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I was using the Macs of that era in real paying jobs at the time they were being sold. In fact, I was stuck on PowerPC from 2001 to 2020, when I finally became fully Intel. I am fully Intel now - no M series Macs because those are not in my (used) price range.

I do not have the nostalgia you have for these systems, because I struggled to put out a newspaper with ads, legals, classifieds and editorial using them for 14.5 years. I left that job in 2018, 12 years after the Intel transition. It was also not fun on a personal level trying to make my old equipment work with modern stuff when WiFi and the internet were passing me by.

So, while I still have a few personal favorites, most of them are not receiving much use now.

I am quite happy however that Jony Ive is no longer allowed to create anything at Apple. He had some hits, but IMO a lot of misses.
 
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I was using the Macs of that era in real paying jobs at the time they were being sold. In fact, I was stuck on PowerPC from 2001 to 2020, when I finally became fully Intel. I am fully Intel now - no M series Macs because those are not in my (used) price range.

I do not have the nostalgia you have for these systems, because I struggled to put out a newspaper with ads, legals, classifieds and editorial using them for 14.5 years. I left that job in 2018, 12 years after the Intel transition. It was also not fun on a personal level trying to make my old equipment work with modern stuff when WiFi and the internet were passing me by.

So, while I still have a few personal favorites, most of them are not receiving much use now.

I am quite happy however that Jony Ive is no longer allowed to create anything at Apple. He had some hits, but IMO a lot of misses.
Jony did mess things up with MacBook Pros requiring dongles!

We will see how things will progress on without him.
 
I miss the wide eye look I had and wonderment when I first started working on the Macintosh 512K with 400k floppy drive and ImageWriter. Started to learn to use PFS database for our Marketing/Advertising Department. I spent hours playing with the Desk Accessories for some stupid reason..Just fascinated at the stuff it does...LOL... then got the second floppy drive and the big one..20 Megabyte SCSI hard drive. Boss and I just hook it up and was like wow so much space we'll never fill it up...and easy to hook up! When I got my hands on the 20th Anniversary Mac that was another spark of wonderment with that thing....Then he does the iPhone.... wow that feeling came back. These days, I don't think that feeling will really come back for me. Thats what I miss from SJ and SW and the many geniuses that work there to make it happen. Now it's more like services utilities and entertainment stuff...
 
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As a lifelong innovator, I recall every word from Steve's interviews, including on "Pirates of Silicon Valley"—it captured the spirit, though exaggerated, far better than diluted modern films about Silicon Valley and Steve Jobs.

At Apple's core is a philosophy many resist: reject fast, buggy iterative development—the Epicurean chase of quick consumer fixes breeding fragile, subscription-dependent junk. Instead, embrace perfection, like Platonist ideals: products refined over years for 10-year durability, no manuals, timeless productivity, independent of updates, polished beyond improvement.

Jony Ive drew this from Dieter Rams, the master designer; Steve embraced and applied it to computers and smartphones. Difficulty didn't matter; what did was enhancing user productivity without tweaks or troubleshooting. A product should be rigid, useful, simple—like a wrench: durable, efficient, self-explanatory, versatile.

Here's how Apple would thrive under Steve's lead today:

1. One iPhone: Perfect form—no camera bulge, 7-day battery, large screen in small body, indestructible. Apps via Apple's kit only—no web shells. Apps as instruments, not services (Safari handles those). Music app? Yes. Restaurant menu? No.

2. One iPad: Artist's tool and ultimate reader—no rear camera, 4K front at 60fps, month-long battery, indestructible. Screen as daylight-readable coloured digital ink doubling as LCD (tech I'd pioneer). No censorship; owned content downloadable, exportable. Apple standard for digital ownership balances rights—piracy signals opportunity, as iTunes' 99p one-click buys ended music theft. Same for affordable books, honest news, productive apps over ad-infested freebies. Users aren't cheap; prices fail the value test. Charge internet per use to reward creators, not flat ISP fees.

3. One MacBook: Exactly 1kg, performs like a 15" Pro. Tech exists—if you need it, afford it; else, you don't.

4. One iMac: Powerhouse unit, best display, speakers, experience. No Mac Pro or slim nonsense—handles astrophysics sims to 8K CGI renders. Diversifying dilutes purpose.

Diluting products for niches erodes trust. Today's base iPhone SE? Junk—Steve would never make that. iPad's base models are glitchy, accessory-dependent, and violating the no-tweaks rule. while iMac is underpowered for creativity, priced for profit over benefit.

Apple's rich enough to go private and focus on excellence, but they don't because they're in the business of milking the company into the ground.
 
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I miss Steve Jobs.
I'm tired of Apple releasing half-baked beta versions.
I'm tired of Apple trying, like Google and Samsung, to attract customers with unnecessary features like background removal from photos.
I'm tired of Tim Cook announcing things just days before any official release.
Where's the old, good Apple?
Did you know Steve well? Sorry for your loss.
 
Yea it's been 15 years but you don't think he would have evolved with the times if he was still alive? I'm 100% sure he would have seen AI as future ahead of everyone else, he had that knack. Instead Apple is way behind in AI, even though it had a head start with Siri.
 
By this point, I think it’s safe to say Apple has ceased being an innovative company. The last meaningful innovative product was AirPods, which arrived about a decade ago.

I don’t know if I necessarily fault them for this, as technology in these markets has plateaued, and it’s uncertain what Jobs could have done in this era. But I do fault them for slacking on the “it just works” philosophy. Last night I tired to screenshare someone’s new Mac mini through FaceTime, and we couldn’t get it to work. Simple tasks are now sometimes frustrating obstacles. And don’t get me started on the unusability of their home lineup and software. The lack of quality control over the user experience is the biggest problem I see the company facing if they want to continue to charge a premium for their products.
 
By this point, I think it’s safe to say Apple has ceased being an innovative company. The last meaningful innovative product was AirPods, which arrived about a decade ago.

I don’t know if I necessarily fault them for this, as technology in these markets has plateaued, and it’s uncertain what Jobs could have done in this era. But I do fault them for slacking on the “it just works” philosophy. Last night I tired to screenshare someone’s new Mac mini through FaceTime, and we couldn’t get it to work. Simple tasks are now sometimes frustrating obstacles. And don’t get me started on the unusability of their home lineup and software. The lack of quality control over the user experience is the biggest problem I see the company facing if they want to continue to charge a premium for their products.
Year ending 31/03/25 Apple made 7.3% more profit than the year before. They certainly seem to know what they are doing.
 
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