http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/12/16/cx_el_1217macmoments.html
While it is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the introduction of the first Apple Macintosh [where does the time go?], I can well remember the first Mac's introduction and thinking "that's about half the computer I want for about twice the price" -- this at a time when the same capability for IBM clones was nowhere in sight. Alas, my initial though remained true for those 20 years too -- it always seems like Apples cost more than I want to pay for the performance I am getting -- when I look at the current Apple of my eye, the dual-processor G5 with the 23" Cinema display, I am facing a charge of some $6,000 when to buy the equivalent IBM machine would cost me about half that [apart from the display], and a much more muscular system would be the result for $6,000.
On the other hand, to be able to compute without driver issues, without crashes, without being able to go to MicroCenter and spending all my money on doodads which then stay safely packed away in their boxes because I never have time to install them, and without the same degree of attack through InterNet connections, well that has to be worth something. Still, however much I review the issue, I doubt there is a Mac in my future -- but desktop Linux looks very possible indeed.
At any rate, and to the point, the URL indexes a set of articles on the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh, and recounts key moments in the life of this technology and that of its parent company.
Here is another retrospective on the Macintosh's birthday:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114418,tk,dn012304X,00.asp
Posted by jho at December 23, 2003 09:44 AM