Fifteen years ago, Apple quietly discontinued one of its innovations from the 1980s: the AppleTalk networking protocol. When Apple released Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), it ended support for its proprietary local area networking system, moving fully to TCP/IP-based technology. Let’s dive into this week’s edition of Tech Time Warp.
First announced as a concept in 1983, the idea behind AppleTalk was to create a simple networking system that home or small business users could easily configure on existing computers. A full marketplace release of AppleTalk finally took place in January 1987. It included the AppleShare file server and the AppleTalk personal computer card, as well as a new line of open Macintoshes. (As stated in the Aug. 31, 1987, issue of Network World, Apple had “started out in a market-oriented toward stand-alone machines” and was “playing catch-up in the connectivity game.”)
While it might have been slow to market, AppleTalk carried with it the hallmark of Apple technology: ease of use, particularly for home, small business, and educational users. AppleTalk offered plug-and-play functionality, plus a dynamic addressing scheme that eliminated the need to manually assign IP addresses. The AppleShare program cost $799 regardless of the number of users. It allowed 25 simultaneous users to log on to a microcomputer acting as a dedicated server.
By 2009, though, it made sense to fully abandon the proprietary approach. Apple began phasing out AppleTalk in 2002 with the introduction of the more open IP-based Bonjour, originally called Rendezvous.
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