In the computer industry, people often try to guess what the next hot technology will be, and thus develop it first  So, to develop some products Big companies often try to be partners with a small company that has the experts in that product If the product failed, then the big company would not lose as much as the cost of developing the whole product by itself, and it would end the partnership