A look back: The best of 2003 from Apple Computer

Computerworld - Another year has come and gone, and when it comes to summarizing what I think the best releases from Apple Computer Inc. were this year, I have to admit being a bit nervous. After all, what standard should I use to judge the company's efforts?
After much deliberation, I came up with this: Apple isn't a computer company, but a solution company. Apple delivers innovative, elegant and friendly solutions to a specific community with a problem. Apple delivers utility in a decidedly nonutilitarian way.
For example, the Apple II was a solution for the community that wanted to experiment with kit computers but found them too expensive and unwieldy. The Macintosh was the solution for the community that wanted to use computing but found the command-line interface unfriendly and unforgiving. The iMac put fun and style back into computing, reminding people that the ugly beige box in everyone's home did not have to be an ugly beige box if they weren't the type of people who liked ugly beige boxes.
And finally, Mac OS X was a solution for the community that wanted the power of Unix and the benefits of open-source software without the befuddlement plaguing those unfamiliar with the terminal and compiling one's own software.
Using those criteria for measurement, there were a few releases in 2003 from Apple that I see as more evolutionary than revolutionary. They include the following:

• X-Serve RAID. While it was pitched at the enterprise, I see the target market for the X-serve RAID as video professionals, educators and others who needed high-end RAID storage without the hassles and technowizardry that usually accompany the typical data center product.


• The Power Mac G5. It's an incredible engineering feat. The box is sleek, sexy and powerful -- and it delivers 64-bit computing to boot! While it may be more evolutionary than revolutionary, it's quite an evolution!


• Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). Apple's operating system is, like the G5, really slick. The Expose feature is a godsend for people like me who constantly have 20 to 30 windows open at once. Evolutionary.


• Panther Server. It provides Windows services for those Microsoft has left behind (Primary Domain Controller emulation) and bundles Samba 3 and active directory integration. It's evolutionary, but by several orders of magnitude -- like walking on two feet was for the human race.


• Final Cut Pro 4. Optimized for the G5, it delivers real-time effects previously only available on much more expensive systems. Bundled with the typestyler and loop composer, FCP 4 is another step forward. Now if Apple would only relax the copy protection a bit so I could put the image on my server for easy lab installs!


• Sherlock. I don't know if the content search and index module in Apple's bundle of the Apache Web server was part of Jaguar, since I just found it. But it allows for content indexing and searching of your Web site in four easy steps. It may not be as full featured as paying Google to index your site, but it's free!


• My local Apple rep and support team. The last honorable mention goes to the people at Apple I've worked with over the past year. They're excellent. The Panther Server team was terrific. The iChatAV team helped me work out some bugs with my connection, even going so far as to do test chats with my father to identify the source of the bug. In particular, Henry Patel, one of Apple's enterprise technical consultants, really stands out. He's been able to help me on many issues and whenever I get queries from readers that I can't answer or from those who need service, I send them to him. Apple should be proud to have him on the team.