Apple Chromes Its Logo

Val42K writes "Personally, I like the original logo, but Apple has decided to changed their familiar logo in the latest release of the OS X operating system. It has the same shape but has a chrome finish, like the robots of Hajime Sorayama." Does it look anything like the image we're using for this story, the one on the outside of most Apple hardware and software boxes? What am I missing?

Comments

Steve, if you're reading this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Please end this madness. It's fine the way it is. The chrome effect makes it look split and not wholesome.

And stop with the "Brushed Metal" craze.

Slashdot

[turkmenistani]

I'm a Mac user. I like OS X. I like Apple, in general. And for what it's worth, I don't really think Apple making their logo shiny is really /. material.

Re:Slashdot

[transiit]

I'm not a Mac user. I don't really care much for OS X. I used to like Apple (and defended them for years when the big argument was Apple vs. IBM), but I'm convinced that Steve Jobs had done good to keep Apple alive, but done poorly with everything else. And for what it's worth, it's crap like "They changed their logo!" (though, to a larger degree, the dissemination of propaganda ("They built a cluster in Virginia! It's so much better than everything else!" or "Some school in Japan is switching from linux to mac! Here comes the tidal wave of switchers(tm)!") that makes me think that the Apple community is still the greatest obstacle that Apple would have to overcome if they wanted to push anything in significant numbers or regain any sort of techie credibility.

-transiit

Re:Slashdot

[Trurl's Machine]

Funny thing you mention that, because I always thought that the Linux community is also a major obstacle Linux has to overcome if anyone wants to think seriously of mainstream acceptance of Linux on desktop. Obviously, Windows community - especially all those guys who mindlessly open EVERYTHING they got attached in mail - is a major obstacle to anyone who wants to claim that Windows can actually be a secure and stable platform. Let us not forget the Playstation community, a great obstacle for anyone who wants to say that console gamers are NOT just a bunch of teenagers with a severe case of attention disorder. Etc. etc.

Communities are often a blessing, but they can also be a pain in the backside. It's normal. But you are not fair saying that:

I'm convinced that Steve Jobs had done good to keep Apple alive, but done poorly with everything else

A selection of some achievements, like (in no particular order): iPod, G5, iBook, mainstream acceptance of wireless technologies (something that still keeps x86 users in a computer equivalent of middle ages), mainstream acceptance of an Unix-based desktop system just proves you're wrong.

And yes, they also update their logo. And yes, they also pull interesting public relations stunts (actually, I agree with you that the Virginia cluster boils down to pure PR). They are a major corporation fighting for survival in a market governed by brands. But does this make my iPod, iBook or iMac less functional?

Re:Slashdot

[squiggleslash]

iPod. Wow. What a technological leap. There's how many other mp3 players out there, including quite a few that were out before the iPod ever hit the market, at a lower price? To be fair, they did innovate on that one. It costs more. It has firewire.

Before iPod, pretty much all MP3 players had major limitations: most of them could barely store a CD's worth of MP3s; those that did better, by having a hard disk, were exceptionally large, you certainly didn't want to carry one around with you all the time. And, to be honest, even now it's hard to find something that's a could combination of portability and capacity. They exist - Dell's coming out with one (but you can't buy one yet), Sony keeps announcing boxes that never seem to hit the shops, I don't doubt they're there somewhere, but I can't find 'em.

iPod is to MP3 players as the cassette tape was to tape recording. Philips didn't invent tape recording. They didn't invent tape, or the substances painted onto tape to give it a magnetic memory. They didn't invent little magnetic heads to read analogue data off those tapes and convert them into sound. People had all sorts of tape recorders before the cassette. What Philips did was package the technology into a usable format. Who wants to thread spools when they want to listen to music? Who wants to spend ten minutes in front of a computer selecting music in advance when they want to carry around music with them?

I'm going to have to go with the "iPod was innovative" option.

Re:Slashdot

[sebi]

Doesn't really change the fact that Apple had neither the first small mp3 player, the first portable hard disk mp3 player, nor the first small AND hard disk mp3 player.

See, I know that you are flame-baiting and doing a reasonably good job at it, but that statement simply is not true. The iPod was the first (and still might be the only--I don't follow the market) hard disk mp3 player you could comfortably fit in the front pockets of your pants. The same place where I used to carry my Walkman (I always used to buy the smallest ones I could find for that very reason). Sure, others come with belt-clips or you can put them in your rucksack, but belt-clips are just as stupid now as they where at the height of the Walkman era and putting a player out of immediate reach is something you wouldn't do unless you have to. Taking existing concepts and combining them to something new is innovation. You cannot argue against that. And this is exactly the form of innovation Apple excels at.

Their wireless initiative consisted mainly of putting antennas into every machine they built and build. And they made sure that the operating system would support it. And--at the time it was introduced--they made it really cheap and easy. Any company might have been able to do it but Apple did. This reminds me of Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency." Two of the main characters debate about the merits of the cat-flap. One of them says that it is not a big deal. Anyone could have thought of that. The other one says that one person thought of it first and only afterwards it became obvious. I feel the same thing about Apple. They inspire "I wish I had thought of that." The iPod has become the synonym for mp3 player in exactly the same way the Walkman became the synonym for portable cassette players. The original Walkman might have had the added bonus of truly being the first product of it's kind, but that in itself does not matter. In a couple of years the average person will think that the iPod was the first.

slow news day,

[croddy]

eh?

Laptops, logos, systems, what next?

[SkiifGeek]

First there was the TiBook, and now the AlBook, then there was the brushed metal skinned software in OS X, then the sexy G5, now the logo.

With the rumours of Panther being brushed metal heaven, is this a new corporate image, moving away from the lickable aqua (at least the iMac, eMac, and iBook range remain lickable) to a smooth, sharp image?

The best way to check will be to see what Dell and Co will bring out in 12-18 months time, and look at the interface on MS Bonghorn when it comes out in 3 years time.

Um... Rumors...

[emerrill]

This is only a rumor, not hard news last I know. There is no press release about it, there is not a single incarnation of the shiny logo on apples webpage (that I can find) the only indication of this is in the Boot and 'About This Mac' windows. Even the menu bar Apple is still the blue or grey one like /. uses.

People should clarify reality and rumors.

http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/26/1650 24 2&mode=thread

Re:beware of apple's "warranty"

[Anonymous Coward]

You might just be the biggest idiot I have ever heard of (and I read /.!).
You modified a product that someone a whole lot smarter than you built. Then it didn't work, and that is somehow Apple's fault?

So you don't like the way your car rides, and you decide that bicycle wheels would work a lot better than the stock wheels. After a bit of tinkering, you roll out with your new ride, only to have it hit the ground in 18 feet because the wheels couldn't handle the load.
Now, when you call up GM to complain about how heavy their cars are, what do you suppose they'll say?

Yes, you modified the machine, you dipshit. You didn't just stick a new drive in there, or a stick of RAM. You removed and replaced some parts that were precision-engineered to do a certain job. Just because those fans would work on your AMD doesn't mean they are designed to work on your Mac. Apple owes you nothing. Hear that? NOTHING.
I have read the fine print, and it says that Apple will replace their stuff. NOT your stuff.

Moron!

Re: that would be correct

[jensend]

Would a redesigned Debian logo get coverage on slashdot?

You mean like this, this, and this? A lot of /. users' feelings about particular projects or companies gets invested in the logo as well, so while the logo changes of Apple and Debian may not be of particular interest for some of us, I see no reason why such news shouldn't be on slashdot.

Trickery?

[gerardrj]

I keep wondering:
Apple (well, Steve) hates leaks. He probably fumes over these rumor sites that get leaks from the developer releases of the OS. I've often wondered if Apple might trick the leakers in to giving away their identies.

AFAIK the developer releases are only available (officially) by logging in to your developer account and downloading the disk images. Perhaps Apple will ship them also, but I just don't know.

Isn't it possible for Apple to give a slightly different version of the OS to subsets of the developer base? The alterations don't need to be too big really: shifting the window operation buttons a few pixels, changing some text in a few common dialogs/windows, etc. After a few times of doing this and watching which "special" changes are leaked, Apple could terminate the contracts with the leakers.

Could it be that this small logo change is one of those inconsequential changes thay would be used for such identification?

Re:Good job, Apple!

[sg3000]

> I bet when one guy redesigns the logo, the rest of the
> company would stop working and just stare. :-)

Then again, maybe it is true. We know that clearly it's true for Leander Kahney of Wired and at least 66 slashdotters.

It's no big deal.

[YouHaveSnail]

Apple has been using different versions of its logo for as long as I can remember. Even back when they used the 7-color "rainbow" logo, they also used simpler, monochromatic versions on promotional literature, documentation, some business cards, t-shirts, etc.

It did seem significant to many of us when Apple dropped the rainbow logo in favor of a solid one. Apple was changing, and we were afraid that its spirit of playful innovation would be lost in the corporate shuffle. We were relieved to find over time that playful innovation remained despite the logo change, and that the new logo brought with it a number of products that the general public wanted to buy. I guess we'd forgotten that years before, when Apple dropped the Cupertino font in favor of Apple Garamond in its logo, the sky also hadn't fallen.

The fact that Apple decided to put a version of its logo rendered in chrome in the about box of a product that hasn't even been released yet doesn't feel like a significant change. After all, there's a version of the logo rendered in shiny blue in my menu bar right now, and the G4-based iMacs have always had a shiny metalic Apple logo. It's a minor change that may or may not stick around for a while.

The one thing you can bet on is that even if it sticks, this change is not permanent: Apple will change its logo anytime it feels it needs to freshen up its corporate image. All companies do this to some degree.

If you ask me, the company that has the most fun with its logo is Google.

You say, "I'm not a Mac user."

[2nd Post!]

And, "I don't really care much for OS X."

How does that qualify you to judge so harshly then?

Apple has innovated and Apple has refined. Apple has steered the market.

Apple released the iPod, and the iTunes Music Store. What is the value in that? How about the fact that Dell, in comparison, now sees that as something worth emulating with their newly announced music device? Or that MusicMatch just announced their own music download service with terms amazingly similar to the iTMS. Sure Apple wasn't *first*. Apple doesn't have to be first in *everything* to be a guiding market force.

Things Apple *is* first on, though, since Jobs came back:
Desktop video, literally. A DV camcorder, a Mac, and iMovie.
Desktop DVD. The above, plus a DVD-R. There were no affordable, easy, or reliable solutions to either, beforehand. The closest was Adobe Premiere, to iMovie, and that *sucked*. Now there are lots of workalikes and competitive software, but not 5 years ago!

Things Apple aren't fist, but still important:
Easy to use music device, the iPod. At the time the alternatives were huge and heavy (Creative Nomad) or hard to use (Nomad or Archos) or low quality and capacity (Rio). Now we have better Nomads, better Archos, better Rio Karmas, etc. Competition makes a better market for everyone!
Easy to use music service, iTMS. At the time there was eMusic, which offered little in the way of mainstream, and Rhapsody and Pressplay, which weren't very consumer friendly. Now that Apple has shown that music can be *profitable*, we have MusicMatch, PureTunes, and a bunch of other services revamping their business models because of Apple. Again, competition!

Everything else is just about fit and finish and making the customer 'happy'. iBooks, PowerBooks, PowerMacs, none of it is revolutionary, all of it is evolutionary... but Mac owners seem to be happier; less remote exploits, less viruses, prettier interface, prettier hardware, easier to use, cleaner interface, simpler to learn, 'just works mantra'... Things that make people like computing, and make them want to buy more of it. This naturally extends to the iPod and iTMS, and why those two have succeeded when competitors aren't so... prosperous.

So you can feel free not to think Apple is doing anything special... but I expect a change in the music industry, music downloads, and music distribution thanks to Apple. Very soon I think we'll see the same with video, again to Apple, and a huge influx of indie movie folk, again because of Apple.