Tyler Knows Nothing

The now legendary 

Mac OS 9 desktop, a refinement of what came before and the influence for today’s macOS releases. Even to this day, untold thousands, likely tens of thousands, classic Mac OS machines are being used & loved, traded & developed for. [SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons]

Dear Tim,

How’ve you been? Good, I hope. I’ve been watching Apple’s events and your production quality is just top notch. Serious kudos to your production team. Gotta love those drone shots and slick transitions :) I’ve also been tracking the transition to Apple Silicon and I’ve been impressed. I got myself an M1 Mini that I’ve very pleased with, so much so I bought one for my wife.

Having been born in ’68, I was exposed to Apple ][, ][e, and //c machines at school and the local Boys & Girls Club, though my dad bought me a TRS-80. I didn’t care. I loved it, even the ridiculous, clunky cassette player straight out of a kindergarten playroom to load programs. What I didn’t know at the time was that kind of child-like joy and excitement in reaction to technology would last my lifetime.

For my first Mac, a friend gifted me a PowerBook 145b, then later I purchased a PowerMac 7300/200 new, used a PowerBook “Pismo” for seven years thanks to a G4 upgrade card, added a top spec 15" PowerBook G4 for a few years, followed by migration to an Intel 15" MacBook Pro. For wide-ranging reasons, apart from a few iPads, I wouldn’t buy another new Apple machine until the M1 Mini, but that’s another tale…

My actual PowerBook 145b, the very machine that I made my first forays into cyberspace in the mid-90’s. My friend Seth gifted this machine to me and he’s the one responsible for that bomb ass dragon sticker. I added the Dilbert comic strip. Don’t judge me. I did it back in the 90's…

I still have my two oldest machines. To be sure, they’re in storage and I donated the good laptops to good causes when the time came, but I collected a bunch of other old Apple systems, as well. I’ve got a laundry list of machines from a boxed Mac Classic, a sizable selection of PowerBooks, a box full of Newtons of all models except an actual 2100, one or two PowerMac G3, loads of floppies and optical media, a confusing selection of accessories and peripherals and a metric ton of cables, connectors, and adapters of all stripe, classics like SCSI and Apple Desktop Bus.

Oh dear god, so many cables…

Tim, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t have a long list of deeply analytical or philosophical arguments on why you should open source Classic Mac OS. I just think it’s the right thing to do. However, in the spirit of being thorough, here’s a list of sorts which I hope you’ll appreciate:

• I can’t cite the number of retro computing enthusiasts, but if the regular selling and trading of retro Mac gear is any indication it’s likely to be a large number. I doubt there are any stats like this, but it would be helpful. Overall, however, I think there are likely millions around the world who have actively worked to feed their nostalgia, most especially with the pandemic keeping millions at home. So, a lot of people. Probably.
• Retro gaming devices are on freakin’ fire. One of 2022’s most popular mobile gaming devices was the Miyoo Mini. Yes, a $60 chunk of plastic that’s smaller than the original iPhone and can play most everything up to O.G. Playstation games. No it’s not a Mac, but it is one of the many indicators of the rush of people seeking connections with their past, nerdier selves. There are a lot of older Mac games that people still love, but cannot play any more. Video gaming is one category that Windows nailed down quite early, but the old Macintosh gaming community is quite, very alive and well.
• Mac OS 9.2.2 was released in December of 2001. It’s been twenty two years. The healthiest option would be to let go. I mean, practically, there’s zero value you can derive from Classic Mac OS that I’m aware of, but I’m sure you’ve seen my name, so who knows. Rationality, however, suggests that Apple has zero stake in holding onto the source code for Mac OS 9.2.2 and earlier. On the other hand, there is a large number of peeps who have planted their fan flags in Apple’s past who would benefit greatly from having access to the source code.
• Lord knows I’m not a programmer by any stretch, but I don’t think there are many modernizations that would need to be affected to Mac OS that would allow systems from the 80’s, 90’s, and early 00’s to work more harmoniously with our internet-connected world. Take the G4 Mac mini I have on my desk. The audio doesn’t work when running Mac OS 9.2.2 from RossDarker’s modified restore image built expressly for the G4 Mini. With the source, I don’t think it would take more than a day or two to compile a new Finder with the correct hardware support.
• You could help inspire a new generation of creators and makers to learn from Classic Mac OS to see where we came from and connect that to how far we’ve come. Early success on Classic Mac OS would be a huge boost to hopeful coders of any age, but without all the stress and chaos that comes from interfacing with the modern internet, and all the baggage that comes along for the ride. Mac OS 9.2.2 is still a very usable system for limited internet access and any tasks one might have completed on a machine from that era. Writing is a good one… Yes, I’m biased…
• It would be nice. There are a lot of ugly things in the world and 2023 isn’t a great time to be living, but we humans, we manage. And one of the ways we manage is to dig into hobbies and past interests. It makes us feel good, keeps our hands busy and our thoughts away from the woes of Planet Earth, at least for a little while. Not a lot of people do nice things for others. Consider this a low-cost gift to all those who have dedicated literal decades to your company. That’d be really, really nice. :)

What exactly are these people doing with these old Macs? Well, one answer to that is Sean’s channel on YouTube, Action Retro (linked below) followed by an example from YouTube.

Now, if you want to get your retro fix, you can check out InfiniteMac linked below, where you can emulate Apple’s OS from 1.0 through 9.0. While it’s nostalgic and fun, it’s not entirely practical.

So, whaddaya say?

Apple is, in part, its fans. Apple of today wouldn’t be the same were it not for the decades of active effort made in your name by millions upon millions of dedicated Apple fans. And yes, some of us are a bit more excitable than most, but I think that’s a positive.

You should bring back the Apple Evangelism program. Probably call it something else, though.

It’s been crystal clear for years that you prefer to maintain Steve’s course to keep tight control over the Apple experience, to preserve the intent so that the vision would live. You’ve done that, but MacOS 9 isn’t a part of the mural of Apple today.

It’s now time to let others see if we can make something more from it.

Sincerely,

Tyler K. Nothing

PS: When making decisions, please take human life into consideration as one of the first ideals and not the last. I think we’d all appreciate that. Thanks!