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The Apple Tech Graveyard (1/25/98)
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Spooky. Faithful viewer Avi Rappoport was kind enough to point us towards an incredibly outdated Apple web page called Platforms and Technologies, which serves as a virtual museum of Apple technologies that haven't survived the company's "shrinkage" over the last couple of years. (She's notified the Apple webmaster, so the page may be gone by the time you read this.)
Among the Walking Dead we note the following:
- Apple AIX Servers, which were those big, cool cabinet deals that ran IBM's version of UNIX
- QuickDraw GX, the next-generation display technology that never caught on enough to really take off
- PowerTalk, the confusing collaboration technology that made a short-lived appearance in System 7.5 after debuting in System 7 Pro (we think)
- OpenDoc, the component software technology that allows the embedding of multiple "parts" in any document
- Cyberdog, the still-cool OpenDoc-based internet suite which was supposed to spawn a whole slew of third-party replacement parts (and didn't)
- CHRP, the open-standards hardware platform that was going to revolutionize the Mac cloning business
- PiPPIN, the home set-top console that served as a game system with net-surfing capabilities and was priced too highly to compete
We don't consider Game Sprockets dead, though it's certainly been "de-emphasized." And the Newton project isn't exactly what we'd call "happy," now, either.
That's certainly a pretty impressive list of projects that didn't survive the cuts (although PowerTalk should have had a stake driven its ill-executed heart before it ever made it out of the evil labs). Perhaps Apple will leave this page up as a reminder of better days-- and harder times.
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SceneLink (391)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/25/98 episode: January 25, 1998: The carnage and mayhem of the Super Bowl provided a welcome distraction from the carnage and mayhem in the world of Apple, but Macophiles wept openly when the rumored Apple commercials never showed. Meanwhile, the net is crawling with the spectres of Apple Technologies killed in the aforementioned carnage and cost-cutting in Cupertino, and digital video professionals are split over the untimely demise of PowerExpress, whose six-slot spectre haunts them still...
Other scenes from that episode: 390: Big Game, Zero Presence (1/25/98) Well, the Super Bowl is over, and we've got a few friends back in the Midwest who probably aren't too happy with the results (cheer up Barry, there's always next year!). And while AtAT was remaining Swissly neutral in the famed confrontation-- like we'd really miss the X-Files for a sporting event, even if it is a rerun-- we are shocked to hear that Apple didn't broadcast any commercials during the game... 392: Slot Scandal of 1998 (1/25/98) After yesterday's bit on the new "high-end" Powermac G3 and its measly three PCI slots troubling some digital video types who just gotta have their six, we thought we should mention that not everybody in that business is too broken up about losing their slots...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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