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Yes, America, There Is Still A Macintosh
About This Particular Macintosh began publication in 1995, a few months before the release of Windows 95. Unknown to our editors and readers at the time, the personal computing world was about to be turned upside down by the people from Redmond, Washington. For Mac users, it was the end of an era of innocence.
In the years since the first issue of ATPM was uploaded to Apple’s eWorld server, the editors of ATPM have had the privilege of chronicling the fall and rise of one of America’s most colorful corporate icons. There have been many books written about Apple’s fall. Many authors point to the company’s reluctance to license the Mac OS as the primary factor in Mac’s near demise. Others conclude that a series of management missteps caused the company’s problems rather than one factor alone.
The editors of ATPM have a different view of the cause of Apple’s problems. Simply put, the company stopped listening to its customers. “Think different” doesn’t come in a box. Rather, the Macintosh is designed for people who think “outside the box.” What saved Apple Computer wasn’t just the return of Steve Jobs and a funky-looking computer in a Bondi blue shell, it was the hopes, dreams, and prayers of the millions of people who proudly make up the Macintosh community. In the years between Steve Jobs’ departure and return to Apple Computer, he learned one important thing—he learned to listen, especially to Apple’s customers.
Apple’s greatest asset isn’t carried on the company’s balance sheet. That’s because the loyalty of Mac users is priceless. It can be qualified in words but it’s virtually impossible to quantify in numbers. It’s like trying to measure a person’s capacity to love by writing down the physical dimensions of his heart.
Apple Computer will close 1999 with its stock price close to an all-time high, its market share on the rise, and enthusiasm for its products at a near frenzied pitch. Not bad for a company that had been written off by stock traders and industry “experts” just three short years ago.
The Macintosh is the personal computer of choice for the people who create, the people who dream, and the people who educate our children. No matter the company’s problems, the hopes, dreams, and prayers of the members of the Macintosh community never ceased. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow the hopes, dreams, and prayers of great thinkers, great believers, and great dreamers will always shine through the mist of mediocrity and compromise.
In one year’s time the old millennium will pass into history and the chronicles of another thousand years will begin. The Macintosh transformed the way people use computers. But more importantly, the contributions of the people who choose to use Macs will continue to transform the way we live our lives.
Mac users aren’t people who only “think different.” We are the dreamers, the doers, and the ones who believe there is a better way to get things done. One day the Macintosh may disappear into the annals of history. What will never disappear are the hopes and dreams of the people who not only “think different,” but who act faithfully upon what they believe in their hearts.
We’ll meet again in the year 2000. We thank you for your continuing support.
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Also in This Series
- Welcome (and Goodbye) · May 2012
- Welcome · April 2012
- Welcome · March 2012
- Welcome · February 2012
- Welcome · January 2012
- Welcome · December 2011
- Welcome · November 2011
- Welcome · October 2011
- Welcome · September 2011
- Complete Archive
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