Do you miss the happy mac?

No not really.

Then again it has been gone since like, 2002.

yeah i think i missed it for all of about 10 seconds and then got over it.

besides, my macs boot up in verbose anyways so i don't see any graphics

The mac has lost it's soul since like the PowerBook 190. That's when the Happy Mac went all the way to color....

It's really the soul of the Mac.

Ps.: I don't remember exactly which was the first machine where the happy mac was colorized...

I do miss it at times, but then I'll go boot up a classic.

(So I got over it)

*sigh* Yes, very much so.

I don't because it's on my old macs.

I'm glad there isn't some shiny aqua happy mac at startup.

:beige: :b&w:

Well, I allways found it a touch self indulgent on Apples behalf, a little pompous, "We are Apple and look at us we're really cool and with it", yeah, yeah, blah blah, perhaps Apple was with it for nerdy American school kids!

I miss Gem, The little green desktop, so welcoming, so bright, so fun

It is said, in many different ways, that "You don't know where you're arriving unless you know where you came from". Apple's little touches, in the Happy and Sad Macs, signatures moulded into cases, the Easter Eggs and other 'in' jokes or characteristic references, were a human touch in the potentially forbidding new world of computing. Let's keep in mind that buyers of Apples, and then Macs, were sometimes as infatuated with computing as they were intent on getting some job done. For the latter, thoughtful and effective software. For the former, a sense of belonging as well as the hardware and software.

If Apple throws overboard all of its history, it will be the loser. It needs to be as aware of its beginnings as Apple Computer as it is of what appeals to a mass market in the way of tools (for the serious) and diversions (for the acquisitive). What Apple has always had has been design quality, both æsthetic and functional (with some bloopers, admittedly). Only a commitment to being different and better, as opposed to different for difference's sake (look at many PC bells-and-whistles towers) will give them the edge as platforms converge. Remembering their history, with a dab of humour deftly applied, may keep their feet on the ground.

de

Though I do occasionally miss the little happy Mac on my newer machines, I can take solace in the fact that seeing it is just as far away as my closest Classic Mac OS-booting machine. At least they didn't replace it with a happy iMac or anything like that...

vassilizaitsev: If you mean GEM, it's still being developed in the form of Shane Land's OpenGEM.

It's very interesting and vaguely Windows 3.1ish.

http://gem.shaneland.co.uk/

besides, my macs boot up in verbose anyways so i don't see any graphics

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Bwaha. Geek.

Bwaha. Geek.

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I noez

I see the Happy Mac on my pre-OS X machines every day so I don't really miss it too much. The thing is that many new switchers from the Windows world won't know what the Happy Mac is meant to represent, as Macs haven't looked like that since the early 90's.

actually MacMan, i think most new switchers don't care, for very obvious reasons.

I don't really miss it... to me it is, was and always will be just a boot graphic. In my eyes it's no different from the flash of "Award Modular BIOS" on a PC. Besides, I know things that are much cuter and cuddlier.

Besides, I know things that are much cuter and cuddlier.

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Yes, since upgrading to Vista I've been missing the Windows logo so much now that they just have that black boot screen with the little progress bar and nothing else Cute boot logos are no more it seems

I think he's actually talking about something totally un-related to computers. (and much, much nicer....on some days ) Such as.....women?

I don't really miss the Happy Mac though...i still have my vintage Macs, that still show it. But i do remember when Jag came out, i was doing work experience at a local Apple retailer, fixing Macs. Anyway, one of the techs already had it up and running on his Sage iMac a couple of days after the release, and i asked him, "is it true that they've done away with the Happy Mac?". He booted up the iMac and said, "yeah, all you get now is an Apple logo, and it is very boring."

But yeah...Macster, i have to admit...the Vista boot screen does look a bit off...maybe its just me, but to me, the whole lack of a boot logo looks a bit beta-ish to me.

I have a black and white Happy Mac on my G4 thanks to MacBoot. Unfortunately I don't think it works on Intel Macs, and I'm planning on getting a MacBook...

Nah, one time it did this: and it made me a bit uncomfortable.

Nah, one time it did this: and it made me a bit uncomfortable.

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mine typically had a can of mace since alot of the time i only turned em off to "lift their skirts" so to speak.

Apparently, in beta versions of Mac OS 8, the Happy Mac would wink at you, but they removed the code in the final version, as they thought it would be offensive to some cultures. However, if you look at the icns resources of either the System or the Finder (IIRC it was the System file) in ResEdit, you can still see the images, they left the images there, they simply just removed the code.

Admittedly a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away, when in another forum I used frequently to answer questions about or need to refer to the boot process for older Systems, Happy Mac was an important 'milestone' after the early indications of correct startup: chime, raster, pointer, Happy Mac, splash screen, desktop. Happy Mac's significance to Startup Manager's finding valid boot blocks and a valid System Folder was an important verification that is not paralleled in OS X, and a good example of the humanity in Mac software that was previously mentioned. As for Happy Mac's alter ego, even if it is graphically challenged it has its place in the firmament also.

de

I think he's actually talking about something totally un-related to computers. (and much, much nicer....on some days ) Such as.....women?

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Spot on.

Anyway, i'm guessing in early days of the Mac the Happy Mac was to indicate everything was ok, that the disk was bootable and that the machine was operationally sound. Later on as hard disks came in, the Mac OS evolved and hardware became more complex, it seemed redundant but still a Macintosh Icon (pardon the pun). It had a good run and I fail to see why some are so emotional over a 32x32 pixel graphic no longer present (and yes, there are the few like that out there).

How did i know?

Not last time I checked....

I miss it on the newer systems, but thankfully my Q650 can bring back those good times. I just don't like that cold gray Apple logo. Kind of indicative of the way Apple is now as a company IMO.

Besides, I know things that are much cuter and cuddlier.

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/me hugs his happy mac plush toy

vassilizaitsev: If you mean GEM, it's still being developed in the form of Shane Land's OpenGEM.
It's very interesting and vaguely Windows 3.1ish.

http://gem.shaneland.co.uk/

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Yeah, I got it, I run it on the dos card on my Quadra 650.

Gem for the pc isn't quite the same as Gem for the st, but it's still nice.

Windows users usually say Gem is a bit like Apple os, Apple users usually say Gem is a bit like Windows.

I say Gem is better than either and yes has certain bits from both, but it's just friendlier and more intuitive to use IMO (Atari st with Gem being my first GUI!)

But PS: go to the news section at Shaneland, 16/09/2005 was the last update hmphhhh.

yeah, and you know why? It was developed on Apple Lisa [] ]'>

http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_info.html?Apple_Lisa2_5_Atari.html

click on the picture to see atari logo on lisa

and here is Gary Kildall (Digital Research - GEM) working on apple lisa

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/images/t_kildall.jpg