Charles Piller: Is Apple Serious About Macintosh Clones? (1995)

Charles Piller: Is Apple Serious About Macintosh Clones? (1995)

Author: Derek July 5, 2025 Duration: 40:03

Actions speak louder than words: a look at Apple’s extremely quiet Mac OS licensing program.

Original text by Charles Piller.

Macworld Boston 1994, Tim Bajarin: Apple has to either start licensing, or lower their prices. A DTK PowerPC 601 box running Windows NT/PowerPC at PC Expo 1994. TNPC and Mitac showing off PowerPC systems at COMDEX 1994.

Heads of Mac OS licensing: Don Strickland’s website. In memoriam. Larry Lightman’s other business: Waffle-Crete. Do you suppose any Waffle Houses have been constructed with Waffle-Crete?

Jon Rubinstein talks about disbanding NeXT and founding FirePower Systems, only to have IBM pull the rug out from underneath the whole PowerPC personal systems scene. (transcript, pages 53-58)

Phil Schiller used to work for Macromedia?

The Pioneer MPC-GX1 Macintosh clone lands in Mac84tv’s workshop.

Windows NT/PowerPC on Macintosh PowerBook G3/G4 and iMac hardware: source code, video demos.

Gary Davidian, developer of the 68K emulator that underpinned the Power Mac’s success, talks about CHRP and his time at Power Computing. (transcript, pages 33-41)


Derek hosts Mac Folklore Radio, a podcast that serves as a warm, nostalgic conversation about the machines that defined personal computing for a generation. This isn't a dry technical history, but rather a collection of stories, memories, and shared experiences centered on the Macintosh ecosystem from its early beige-box days through the colorful iMac era and beyond. Each episode feels like digging through a box of old software manuals and rediscovering the community, the quirks, and the sheer sense of possibility those computers inspired. You'll hear tales of first setups, beloved and baffling peripherals, the games that consumed hours, and the software that felt like magic. It's crafted specifically for those who lived through it-the users, tinkerers, and enthusiasts who remember the hum of a CRT and the distinct scent of a warm motherboard. Tune in for a dose of genuine, fond reminiscence that functions as comfort food for the Apple-centric soul, preserving the personal side of tech history one story at a time. This podcast is a love letter to the culture built around these machines, celebrating the folklore that official manuals never recorded.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Mac Folklore Radio
Podcast Episodes
Power 100 Review and Mac OS Clone Commentary (1995) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:23
Original text by Tim Warner, Macworld, August 1995. Additional clone cancellation fallout information from Macworld, October 1997. Original Power Computing magazine ad. Clearly the Mac OS clone program failed due to the…
KON and BAL's Puzzle Page (1992, 1994) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:31
Original text by Konstantin Othmer and Bruce Leak for Apple’s develop! magazine, May 1992 and June 1994. “These problems are supposed to be tough. If you don’t get a high score, at least you’ll learn interesting Macintos…
Glider 4.0 Reviews (1991) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:48
Game Hall of Fame text by Steven Levy, Macworld January 1992. Review of Glider 4.0 by Toni Thompson, Macworld February 1992. I wonder if that’s the Toni Thompson who did the graphics for the Apple II version of Temple of…
The Desktop Critic Secret Reviewer's Notebook (1996) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:49
Original text by David Pogue, Macworld June 1996. The database review mentioned in this article might be one of these two. Review of the hilariously terrible Brother HL-8 printer and two (yes, two) attempts at Macintosh…
John Calhoun on Casady and Greene (2024) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:35
Original text by John Calhoun. MacScene’s interview with John re: The History of Glider. Part 1, Part 2. Mr. Advisador for the Newton has been revived! Told you it was creepy. Original Newton version. The Computer Chroni…
Jim Black on John Carmack and Steve Jobs (2018) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:21
Original text by Jim Black. Previous John Carmack episode: The Steve Jobs Rollercoaster. Peter Graffagnino’s appearance at NeXTEVNT 2015. Peter is interviewed by fellow Pixar veteran Michael Johnson. Some of the original…
The Iconoclast - Send In The Clones (1995) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:17
Apple’s licensing approach (ca. 1994-1997) is a bad idea. Original text by Steven Levy, Macworld January 1995. Andy Bechtolscheim quote about SPARC licensing and Macintosh clones: “Sun had a unified business… it wasn’t r…
Wise Guy - 1984 Redux (1994) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:10
How Macintosh could have taken over the world. Original text by Guy Kawasaki, Macworld February 1994. Various 1993ish Apple commercials courtesy of RetroByte.
Steven Levy - One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, ... (1996) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:03
Why does System 7.5 take so long to start up? Original text by Steven Levy, Macworld April 1996. Avoid conflating Moore’s Law with Dennard scaling. 65scribe has an easily-digested summary of Dennard scaling in his extens…
The Desktop Critic - How to Become a Millionare Overnight (1996) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:09
Eight best-selling Mac products that don’t exist–yet. Original text by David Pogue, Macworld April 1996. More on the history of DiskDoubler. John V. Holder’s TakeABreak has recently been uncovered from the depths of arch…