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To: jim kelley who wrote (23093)	11/25/1997 1:55:00 AM
From: Paul van Wijk	Respond to of 176387

Are these Apple-nerds funny or what. All Hail The (Interim) Chief! By Randy Whitted, TechWeb contributor Since the return of Steve Jobs, vast changes have occurred at Apple. He seems to have displeased everyone in one way or another. I was pretty upset about PowerComputing's going away, and several people I know have commented on the abrupt fashion in which certain Apple employees were shown the door. As the smoke clears and the new Apple emerges, I find myself more and more appreciative of the leadership and decisiveness of Jobs, and even more amazed at our situation. He said two things recently that I believe are pivotal to the future of our Macintosh and Apple. At Seybold, Jobs told the audience that if people would buy a Mac, it would really help. This was more profound than might be realized, and it is an historic statement to come from someone in leadership at Apple. It is widely known that Apple has the highest percentage of brand-loyal customers of any other computer maker. A good portion of these users is not only loyal to the Mac, but encourages friends and associates to buy Macs. But another significant portion of the Mac user base is using very old equipment. Working as a technician a while ago, I was shocked to see how many LCs, IIsis, Pluses, and Powerbook 100s are still in service. There is also an astounding number of Quadras, II series, and early PowerMacs still plugging away. Most of these users claim to be doing just fine with their current systems. Unfortunately, many are resisting the purchase of a new Mac because they don't know if Apple will be around much longer. I told these people the same thing Jobs would have told them: If you buy a new Mac, it will go a long way in helping Apple stick around. It will also do wonders for productivity. Each new line of Macs is an incredible improvement over the previous -- try one and see! These people know firsthand the productive power of the Mac, but many of them wrongly think a PC could do the same things for them. They have falsely been taught by their Macs that computers are all easy to use and friendly. What these experienced and potential users need to know is something Apple still isn't telling them: why a Macintosh is better. Despite this, I believe the "Think Different" campaign is an effective outgrowth of Jobs' simple statement and an effective message. The best way to get customers to buy systems is to get them thinking about it. This is the beauty of the Apple Store. Even if the store never comes close to Dell's sales quantity, it will always be a place to investigate a new Mac at leisure. Improvements in the retail world further enable people to confidently invest once again in a Macintosh. But people still wonder if the Mac is the machine of the future. Market share numbers don't say so, but market share doesn't really apply to Apple anymore. The Mac has never been a dummy terminal, so it will never fill the mass call for "here's your desk, here's your computer." Now more than ever, a Mac purchase is a conscious decision, a personal preference, an attitude, a way of thinking different. A Mac purchase is also a validation of something else Jobs said recently. The notion that the Mac OS is out of date and in need of renovation is dumb. It is an OS for the future. I have the entertaining opportunity of using a PC and a Mac every day, side by side. The PC is fairly current and has a good amount of RAM, and the Mac is a Powerbook 3400. Having used Windows 95 and the Mac OS, I can honestly say that those multitasking and memory-protection features that Win 95 is supposed to hold over the Mac OS don't work well enough to make a difference. The argument that Copland was needed to save Apple and the Mac OS found a vast receptive audience several years ago as the threat of Windows 95 loomed overhead. Thanks to Rhapsody, the whole Copland failure has faded. Mac OS 8 clearly holds its own against Win 95 and Win 98, and Rhapsody already offers significant advantages over the promises of Windows NT 5. But that's not where the competition is, right? We're friends with Microsoft now. Office 98 for Macintosh promises to propel the Mac further into the PC compatibility world with features the Windows version doesn't have. Only Jobs could have arranged that. And you never know what Microsoft "innovations" the Mac OS might pick up in the cross-licensing agreement. It is truly a strange and better Mac world we live in now, and we have Jobs to thank for it. Twenty steps from my desk is a PowerMac 8500 running the BeOS and a Pentium Pro PC running Rhapsody. My home Mac is not made by Apple, and my portable is faster than my first four Macs combined. Things still aren't perfect. There's still plenty to complain about and changes to be made. But at least we have direction, momentum, and someone to lead the way. Even if he doesn't want the job.