For decades, most everything Apple did was greeted by media and tech pundits with a similar response. You almost think they were using the same word processing template when they claimed there is no way for Apple to succeed, or success was just a fluke. That it happens over and over again nowadays makes you wonder what they […]

My encounters with Apple’s attempts to deliver a reliable online service have been decidedly mixed. Although most of you probably believe that it all began with iTools, a free set of online features, including email, which debuted in 2000, Apple’s shaky online service history goes back further. Indeed, the progenitor of MobileMe — and now […]

Strange how Apple’s efforts to provide online services to you have fared over the years. Most of you probably don’t remember a bulletin board service called AppleLink in the 1980s, which was intended as a method for the company to communicate with resellers and service people. In 1988, they also developed a consumer-friendly version, AppleLink […]

In the fall of 1989, I received a floppy disk in the mail, along with material promoting a new online service. At the time, I was enduring the high prices of CompuServe, since it was the best game in town, but I was sorely tempted by the lower price offered by America Online, then a […]