'Happy Mac' Killed By Jaguar!

[peter2002]

Happy Mac, the smiling icon that for 18 years greeted Apple computer users when they started up their machines, is dead.

A staid Apple logo illustrated in self-possessed shades of gray has replaced the eager-to-please icon in the new Jaguar version of the Macintosh operating system.

But Apple refuses to comment on why Happy Mac was killed, or on what icons may have replaced Happy Mac's more sober brethren -- Sad Mac and Dead Mac.

Macs used to display a Sad Mac, a non-smiling icon, to indicate that the machine was experiencing serious hardware issues. Even worse was Dead Mac, a Sad Mac icon that appeared on an all-black background accompanied by the "Chimes of Doom" sound.

Since Apple has chosen not to comment on the fate of any of the anthropomorphic Mac icons, serious and silly speculation is running rampant.

Some suggested that Happy Mac was laid off in a cost-cutting move, and is currently "between jobs" -- a reference to the widespread belief that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, should be charged with Happy Mac's homicide.

Happy Mac was jettisoned to appease the aesthetics of Steve Jobs who has wanted for a long time to dump the "smirking symbol," sources close to Apple programmers confirmed.

But some Mac users believe Happy Mac was the perfect personification of the personality of their beloved computers.

 

[King Cobra]

FYI, here is some of that silly speculation.

I find it hard to remember the Sad Mac. But I remember when my brother faced the Dead Mac icon with his older Powerbook. The loud chimes of doom frightened me.

I'm not sure exactly why, either. But I will tell you that I'm not to Happy to see it go.

That cat, Jaguar, can me a bit of a p[explicit] when it comes to happy icons. Possibly, an update to Jaguar will bring it back.

Luckily, however, I won't have Jaguar for a while, so I still get to see HMac for a while.

 

[ShaolinMiddleFinger]

MY opinion

IMHO, I like the gray screen. It looks more....powerful, I guess. I'm not saying I hated the happy mac, I liked it in fact, but things change. Think about how many people were shocked when OS X was announced!?!?! It just needs time to fade into the public. Around this time next year, no one will be complaining about it.

 

[3777]

...............

You people can still get the happy mac....... just leave the window open when OS9 classic loads during the OSX 10.2 boot up.... .you get to look at the blessed happy mac for at least 10 seconds......

 

[G4scott]

Happy Mac is also the finder icon, which might explain why it has dissapeared from the startup screen...

 

[vniow]

Is there any way to put the Happy Mac back?

 

[DakotaGuy]

I disagree

I think Apple just wants to "modernize" the operating system. When you start up and you see the old "Happy Mac" icon it has nothing in common with OSX. The computer that the face is on looks like the very first Mac. The graphic looks like something from the old classic OS. It has nothing in common with the new mac designs and the new OS. I would prefer if they used the "Happy Face" of the Mac OS finder instead of a gray Apple logo, but as far as the old "Happy Mac" goes...it is past it's time.

 

[Macmaniac]

I will miss happy mac, but I can still see it when I boot up my Perfoma! The Happy Mac graphic has gotten more detailed over the years! Now it has color instead of just B&W.

Sniff Sniff bye bye happy mac.........

 

[ibookin']

As I said in another thread, the Happy Mac made a short return in early builds of Jaguar. When I was running 6C98 I would see Happy Mac every time I turned on my iBook.

 

[job]

i was hoping for clarus the dogcow to make a return in jaguar....

 

[madamimadam]

I understand the tradition involved with the happy/sad mac but I REALLY love the new screen, plus I think the mac start up is extinct. I have not seen a sad mac in so many years. It used to be a saviour for me... I would always know where to start looking when a machine crashed by seeing what start up mac it had but these days it just does not have the same need that it used to.