The Forgotten Mac OS Licensee (1991)
Summary
This episode explores IBM’s brief, forgotten role as a Macintosh licensee in the early 1990s following the Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance. It details the failed attempt to port macOS to IBM’s PrEP hardware platform due to significant technical incompatibilities and strategic misalignments. The narrative covers the eventual abandonment of the joint platform standard, the rise of PowerPC clones, and how elements of this collaboration influenced later Mac architectures like New World ROMs.
Topics discussed
Introduction: IBM as a forgotten Mac clone partner
The 1991 Apple-IBM Alliance and the 'Purple' OS
Taligent, Workplace OS, and IBM's OS strategy
Technical remnants: Chirp firmware and NT on Mac
1995 Agreement: Abandoning PrEP for a converged platform
Steve Jobs on Chirp, clones, and hardware control
Technical barriers to porting macOS to PrEP
Sidebar: Specific incompatibilities killing PrEP
Epilogue: Legacy of Chirp and New World ROMs
Clips from the 1991 Alliance press conference
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