To Apple, capturing a major part of the huge PC market share cannot be unlike tackling Mount Everest. It is a long, arduous up-hill journey which is both unpredictable and highly demanding. For years, however, Apple was fat and lazy, content to sit at the bottom of that huge mountain gathering those few users who were more discerning when it came to purchasing a personal computer. 

In essence, Apple was a glutton during its early years. Scoffing at IBM’s decision to license its technology to other manufacturers, Apple naively saw this only as lost revenue for the mainframe giant. Content to charge a high premium for its personal computers based upon their ‘singular’ ease of use, Apple never saw the competition coming. While Apple continued to gloat about the supremacy of its operating system, PC clone manufacturers competed with each other on price while Microsoft developed a little time-bomb named Windows. 

When the dust cleared and personal computer manufacturers such as Atari and Commodore fell by the wayside, two divergent camps were left: The DOS-based PC clones, and the Macintosh. Slowly Apple learned that its technology was useless if it could persuade very few people to invest their hard-earned dollars on premium priced systems. Macintosh price/performance rose steadily and Apple began seriously to think about licensing its operating system.

If operating systems are to be compared to music, DOS is heavy metal, Windows is hard rock and System 7 is a symphony. The industry has known this for a long time. But with Microsoft’s upcoming Chicago operating system, Windows moves a lot closer to Mozart. Apple has wasted the past 10 years tooting their wonderful technology while Microsoft and clone manufacturers have been busy building an installed base of users - users who want to be compatible with their friend’s computers, who want to take all of their files and applications with them when they upgrade to a new machine and users who want value in a personal computer system. Stereotypes are persistent, and there are many PC computer owners out there who still regard the Macintosh as a toy for wealthy computer enthusiasts, despite the price/performance value of the new Power Macintosh systems and the utility of such programs such as Adobe Photoshop. 

Many computer industry analysts reacting to recent news that Apple is close to a Macintosh clone-manufacturing deal with IBM and Motorola have suggested that it is far to late to make a sizable market impact. Of course, they are quite right, to a certain extent. Until the Macintosh has an inexpensive option to run Windows applications at 486 and faster speeds, there will be little significant increase in market share. 

What can help Apple psychologically is IBM’s manufacturing of Macintosh clones. Stereotypes are persistent, and many people still regard IBM as the be-all and end-all of computer manufacturers. PC clones are consistently referred to as IBM-compatible, despite the fact that they are more accurately termed MS-DOS compatible. If IBM licenses System 7 and makes IBM-brand Macintoshes, it’s one hell of a stamp of approval for Apple’s operating system. Many DOS and Windows users, I am sure, will be dumbfounded by this. If Apple was daring enough, they’d capitalize on the agreement with ads that say “Good enough for Big Blue, Good enough for you.” 

Though it took a long time, Apple has finally begun to understand that if you’re going to be in the game, you have to play the same rules everyone else does. In the computer industry, that means licensing your technology and meeting competition head-on. It’s a long journey up the mountain, but if Apple can find some good footholds, it may eventually get to the top.