Apple’s big blues

Apple once joined forces with IBM to create a new operating system that could easily have destroyed the Mac. David Crookes explains what happened.

Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past In the late 1980s, Apple embarked on one of its most ambitious software projects: the creation of a next-generation operating system, codenamed Pink. Presented on a pink index card (hence the name), it was the brainchild of a small group of Apple engineers who believed the Mac needed memory protection to safeguard users’ work in the event of a system crash. This innovation also helped to pave the way for an alliance with IBM that had the potential to revolutionise computing forever. Around 1988, the Mac was experiencing a period of flux. Launched in January 1984, it had initially achieved success but most of the computer’s original team members, including Steve Jobs, had dispersed and cracks were beginning to appear. While improvements had been…

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APC (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2025

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