Over the past few months I've been attempting to sort out where I think Apple is going and whether I want to go there. Apple's PowerPC boxes (and those of the many clones) are great hardware platforms, but without a modern operating system to control the software we want to run on them, they're pretty much useless...a Ferrari with a child in the driver's seat.

To deal with this shortfall, Apple acquired NeXT, Steve Jobs' old company, to kick start getting all the features of a modern operating system (OS) up and running as quickly as possible. Apple had to do this, because its internal efforts at rewriting the OS were a dismal failure, a mishmash of code, some great, but much apparently half-baked. Coupled with the loss of so many programmers over the past few years, it simply no longer had the resources to create what was needed.

The NeXT OS brings with it the stability and versatility of a modern operating system, and provides real hope that Apple's OS can once again shine. On the technical front, I really have few concerns that they can't pull off this merger of the MacOS interface with the guts of the NeXT OS's underlying strengths to produce a truly great personal computer operating sytem.

What bothers me is Apple's management. We got into today's mess because the Apple hierarchy couldn't plan for the long term. It bought into its public relations rhetoric that the Mac was so much better than the competition so completely that it hesitated to take any of the steps necessary to guarantee its long term survival. This hubris has led to many missteps over the years, and will be the undoing of Apple in the end if it isn't overcome.

When things didn't work out as Apple had hoped, it buried its head in the sand and blamed factors outside its control for its shortsightedness. There's really no excuse for repeatedly building up billion dollar backlogs of orders of hardware customers wanted and then not reevaluating how it got into that fix, while concurrently building a billion dollars of inventory nobody wanted. Other companies misjudge what customers want to buy everyday, but then they redirect their attention to actually manufacture the quantities of what their customers want.

Over the years two things have kept me an Apple loyalist: (1) the consistency and usefulness of the MacOS's user interface, and (2) the quality of its hardware, where the hardware parts actually worked together perfectly without tinkering. Plug and Play wasn't a wish, as it is on Wintel platforms, but a reality.

But over the past few years, Apple has recurringly produced hardware with disturbing quality shortfalls, and then attempted to deny the problem when customers tried to get them corrected. I've heard these nightmares over and over again, and it's one of the reasons I've haven't seriously considered replacing my old Quadra platform. It's a high quality box that's worked without fault since I bought it nearly five years ago.

I want Apple to return to these quality ways, with both its hardware and software, but I fear without a robust environment of Mac clones to prod it on, it never will. Which brings me to my point...

Apple must stop vacillating about the clone situation. If Apple is to survive, it must grow the platform. It simply does not have the wherewithal to manufacture enough boxes. This means that it must also have enough confidence in its own ability to compete with them as well by letting them innovate on their own with the platform.

I remember quite well some early software developers for the Mac that attempted to ignore the consistency of the Mac interface. Guess what? No one bought their products and they died. They same thing will happen if clone companies make Macs that don't live up to the quality we expect. And another benefit? Clones accelerate the progress of the platform. The first built-in ZIP drives, the first 200Mhz CPUs...these clone initiatives pushed Apple forward. It's called synergy, and Apple needs it badly.

So, Apple, free up the clones. Create an independent certification process to approve innovation on new configurations, one that won't hold up approvals until Apple can manufacture a competitive box. We should encourage competition, not block it. I'm willing to pay a bit more for the Apple Mac over the clone Mac, but only if it's clearly better.

- Dave Marsh