iMac Comes to Washington

Washington Apple Pi Journal, Vol. 20, no. 4, July-August 1998, pp. 23-26.

Washington Apple Pi helped open the Apple User Group Road Tour on May 23, 1998. A huge crowd showed up to hear about the latest PowerBook G3s, the future of Mac OS and Rhapsody, and the still-semi-mythical iMac. Apple did justice to the event, with a prototype iMac, two production PowerBook G3 machines, and the exquisite Apple flat-panel display monitor, formally known as the Apple Studio Display.

Standing Room Only

It may be a problem in the future, but it was nice to see: the meeting was standing room only after the main program started. Fire and crowd control laws were overlooked in the rush to see what Appl had planned for Mac OS and Rhapsody, PowerBooks and iMac. The audience was an excellent cross-section of the Washington Metro region: home users, graphic artists, information ystems managers, game players, programmers, cryptographers, politicians, students, reporters, video engineers, and those who were thinking about upgrading from their Mac Plus computers.

The auditorium was almost full early, during meeting preliminaries, and when the few empty seats vanished, a good crowd stood along the back wall. Combining the main floor, the balcony, those standing at the back and those who never made it out of the lobby, crowd estimates ranged from 600 to 800 people, a remarkable draw for early in the morning on a sunny Memorial Day weekend. No one asked for a refund on admission, which is good: admission was free.

Apple User Group Manager Revealed!

Apple has had a hot and cold relationship with user groups over the past twenty years. The company was founded, literally, because of user groups: Steve Wozniak’s Apple I and II designs were instant hits when he showed them to his user group buddies, which convinced The Other Steve that the designs had commercial potential. But at various times in the company’s history, user groups have been treated more as annoying distractions rather than organized consumer groups, and relations between the company and user groups have often been strained.

Recently, Brighid Brady-de Lambert took over as Apple User Group Program Manager, complete with a corporate E-mail address, usergroups@apple.com, and Web page, http://www.apple.com/usergroups. Brighid organized the 1998 User Group Tour and flew cross-country to see that it got off to a good start. She seemed pleased with the massive turnout at Washington Apple Pi; in tum, Washington Apple Pi was pleased to see that a live, breathing human being was working at Apple, devoted to user group interests.

Brighid Brady-de Lambert, Apple User Group Program Manager, has revitalized Apple's user group program, and was the driving force behind Apple's 1998 summer User Group Tour. Here she chats with Don Essick, Washington Apple Pi's vice president for Macintosh programs. (Photo by Dave Ottalini) — Brighid Brady-de Lambert, Apple User Group Program Manager, has revitalized Apple’s user group program, and was the driving force behind Apple’s 1998 summer User Group Tour. Here she chats with Don Essick, Washington Apple Pi’s vice president for Macintosh programs. (Photo by Dave Ottalini)

iMac: A Network Computer that Works

Over the past couple years some computer “visionaries” have been saying the days of the stand alone computer are dead. In the future, everyone will have a “network computer,” an NC instead of a PC. It will not have a hard drive, or floppy drive, or modem, or any other peripherals. Programs will be loaded into the machine across a network from a server. By getting rid of the floppy drive and hard drive (and modems and other unnecessaries), the world will be made ever so much easier for network managers.

Seen from the front, the Apple Studio Display is bright enough to seriously confuse an automatic camera: the screen is nicely exposed, but most of the rest of the picture is underexposed. Aside from being bright, with crisp images, the display takes up very little desktop space: if you can't justify it for some other reason, tell your boss you need the extra desk space. — Seen from the front, the Apple Studio Display is bright enough to seriously confuse an automatic camera: the screen is nicely exposed, but most of the rest of the picture is underexposed. Aside from being bright, with crisp images, the display takes up very little desktop space: if you can’t justify it for some other reason, tell your boss you need the extra desk space.

The translucent plastic casing of the Apple Studio Display is most obvious when seen from behind. While nobody disliked this style case, there was a raging debate about its origins: is this a Retro look, a tribute to the 1950s? Or is this a Techno look, an American version of the European art trend.

The response, from users and many others, has been something akin to”A re you nuts?” In their eyes, the NC is just a thinly disguised computer terminal, the server a thinly disguised mainframe, and the entire concept a not very thinly disguised attempt to bring back the Computer Gods of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when access to computer power was in the hands of a remote, all-powerful priesthood, responsive not to users but to accountants.

Most definitely, the iMac is not an NC: it is richly endowed with lots of hard drive space, a fast CD-ROM drive, stereo surround-sound speaker system, modem, 3D video support and more. But it isn’t “more of the same,” either: there is no built-in floppy because, quite frankly, the days of the floppy are over. Instead, it comes with a 10/l00BASE-T Ethemet port, for screaming fast access to the world, and a high-speed infrared port, for fast access to more “personal” needs, like printers.

iMac: Is That Bondi Blue? Banzai Blue?

Since Steve Jobs first revealed the iMac to an unsuspecting public, a debate has raged about the color. Looking at Apple’s advertising (online as well as print), most agree it is sea green or, possibly, teal, and white. But in his visit to Washington Apple Pi, iMac product man ager Mike Shebanek said this is incorrect. The “white” or “clear” color is properly termed “ice.” And as for the sea green or teal color, it is actually called …

J.D. Mankovsky (left) selects an eager questioner from the audience while Mike Shebanek (right, in white) searches for the power switch on his wireless microphone.

Various people heard various things. Since Mike neglected to spell it, some swear he said “Bondi Blue.” Others swear he said “Bondo Blue,” but this is clearly in error: as everyone below the Mason-Dixon line knows, bondo is red. I prefer to think he said “Banzai Blue,” the blue of Ten Thousand Years.

(Bondi, as it turns out, is a recognized noun of Australian origin: a heavy club with a wicked knob on the end, used by Aborigines as a weapon. But Apple named the teal-green iMac after Bondi Beach, a famous beach in Australia with clear, sea green water.)

Note the open cable cover on the side of the iMac. Mike Shebanek, an iMac product manager, said the cable ports were placed on the side to prevent the notorious "crushed cable" syndrome, caused when you push a monitor back as far ns it will go against the wall. If you don't want the cables to come out the side, he said they can also be routed out the bottom of the case. — Note the open cable cover on the side of the iMac. Mike Shebanek, an iMac product manager, said the cable ports were placed on the side to prevent the notorious “crushed cable” syndrome, caused when you push a monitor back as far ns it will go against the wall. If you don’t want the cables to come out the side, he said they can also be routed out the bottom of the case.

Transparent Cables for Ubiquitous Computing

Apple’s forthcoming iMac has a translucent case, and everyone seems to know that. Some are even aware that the keyboard and mouse are translucent, and a smaller number are aware that the keycaps on the keyboard are, themselves, translucent. But until Apple visited Washington Apple Pi, most of us were unaware that the cables — keyboard cable, mouse cable, power cable — were also translucent.

“Transparent computing” has long been a goal of computer scientists: make the computer so much a part of the problem solving process that the user isn’t aware they are using a computer. Apple is pioneering another approach while leading the way toward the original goal.

Just getting into the auditorium was difficult; Mike Shebanek (on the right in white T-shirt) a product manager on the iMac team, talked about the forthcoming iMac in the lobby before his presentation on stage.

Another Object of Techno-Lust

Aside from blazing fast Power Macs and PowerBooks, what else is there to want? How about a large, very bright flat panel display, such as the new Apple Studio Display? Occupying a fraction of the desk space of most monitors, the Apple Studio Display left most people silent: they wanted it, but had trouble trying to justify replacing their existing, perfectly good monitor. Here’s a hint: if you have more than one video card, your Mac will be more than happy to support multiple monitors. And this monitor will take up less space than any other second monitor.

Yes, it weighs more than twice as much as a 1984 Macintosh, but the iMac still isn't very big. It is almost infinitely faster, far more useful, and slightly more than half the cost. — Yes, it weighs more than twice as much as a 1984 Macintosh, but the iMac still isn’t very big. It is almost infinitely faster, far more useful, and slightly more than half the cost.

We Got Yer Questions Right Here!

For many user group members, the highlight of any presentation is the Question and Answer portion, where the crowd gets to pepper the vendor representatives with unrehearsed questions. This is always an interesting time: the representatives must waltz along a thin line between candor and job preservation. When an audience member suggests that Apple’s advertising is misguided and fails to tell why Macs are “insanely great,” does the company representative agree (not a good idea, if the advertising is under the control of Powerful Interim Forces), disagree (not a good idea, especially if the observation is true), or change the subject (not a good idea since this is Washington, DC, and everyone is well versed in the intricacies of equivocation.

Fortunately for everyone, the May General Meeting featured two superb presenters: J.D. Mankovsky, a system engineer at Apple’s regional office in Reston, Virginia, and Mike Shebanek, a product manager on the iMac team. J.D. fielded a dizzying variety of technical questions on the new PowerBook G3 machines, the evolution of Mac OS from today’s version 8.1 to next year’s MacOS8.6 and (on a slightly different, parallel track) Mac OS X [Mac OS Ten]. J.D., a veteran of previous Pi meetings, proved once again to be equally adept at talking about video games (such as http://www.reaItime.net/pangea Nanosaur, an astounding, and free, 3D extravaganza) and the proper use of APIs (Application Programming Interface) for Mac OS X.

Photo:

Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, the iMac mouse does not light up. Nor does the iMac computer itself At the May 1998 introduction of the iMac, the machine on display was mounted on a pedestal with a translucent top and a spotlight mounted inside, and the resulting "glowing" iMac stories proved, once again, the value of good showmanship. — Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, the iMac mouse does not light up. Nor does the iMac computer itself At the May 1998 introduction of the iMac, the machine on display was mounted on a pedestal with a translucent top and a spotlight mounted inside, and the resulting “glowing” iMac stories proved, once again, the value of good showmanship.

Mike, naturally, concentrated on the forthcoming iMac, covering everything from the official names of the colors used in the case to why it doesn’t have a floppy disk drive. A former user group president from Riverside, California, Mike was ruthlessly nontechnical: the iMac is aimed at the “consumer market,” and he cheerfully brushed aside all attempts to make it something else. It doesn’t have serial ports, SCSI ports, dual-monitor support, etc., because Apple “already has this covered” with the existing G3 machines. The iMac is aimed at consumers heading into the next century, not graphics professionals, not people trying to hook up 10-year-old printers.

One retired naval officer said that he “used to mess around with boats,” but age (and cost) diverted him to other pursuits, and now he “messed around with Macs.” The meeting reinforced his belief that “messing around with Macs was the right choice.”