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Over at Low End Mac they are running a column analyzing Apple’s dark years when they licensed the MacOS from 1994-1998.

Ten years ago Apple brought the era of authorized Macintosh clones to an end.*

The goal of authorized Mac clones was to broaden the Mac market by producing lower cost Mac OS computers to complement Apple’s higher end PowerBook and Power Macintosh computers. At least that was CEO Michael Spindler’s hope.

Although Bill Gates had recommended that Apple license its ROMs and operating system when the Macintosh was introduced in 1984 – which probably would have meant no Windows™ – Apple chose to keep its closed system and did everything within its power to prevent a clone market from arising.

Over the years, there were various attempts to clone the Mac, but most of them required using ROMs from a Mac to function. It wasn’t until December 1994 that Apple began licensing Mac System 7.x and Mac ROMs and motherboard designs to Power Computing, Radius, and Motorola at a flat rate of $50 per machine. The first clones shipped in 1995.

Unfortunately, this was also the year Windows 95 reached the market, the first version of Microsoft’s operating system generally perceived as being Mac-like enough to give the Mac OS serious competition.

It is a really interesting read for the folks who remembered Apples dark years. (WHY OH WHY didn’t I buy the stock when it was $5 and didn’t split 3 times?!)

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