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In one camp we had the Radio Shack TRS80, a dull grey box that had very unsophisticated graphics (big blocks that produced a 128x64 resolution) and had no support for colour.

Making up for the lack of "flashiness", the TRS80 had a very good BASIC interpreter that provided double-precision floating-point math and many other features that appealed to "power programmers".

The only other microcomputer worth considering was the Apple II.

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Instead of the TRS80's Z80 processor, the Apple had a somewhat simpler (yet faster) 6502 chip and came with support for colour graphics right out of the box.

Despite its greater speed and cool graphics, the Apple wasn't as easy to program as the TRS80, requiring a lot more delving into the bowels of the firmware through the use of PEEK and POKE statements. A few machine-code routines were also unavoidable if you wanted to really let that baby scream.

The massive differences between the two machines also meant that users tended to be almost fanatical in their praise and derision of the machines, depending on which camp they chose.

Right from the start, Apple attracted the more "creative" and "artsy" folks, dazzling them with its pyrotechnic display capabilities and far more up-market styling.

As the years wore on, the TRS80 died -- wiped out by the IBM PC and subsequent clones.

Instead of dying, the Apple evolved, firstly into Apple III, then the Lisa, and ultimately into the Mac family. Despite almost 30 years of such evolution, Apple has remained loyal to the qualities that created such a cult following.

Even today, Apple's styling is ultra-contemporary, its graphics are great and it plays its own game in respect to software and processor choices.

However, when I jumped online this morning it felt as if hell had frozen over.

Apple have announced that they're now shipping a piece of software called "Boot Camp". This piece of code allows you to turn your Intel-based Mac into an IBM clone -- ugh!

Boy, am I disappointed. For 30 years Apple played it tough and succeeded in carving its own niche in the market. Maybe it didn't sell as many units as those clone-vendors but it was proudly different. I strongly suspect that many people bought Apple computers simply because they weren't Microsoft-based clone-boxes.

Now they've turned around and, in one fell swoop, effectively capitulated to "clone pressure" and yielded their one great strength -- their willingness to be different.

Of course Apple are claiming that this is just a convenience for their loyal Apple users, allowing them to run "their favourite Windows programmes on an Apple-based computer".

Boy, that triggers my spin-alarm!

What's a loyal Apple user doing having *any* "favourite Windows programmes"?

Surely this is a blatant admission by Apple that it's losing the war and that even the almighty Mac just isn't cutting it in a Microsoft-dominated world.

It looks as if the sole reason I might have been tempted to buy a Mac has been eliminated. Why would I bother buying such an expensive box now?

If I want to avoid Bill's products I can always buy a much cheaper PC and load a copy of free Unix or Linux.

I always saw Apple as a bunch of stylish rebels -- now, it would appear, they're just a bunch of woosey girls.

Of course I could be wrong (it has to happen sooner or later:-). Do you think this move by Apple is simply pragmatic, or does it show that the company is happy to give away much of its mystique in the PC market in order to focus instead on things like the iPod and upcoming mobile phones?

Has Bill really won the PC wars?

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If you send me your 150x150 banner (no more than 20KB) and a URL to point at, I'll put it in a rotation to appear in the area currently allocated to sponsorship.

Because of my government-imposed state of impoverishment, I won't be charging for this exposure and there's no obligation to anyone -- but neither are their any promises ;-)

Drop me a line if you'd like to take advantage of this.

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