It's been quite a while since Steve Jobs retook the helm at Apple and started making some bold changes. Probably the single most controversial move he made was to end the first era of Mac cloning; in retrospect, we at AtAT admit it was almost certainly the right move, but at the time we, like many others, were skeptical and worried. And heck, even Steve admits that he wasn't sure of the move-- we imagine the death threats he received as a result may have had a lot to do with that. Anyway, Apple's getting back on its feet with excellent products, a tighter and more efficient business model, and a newfound sense of public confidence. So what are the odds that Mac cloning will start up again anytime soon, albeit with a more sensible set of licensing terms?

Not very good, apparently, given that Apple's making some changes to its "Mac OS-compatible" logo. Specifically, the "OS" part is going away; according to an Apple software license agreements web page, the official description for Mac-compatible hardware and software is, well, "Mac-compatible." Similarly, the "Mac OS" logo now just says "Mac." And according to Apple, "the new Mac logo will replace the old Mac OS logo on all Apple and third-party materials moving forward." It seems like a small change, sure, but when you think about it, nothing underscores the death of Mac cloning quite so well. Remember when Apple created the Mac OS logo to be used with the clones? And when they renamed "About This Macintosh..." and "Macintosh Easy Open" to "About This Computer..." and "Mac OS Easy Open"? Now that the Mac OS is back to running just on Apple-branded Macs, such changes are no longer necessary, and we're guessing that some of it will change back the same way that the "Mac OS-compatible" logo did. That all indicates that we shouldn't hold our breath for the second era of Mac cloning.

Admittedly, now that Apple's products are more compelling, their delivery times are better, and their prices are more in sync with the rest of the industry, we don't miss the clones all that much. Still, there's no doubt that the addition of a few cloners could really address some gaps in Apple's product line-- like high-end six-slot workstations, for example. Then again, if everything were perfect, what on earth would we complain about?