it was Blue. Its motto was THINK and it was under-
stood that this was something only companies did.
Then one day in a garage in Texas, an Apple fell on
someone’s head and The Two Steves decided that
thinking was for people, too.
If you have been around Macs since 1984, then
you will remember this cosmology. It describes a
universe where Apple and IBM were polar oppo-
sites. In fact, in an early Mac Plus commercial
targeted at businesses, a handsome, blue-suited salesman makes commission on a big sale of the perfect computer to an eager company. In the surprise ending, an Apple pin is clearly visible on his lapel.
This notion of the two rival computer companies has already been stood on its head once before when IBM teamed up with Apple and Motorola to produce the PowerPC platform – an attempt to recover ground from lost to IBM’s evil children, Intel and Microsoft. Since then, Apple became the top selling computer company in the world (it is now reportedly third largest), and IBM hemorrhaged money and employees. Now it seems, the world is about to go topsy-turvy once again as rumors abound about an IBM take-over of Apple Computer, Inc.
The whole thing started early in October when the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Motorola was about to buy Apple Computer. Motorola had just announced on October 5 that it intended to re-enter the computer market with a line of RISC-based PowerStack computers. The story quickly switched to an AT&T take over. It has been rumored for years that AT&T was a likely buyer for Apple and this was just the latest incarnation of this gossip. After all, AT&T has tried several times to enter the personal computer market by itself and has always failed. It has been assumed that Apple could help it avoid these market failures.
However, after a week with no factual basis emerging for the stories it appeared that Apple's stock price could settle back down and enjoy the kudos of its biggest sales quarter in history. Apple is doing so well that it actually delivered third quarter sales reports early. While the champagne was popping in Cupertino, Apple's share price continued to climb as Reuters reported that Apple might be engaging in talks to license the Mac OS to Motorola, IBM and even Compac. On October 9, IBM admitted that it was indeed holding talks with Apple on the PowerPC chip and existing software projects, but refused to comment on the takeover rumors.
By October 16, Reuters was reporting that both Apple and Lotus were ripe for takeover. (Potential buyers for Lotus include IBM and Novell.) That brings us to the latest news: By October 20, the Wall Street Journal reported that IBM was discussing a plan to spend more than $1 billion on an alliance with Apple to get the rights to the Mac OS. The report went on to say that the companies were expected to sign agree- ments which would call for the joint development of a common PowerPC reference platform to be known as 'AIM' (Apple-IBM-Motorola). Computers manufactured consistant with this platform would be able to run a variety of operating systems, from the Mac OS and OS/2 Warp to Windows NT and AIX. The AIM platform will reportedly be based upon IBM's current PowerPC reference platform, PReP–with which the Mac OS is incompatible. An executive close to Apple told the Journal that IBM had agreed to provide Apple with cash to offset some of the costs of developing the Macintosh system to run on the new reference platform. Although the two sides have not yet signed an agreement, the Journal was told that the papers are in the hands of each company's lawyers.
The moral of the story (so far): A Big Blue Apple today keeps AT&T far away. And the stock price climbing, too.
 
Traditionally, printers have been a good source of  
revenue for Apple–after all, everyone who buys a
Mac needs a printer. Not willing to kill the goose that
laid the you-know-what, Apple Computer has once
again added to and fine-tuned its printer lineup to
stay competitive with (and in some cases lead) the
printer market. October brings us the a new price-
leading colour printer, a new flagship LaserWriter,
and the addition of Ethernet to Apple's mid-range
LaserWriter 360.
Color StyleWriter 2400
Apple's new Color StyleWriter 2400 is the colour market price leader weighing in at about $525 US.($725 Cdn). The 360x360 dpi printer can print up to 3 pages per minute in black and white and a page about every three minutes in colour although actual speed depends in the Macintosh used. The 2400 also comes with ColorShare software to allow sharing the printer over LocalTalk, EtherTalk, or TokenTalk networks.
The new colour printer comes with 64 TrueType fonts, takes advantage of Apple's ColorSync technology, is EPA EnergyStar compliant and has new fast drying inks rated at 900 pages of black & white (7% coverage) or 100 pages of colour (7% coverage). The Color StyleWriter 2400 replaces the more expensive Color StyleWriter Pro, which offers a more flexible 4-cartridge color ink system.
LaserWriter 16/600PS
At the top end of Octobers new printers is Apple's long awaited replacement for the LaserWriter Pro 630. Apple claims the new model, the LaserWriter 16/600PS, is the fastest in its price range. With a 25 MHz RISC processor, built-in Ethernet, automatic emulation and switching with simultaneous connection to Macintosh, DOS, Windows and UNIX environments this printer is a real work horse.
The 16/600PS comes with 8 Megs of RAM and has room inside for an optional 245 Meg. internal font drive and a fax card. RAM can be boosted up to 32 Megabytes, and paper handling for the 17 page per minute engine can be enhanced with a 500 sheet feeder and a 75 envelope feeder. The printer is EPA EnergyStar compliant and comes with 64 TrueType fonts. Apple's PhotoGrade and FinePrint technologies are built-in although you still need an extra 4 Megabytes of RAM for PhotoGrade. Unlike the previous LaserWriters Pros, PhotoGrade operates at the full 600 dpi resolution. (Somewhat ironically, the LaserWriter 600 and 630 had to be operated at 300 dpi to utilize the PhotoGrade feature.) At a US. ApplePrice of $2429 ($3299 Cdn.), this printer is sure to set a new price/performance standard.
Ethernet for LW 360
The LaserWriter 360 is Apple's lowest priced 600 dpi Laser Printer. Models ship- ping in October will now have a software utility for Ethernet compatibility included. The new utility is the LaserWriter Bridge which allows the user to connect a printer to an EtherTalk network by using the Macintosh computer as a protocol forwarder.
The addition of the LaserWriter Bridge to the 360 makes all of Apple's workgroup printers compatible with EtherTalk and/or Ethernet networks. Users who prefer a hardware solution can add EtherTalk compatibility by purchasing the Sonic microPrint EtherTalk adaptor for the LaserWriter Select 360.
