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View all posts by: John Ward | View all posts in category: Macintosh History

Apple has a documented history of creating innovation that has eventually led to profound changes in the computer industry. Unfortunately, the computer industry as whole has a history of taking Apple's innovation and repackaging it for mass consumption on the Windows platform. Apple history consists of a long string of events in which the company failed to move on emerging markets that it correctly identified years before its competitors. Steve Jobs is a master innovator, but during Jobs' wilderness years (1985-1997), Apple showed itself almost impotent in its ability to capitalize on the incredible talent of its people. An excellent example of promise and failure is AppleLink and eWorld.

In 1985, Apple debuted AppleLink. AppleLink was the first online service to feature Apple's graphics-based interface. AppleLink grew out of an earlier effort in 1984. The Apple II-based "Apple Shared Knowledge" was developed in order to reduce the expense of supporting the company's worldwide network of dealers. John Ebbs, Apple's head of support, convinced management that this network should be Mac-based to take advantage of the Mac's superior graphical interface. AppleLink's "desktop metaphor" turned out to be as revolutionary as the Mac itself (Linzmayer, 115).

While originally AppleLink was intended to be a bulletproof dealer reference/support system, it quickly turned into the de facto email system for Apple and its dealers. The system was maintained as a joint venture between Apple and GE. Although the service cost Apple $30 million a year to maintain, GE estimated that it saved the company $100 million a year in the reduced cost of paperwork, personnel, productivity, telephone, and travel (Linzmayer, 116).

Apple soon came to the conclusion that this concept could be very successful aimed at reducing the cost of consumer support. Apple enlisted the help of Quantum Computer Services to port AppleLink first to the Apple II and later to the Mac platform. At the time, Quantum Computer Services was running a small online service for Commodore computer users called QuantumLink (Linzmayer, 116).

In 1988, Apple introduced the AppleLink--Personal Edition. For $6 per hour ($15 per hour prime time), subscribers could access Apple-specific resources such as a reference library, software center, and company store (Linzmayer, 116). If you have ever wondered where Apple listed all those great technical articles on the Apple II and early Mac computers in Apple Support (pre-1997) at Apple.com before the Internet, now you know. Apple's treasure-trove of specs, technical articles, and technical bulletins has always been online, beginning with the Apple Shared Knowledge database back in 1984.

This promising start soon turned sour. Apple once again allowed itself to be dragged down by missteps and internal disarray. Under pressure to eliminate what Apple leadership felt were extraneous business commitments, Apple pulled support for AppleLink--Personal Edition, but compensated Quantum by providing support to complete the Mac beta and bring it to market. In October 1991, Quantum renamed itself America Online and opened up itself to everyone, not just Apple users (Linzmayer, 117).

As it turned out, AOL was now primed to take advantage of the emerging Internet. Apple was in danger of missing the boat. The explosive growth of the Internet was looming just around the corner and Apple was taking steps to dismantle its dealer-based online service, AppleLink, and combine it with a new service open to consumers and dealers alike.

Apple once again turned to its old partner, AOL. The Apple Online Service group and AOL spent 1993 working together on the new service. The AOL-Apple deal didn't bear fruit until 1994, when Apple announced its new online service, eWorld. On June 20, eWorld officially opened its electronic gates to Mac users only. Apple promised Windows support in 1995, but that fell victim to budget cutting when 80 percent complete (Linzmayer, 118). Sound familiar?

Apple could have been a serious contender in the emerging Internet but they let it slip through their fingers. They were years ahead of everyone, but failed to capitalize on that lead. eWorld was a remarkable service. It had a strong sense of community and a friendly, colorful, graphical user interface that used the metaphor of a town square, with activities around familiar buildings (Linzmayer, 118).

The main issue for Apple was pricing. By mid 1994, the Internet was beginning its atmospheric ascent. A monthly subscription was $8.95, which included only 2 free hours of evenings or weekends. It was $7.95 per hour from 6 AM to 6 PM weekdays. Apple intentionally kept the price high to moderate demand, but failed to adjust it downward when demand never materialized (Linzmayer, 119).

After one year of service, eWorld had only signed up 90,000 subscribers. Apple added limited Internet support in 1995 to make the service more appealing, but by September 1995, eWorld had only 115,000 members, compared to AOL's 3.5 million (Linzmayer, 119). With the continued rise of the Internet, Apple figured that its proprietary service didn't stand a chance. eWorld was finally put to rest at midnight on March 31, 1996. eWorld's demise served to heighten years of missteps by Apple. The company was in serious trouble and ready for Jobs to come in and clean house.

eWorld Installation Software

eWorld SimpleText Read Me

Now that you know the history of Apple's early telecom failures, you might be asking yourself, "What about the LC 580?" I am so glad you asked. I got my hands on a new LC 580 from Shreve Systems. At the date of this article, they had a warehouse full of new-old stock LC 580s that they were desperate to unload. The price was just $39 (plus $29 for shipping). They were also selling them for $19 without a CD. This computer was like a time capsule, and as you might have guessed, it had the eWorld software loaded on the hard drive.

Of course, none of this software will work anymore, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Works Cited:

July 30, 2003:

The LC 580 is indeed quite the machine. I have one that I bought in 1996, and have enjoyed a lot of experimenting with it. The original 68K logic board can actually accommodate at least 196 MB of RAM in total, since the one slot will take a 128 MB 72-pin SIMM and the other a 64 MB single banked 72-pin SIMM. I say at least, because I once came across a catalog offering a 256 MB parity 72-pin SIMM, but it was quite expensive. So, I never indulged my curiosity about that. The surfing performance with a broadband connection (Comm Slot 1 or LC/PDS Ethernet card) and with a stripped down OS and a browser (Internet Explorer 4.01 or iCab 68K version) installed on a 150 MB RAM disk is amazing. The 68LC040 CPU can be exchanged for one with an FPU, which speeds up programs such as Photoshop. OS 8.1, which is the highest OS possible for 68K machines, allows the use of a large hard drive (15 GB in my case, but it could as easily be 120 GB), as long as a small partition is formatted in HFS for the boot drive, the rest can be formatted in HFS+ for data storage. I have four partitions: two boot drives, so that I can switch from one to another for disk maintenance, a partition on which only Photoshop is installed and which also serves as its scratch disk, all of which are HFS, and a data storage partition in HFS+ format.

It is common knowledge that the LC 580 may be upgraded to PPC capability with the non-PCI 52xx/62xx/63xx Road Apple logic boards. Perhaps less well known is that Power Mac 5500/6500 logic boards work well in the 580 chassis. I haven't tried out the single PCI riser yet, but broadband connection is through a Comm Slot II Ethernet card with the rear top corner clipped off to allow it to fit in the 580's logic board bay. Since the 5500/6500 boards may be further upgraded with an L2/G3 card, the old 580 can almost become an iMac, not that I recommend this route to any but those whose curiosity and purse have few restrictions.

John S.