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Awesome, a very buitifil parody of the "Think Different" poem.

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Worst Apple products ever?

iMac hockey puck mouse

Over at Macworld, well-known TidBits editor Adam C. Engst bravely takes a stab at the six worst Apple products ever. Here's his take:

  1. Macintosh IIvi and IIvx
  2. Macintosh TV
  3. Pippin
  4. Power Macintosh 4400
  5. Twentieth Anniversary Mac
  6. Apple [hockey puck] USB Mouse

Any of those sound unfamiliar? Head to the article for details and links. My quick adds:

The IIvi? Hey, I almost bought one of those – I think it was that CD-ROM drive (and the reasonably modest price) that had me salivating. I ended with a PowerMac 6100AV instead. But anyway:

The Pippin? Never owned one, just played with one in a store – when it wasn't crashed. My memories of the Pippin in stores is basically that of a Netscape browser covered by a "Mac bomb" crash error. Moving on:

The 4400? Didn't own one of those, fortunately. I saw them in action, and they truly felt tinny and cheap. This had to be the epitome of the machines that had Steve Jobs cringing upon his return. Next:

The TAM? The TAM? Oh, all right, it does merit inclusion, based on that original price. But at the later blowout price, it was... well, that unique blend of unfortunate and awesome that is the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh. But hey, this was totally new to me:

Within a year, Apple had knocked the price down to $1,995, placating people who had paid more by giving them gifts of high-end PowerBooks

Really? Never heard that. Anyone have info on that?

And finally:

The hockey puck mouse? Seems to make everybody's list for worst Apple product ever, though it didn't halt the iMac's stunning success. Might make my worst list, too, if I ever used one. (Confession: I want one from the green iMac, to complement my Key lime iBook. Even if it just sits there and I don't have to make contact with its suspect ergonomics.)

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Things people say

One of the greatest myths about Macs today is that they cost way more than their PC equivalents, when a direct spec-to-spec comparison between the two often proves that is not the case. But the myth persists because that was exactly the situation in the 1990s when Apple churned out a succession of indifferent computers that costs hundreds, if not thousands, more than their competitors.