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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (15738)	5/31/1998 1:35:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

Apple's eight giant Macintosh symbols are now just a memory BY JODI MARDESICH Mercury News Staff Writer The eight giant statues of Macintosh computer icons that graced the public park outside Apple Computer Inc.'s main campus in Cupertino have been removed by the company, marking the demise of another symbol of the once-proud computer maker. The whimsical sculptures, which included a giant hand, a paintbrush and Clarus, the ''dogcow''-- also known as ''Moof''-- came to symbolize Apple to many of the company's followers. The icons, designed under the first watch of Apple interim Chief Executive Steve Jobs in 1984, gave the Mac a friendly face to users who were not computer wizards. The early look and feel of the Mac garnered an intense loyalty among users. Removal of the sculptures Tuesday is just the latest of many changes by the company, which had defined the unique corporate culture of the Silicon Valley. In recent months, Apple has stripped away several employee perks that first set it apart, then were copied by others valley companies. Gone are the six-week sabbaticals dedicated employees earned after five years with Apple. Gone are the pets employees brought to work, since they spent so little time at home. Smokers have been asked to leave company property to take a cigarette break. Also gone is Apple's historical library, turned over to Stanford last year. Even the famous six-colored Apple logo has become monochromatic in some advertisements and on some products. Yet Jobs, the colorful co-founder who returned to Apple last year when the company bought his Next Software Inc., has done less frivolous things, besides hiring a new chef to improve the cafeteria dining fare. He's led Apple through two quarters of profitability, and overseen the development of the new eye-catching iMac, Apple's lower-cost computer offering. Even the employee attrition rate has decreased. An Apple spokeswoman said the sculptures were in need of repair and the company had decided it was time for something new. ''They went up when we built the campus (in 1993),'' said spokeswoman Rhona Hamilton. ''We decided we wanted to update the park.'' Apple has no plans for art to replace the sculptures, although a condition for Apple to receive a building permit by the city of Cupertino was that the company provide public art in the park. ''I know they've had a lot of changes over there,'' said Donna Krey, a spokeswoman for Cupertino. ''Maybe there is somebody that didn't understand, but they are going to be required to put some public art up as a condition of their permit.'' The six-to-12 foot fiberglass structures became a favorite stopping spot for busloads of camera-toting tourists. They'd pose near the giant fiberglass pencil or watch. Some fans even paid homage to the garden and its huge icons on their Web pages. One Web site features ''Jory's Apple Icon Garden Adventure'' -- a series of photographs of the garden and its sculptures. Not all Apple employees and Mac users loved the sculptures, however. Jeremy Bornstein, a former Apple engineer, said colleagues thought it was a little too commercial. ''When we first saw it, our first reaction was mostly along the lines of, 'What an ugly, horrible piece of self-serving pseudo-art.' '' Larry Tesler, Apple's former chief scientist and now president of Stagecast Software Inc., said that while over time it made him smile, he still thought it was ''frivolous.'' But many Mac users were bothered by the change. ''It's little things like that that gave Apple whatever character it had,'' said John Wharton, a Mac user and Apple shareholder. ''Management should be encouraging more of that stuff, not actively dismantling what they've already got.'' ''It's really a passing of an age,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a market research firm in Campbell. ''The smiley faces and the icon garden represented what was the Apple of old. I think in once sense, Steve's saying, ''hey guys, grow up.'' One Mac fan was optimistic about the change. Scott J. Kleper, a graduate student in computer science at Stanford who spent a summer interning at Apple, said, ''Maybe they'll replace the icons with something more current as they change the world again.''