Tom Hormby's Orchard

Orchard is home to articles on the history of the people and decisions behind the evolution of the personal computer. , an international affairs major at John Cabot University, has always taken an interest in the history of Apple. Several of the articles at Orchard are adapted from ones originally posted at Braeburn.

• The origin of Photoshop, 2010.02.24. It all started when Thomas Knoll figured out how to dither color and grayscale images on his Mac's 1-bit display.
• The rise of Google: Beating Yahoo at its own game, 2009.07.16. Google started as a project by Stanford grad student Larry Page, who envisioned a better way of evaluating pages on the Web.
• The roots of Apple's retail stores, 2008.05.19. A big problem for Apple in the late 90s was indifferent big box retailers. Apple's "store within a store" in CompUSA was just the beginning.
• NeXT, OpenStep, and the triumphant return of Steve Jobs, 2008.02.04. Steve Jobs left Apple in disgrace in 1985, created NeXT, and regained control of Apple in 1997.
• A history of the iPod: 2005 to present, Tom Hormby and Dan Knight, 2007.09.06. How Apple changed the iPod with flash memory, tiny screens, video support, touch technology, and OS X.
• A history of the iPod: 2000 to 2004, Tom Hormby, 2007.09.04. Apple's most profitable division grew from one man's vision for a small, easy to use, hard drive-based MP3 player linked to a content delivery system.
• 'Think Different': The ad campaign that restored Apple's reputation, 2007.04.09. After Steve Jobs' triumphant return and before the debut of the iMac, Apple had to do something to change people's opinion of the beleaguered company.
• CGI Story: The Development of 3D Computer Graphics, 1974-94, 2007.04.03. Chronicling the development of CGI from the 1970s through the release of Toy Story.
• Acorn and the BBC Micro: From education to obscurity, 2007.02.28. Acorn had the UK equivalent of Apple's education dominance but faltered during the transition from 8-bit computing.
• Power Computing: Fighting back for the Mac or stealing Apple's customers?, 2007.02.20. Power Computing, the first company to sell licensed Macintosh clones, seemed more interested in stealing Apple's high-end customers than expanding Mac the market.
• What's in a name? Apple Corp vs. Apple Computer, 2007.01.10. Apple Inc. has dropped "Computer" from its name. Here's a look at its three-round battle with the Beatles' Apple Corps.
• The NeXT years: Steve Jobs before his triumphant return to Apple, 2006.12.20. How Steve Jobs stuck with his vision from ouster from Apple through the changing fortunes of NeXT.
• Good-bye Woz and Jobs: How the first Apple era ended in 1985, 2006.10.02. Less than 10 years after creating Apple Computer and launching the personal computing revolution, both Steves had left the company they founded.
• VisiCalc and the rise of the Apple II, 2006.09.22. "VisiCalc was first released for the Apple II, which quickly became an invaluable tool for businesspeople - at least until IBM moved into the 'personal computing' market in 1981."
• The story behind the Sony Walkman, 2006.09.12. Sony's chairman was convinced that a small, portable cassette player would find a receptive market. Everyone else thought leaving out a record function doomed the Walkman.
• MaxxBoxx: The biggest, most colorful, least known Mac clones, 2006.09.12. Designed to accommodate several different Apple motherboards, the MaxxBoxx clones had room for up to 10 internal drives, garnering a dedicate following among German power users.
• The Amiga story: Conceived at Atari, born at Commodore, 2006.09.01. Conceived by Atari's Jay Miner as a floppy-based 16-bit game console, the Amiga grew into a powerful video system far ahead of its time - then stagnated
• The Apple vs. Microsoft GUI lawsuit, 2006.08.25. In an ironic twist of fate, John Sculley gave away the farm to get Microsoft to develop Word and Excel for the Mac.
• What a legacy: The origin of the IBM PC, Tom Hormby, Orchard, 08.11. IBM introduced its PC on August 12, 1981, shaking up the entire personal computer industry. Today even Apple makes its computers IBM compatible.
• Michael Spindler: The Peters Principle at Apple, 2006.04.06. If any Apple CEO demonstrates the danger of moving a qualified employee beyond his abilities, it's Spindler.
• Growing Apple with the Macintosh: The Sculley years, 2006.02.22. With the Mac ascendant, Apple grew to become the biggest personal computer maker on the market in 1990.
• The story behind Apple's Newton, 2006.02.07. The people, problems, and events that shaped Apple's Newton MessagePad.
• The story behind Apple's 1984 ad, 2006.01.27. Although it went on to become the best ad in the history of the SuperBowl, Apple's board of directors wanted to pull the ad and run something safer.
• The Pixar Story: Dick Shoup, Alex Schure, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Disney, 2006.01.23. From pioneering digital video work done at Xerox PARC and the creation of SuperPaint to Pixar's current position as a digital animation powerhouse.
• The rise and fall of Gil Amelio at Apple, 2005.12.21. Gil Amelio came to Apple with a reputation earned by turning around National Semiconductor. Little did he suspect that he would be turned out 500 days later.
• Birth of the PowerBook: How Apple took over the portable market in 1991, 2005.11.23. After the Mac Portable disaster, Apple came up with a new laptop design that redefined the industry and beat Toshiba and Compaq at their own game.
• NeXT, OpenStep, and the triumphant return of Steve Jobs, 2005.11.15. Steve Jobs left Apple in disgrace in 1985, created NeXT, and regained control of Apple in 1997.
• Apple's Copland project: An OS for the common man, 2005.11.08. Realizing that the existing Mac OS has run its course, Apple started the Copland project in March 1994 - and ended it in late 1996.
• A history of the Color Classic, 2005.10.31. The first all-in-one Mac with a color display had a bold new look but was crippled on the inside.
• Pink: Apple's first stab at a modern operating system, 2005.10.26. Pink was supposed to offer object oriented programming, preemptive multitasking, and improved graphics.
• Mac TV: 12 years before the iMac G5 with Front Row, 2005.10.18. Apple's first 'living room' computer was Macintosh TV, the first Mac with a built-in television tuner.
• A brief history of the iPod, 2005.10.14. Apple's most profitable division grew from one man's vision for a small, easy to use, hard drive-based MP3 player linked to a content delivery system.
• A history of Apple's Lisa, 1979-1986, 2005.10.05. Originally envisioned as a business computer to replace the Apple II, the Lisa brought the mouse and GUI to the computer market - only to be felled by the less costly Macintosh.
• Andy Hertzfeld: Mac truly a better way, 2005.09.13. A key member of the Mac development team talks about the Mac, personal computing, the power of the network, and the future of free software.
• IBM, Apple, RISC, and the roots of the PowerPC, 2005.08.01. How IBM's RISC project became the heart of the Power Mac.
• Full circle: A brief history of NeXT, 2005.07.05. Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, founded NeXT, developed a powerful object oriented operating system, and saw it become Apple's modern OS.
• How Jean Louis Gassée changed the Mac's direction, 2005.06.20. Steve Jobs created the Macintosh as a proprietary, unexpandable information appliance. Gassée saw openness and expandability as essential to the Mac's survival.
• Star Trek: Apple's first Mac OS on Intel project, 2005.06.13. In 1992, Novell approached Apple about porting the Mac OS to Intel's 486 processor. By year-end, Apple had it running.
• 1990-92: The Windows threat, the next generation Mac OS, and 'wicked fast' Macs, 2005.06.06. Windows outsells the Mac OS, Apple preps System 7 and Pink, 88000-based Jaguar plans killed, the 'wicked fast' IIfx, and the even faster Quadras.
• The first expandable Macs and portable Macs, 2005.05.31. 1986-89: Macs gain slots, color, speed, and portability while the last Lisas end up in a landfill.
• The First Macs: 1984 to 1986, 2005.05.23. The original Mac, two 512K Macs, the Mac Plus, and competition from the Apple II side.
• 2 Apple failures: Apple III and Lisa, 2005.05.16. Apple's two not-so-great product lines between the Apple II line and the Macintosh.
• Origin of the Apple I and Apple II computers, 2005.05.09. From the first behemoth computers to the Apple II+, the computer that drove the personal computer revolution.