Safari In 2003 Apple released its own browser called Safari. Surfin’ Safari. Surfing the web. Geddit? As of October 2011 Safari accounts for nearly 9 per cent of web traffic, behind Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. However, as the browser on Apple’s iPhone it accounts for a massive 62 per cent of all mobile traffic.
Sagan Superstar space gazer Carl Sagan was annoyed when he learned that the Power Mac 7100/66 was code-named after him. He wrote to Apple demanding it change the code name. Apple’s project engineers changed the name to BHA, standing for ‘Butt-Head Astronomer’. In April 1994 Sagan sued Apple for defamation of character, but lost.
Scott The first CEO of Apple was Michael Scott, from February 1977 to March 1981. Scott’s job was to manage Jobs, and make him bathe more often. On 25 February 1981, a day known at Apple as Black Wednesday Scott personally fired 40 employees, claiming the company was growing too fast. Soon after that, he quit to start up a company to create a sea-based satellite-launching rocket. He is now an expert on coloured gemstones.
Sculley John Sculley was president of Pepsi when Steve Jobs lured him to Apple with the classic one-liner: ”Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?”
As well as helping to shift the computer from geeky garages and stuffy offices into the home Sculley was meant to lend Apple an air of traditional big business credibility, which Apple president Mike Markkula knew the company wouldn’t get with Steve Jobs at the helm.
It ended up without Steve at the helm or even still at Apple, when Sculley and Jobs clashed over the co-founder’s rough management style. Jobs tried to oust his former buddy in a coup but Sculley discovered the plot and stripped him of most of his day-to-day responsibilities. Jobs quit soon after.
But Sculley quickly went native, dreaming of way-out tech gadgets such as the Knowledge Navigator. Sculley’s obsession with the Newton (he even coined the term Personal Digital Assistant, PDA) didn’t play well with the Apple board, which wanted the company to be more focused on the business market.
Sherlock Apple’s Mac search was relaunched as Sherlock with Mac OS 8.5. Later Karelia Software, the creators of complementary software called Watson (geddit?), claimed Apple copied its product with 2002’s Sherlock 3. You didn’t need to be a great detective to see the similarities. Microsoft is probably still working away furiously developing Mrs Hudson…
Siri Siri was created by Dag Kittlaus, a 34-year-old man from Norway. In Norwegian Siri means ‘beautiful victorious counsellor’, but it is believed that Kittlaus named his application after Siri Kalvig, a famous Norwegian meteorologist.
In 1987 Sculley set out his vision for a device called the Knowledge Navigator. This included a butler-type software agent who answers questions and performs software tasks when spoken to. Apple showed off what this might look like in a 1987 video set in far-off September 2011 – spookily just one month before Siri did just that.
Sony The company that Steve Jobs most admired was Japanese electronics giant Sony. Like Jobs, Sony co-founder Akio Morita upheld high standards and respect for beautiful products. Morita gave Steve one of the first Sony Walkmans – a favour he returned 15 years later by creating the iPod that buried the former portable audio device.
Former Apple CEO John Sculley remembered: “Steve didn’t want to be IBM. He didn’t want to be Microsoft. He wanted to be Sony.”
Jobs was fascinated by the spotless Sony factories and how they were staffed by employees wearing different coloured uniforms. Years later he copied the idea for Apple Store staff.
In 1991 Apple had to go begging to Sony to develop a proper Mac laptop that didn’t weigh a ton like the Mac Portable. The Sony-designed PowerBook 100 defined the modern laptop. Thanks, Sony.
Spinning ball More colourful and mostly less dangerous than the black Bomb icon, more animated than the old wristwatch, but nonetheless never fun.
System 7 The unsurprisingly named successor to System 6, 1991’s System 7 featured fancy functions such as virtual memory, aliases, drag-and-drop, system extensions, Fonts Folder, and Balloon Help. It was the first version of the Mac OS that required a hard drive, as it was too large to work on just a floppy disk, and was the first to come on a CD. System 7.0 was the last Mac OS version that Apple gave away for free.
System Folder Prior to Mac OS X everything the operating system needed (fonts, extensions, etc) was stored in the god-like System Folder. It was neat and made complete sense. With OS X these and other handy tools and folders were spread all over the place in numerous Library folders and other random places, when not hidden out of view altogether. That’s progress, I suppose.
Macworld’s complete Apple A – Z – your total guide to the Cupertino-based company
Author: Simon Jary, Contributing writer
Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.