What if Sun Microsystems acquired Apple in 1996? (a timeline)

I imagined the MacUltra as a Beige PowerMac G3 but with Sun parts. Here are some of the specifications:

(if I missed anything, then assume it's the same or similar to the PowerMac G3)

• Processor: 300 MHz UltraSPARC II, upgradeable up to 733 MHz
• Graphics: Sun Creator Series 1 with 5 MB of RAM[3]
• RAM: 128 MB SDRAM, expandable to 768 MB
• RAM slots: 3 168-pin DIMM
• Expansion slots: 3 PCI slots
• Expansion bays: 2, for 3.5-inch SCSI devices
• Storage: 6 GB hard drive
• Media: 32× CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, 1.44 MB floppy disk drive
• Ports: 3 mini-DIN-8, 1 ADB (Apple Desktop Bus), 1 DB-25, 1 DA-15
• Internet: 100BASE-T Ethernet (Fast Ethernet)

The average Mac user found the MacUltra absolutely annoying to set up compared to a PowerMac. Since the computer doesn't come with any programs except for a file manager, one would have to buy Mac Essentials or some other third-party suite[4], then install the programs that they need to actually start using the device after booting up the computer for the first time.

Meanwhile, without a Microsoft deal to bring Office to the Mac (and Sun's less-than-stellar relations with MS), the MacUltra has, at worst, an arguably inferior suite of productivity programs with file formats that are incompatible with the more popular MS Office, influencing the professional crowd[5] such as offices and office workers looking to do work at home to get a Windows computer instead.

It was with the MacUltra that the idea of Mac gaming started dying. The MacUltra did support OpenGL, while Sun did recognise that Mac game companies do exist and would list many down in their list of Mac developers. However, they would ignore them in marketing and basically everywhere else[6]. As a result, companies such as Bungie, who at that point were famous for their excellent Mac games, started publishing their games on Windows as well. After former Mac-only franchises received good sales on Windows while doing abysmally on the MacUltra, many Mac game developers switched fully to Windows and never looked back.

Finally, unlike OTL Apple who had a mindset that Mac and Windows could live together and focused on things Windows didn't have a solid grasp on such as video-editing software, Sun's Apple would instead position itself as the main competitor to Microsoft. In an effort to challenge Windows' hegemony, they went back to the old Apple mindset of insisting that their device was a business computer, and a superior one to Windows PCs at that. Of course, the MacUltra was unable to use Microsoft's plethora of proprietary formats that everyone and their mother used and were used to. This put them in yet another disadvantage in the OS market.

Sun will eventually figure out how to create and market a product to the lower-end consumer market, and that product will save them from the slump caused by the dot-com bubble bursting. However, it will take several years and a court ruling against a certain monopolistic company before that happens.

[1]: The name was chosen because it’s fruit-themed, definitely not because the company sells PEARipherals.

[2]: Claris, as a subsidiary of Apple, was acquired along with it. Claris became a separate branch to Apple, producing software for Sun’s workstations and even other operating systems such as Windows or Linux. In an attempt to create a popular alternative to Microsoft Office, Sun released the free, open-source OpenWorks in 2002.

[3]: The Sun Creator only supported 2D graphics, however the Sun OpenGL libraries provided software fallbacks, allowing it to be used, slowly, with 3D apps. (taken directly from the source)

[4]: More than 90% of the people who got a MacUltra also got Mac Essentials – most stores bundled them together.

[5]: With a price of $1799 when the average computer price has dropped to $1300, and without a cheaper equivalent like the iMac, it's mostly just professionals who considered getting a MacUltra.

[6]: After killing the Pippin project, a Sun executive famously said, "We are not in the business of making toys," referring to gaming in general. That comment did wonders in killing the Mac gaming market.

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/bOf1mX4