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Mac Evangelist Struggles To Restore Good Old Days

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Martin Volder

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May 1, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/1/96

________________
Do you believe in Macintosh? Learn how to help the Macintosh cause by
subscribing to EvangeList, Guy Kawasaki's (un)official Apple listserver
of good news about Apple, Macintosh, and third-party developers. To
subscribe to EvangeList, send an email to <evang...@macway.com>.
________________

FROM: The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1996

Mac Evangelist Struggles To Restore Good Old Days

By JIM CARLTON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Guy Kawasaki helped create the cult of the Macintosh computer, and now he's back
at Apple Computer Inc. trying to keep it alive.

The 42-year-old Mr. Kawasaki became legendary in the high-tech world when,
through a combination of New Age sermonizing and old-time cajolery, he persuaded
software programmers to write for the Mac in the mid-1980s. Mac sales
subsequently exploded, and in 1987 Mr. Kawasaki moved on, writing books and a
monthly Macworld magazine column and dabbling in various business ventures.

Last June, though, Mr. Kawasaki was enticed to return to Apple as one of about a
half-dozen Apple Fellows, people who, according to Apple, "have made
extraordinary technical or leadership contributions to personal computing." His
possibly impossible mission: to infuse Apple and its customers with the
enthusiasm of the good old days.

These days, Mr. Kawasaki is almost constantly in motion, proselytizing to packed
houses of concerned Mac users and software developers on the road; leading
employee rallies at company headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.; and posting a
daily Mac newsletter on the Internet.

"Apple Computer is a cause," Mr. Kawasaki told software developers on a recent
trip to Seattle. "A cause captures the hearts of people."

For Apple lovers, Mr. Kawasaki's boosterism is a welcome counterpoint to the
recent drumbeat of gloomy Apple news: heavy losses, management upheaval and the
worst financial crisis of Apple's 20-year history.

"Within a short time, he has managed to lift the morale of thousands of Mac
users," says Pavithran Thomas, a Mac user from Columbus, Ohio. Adds Matthew
Coombs, a media director for an on-line commerce concern in Hyde Park, Utah: "He
has done for Apple Computer what Rush Limbaugh has done for middle-of-the-road
conservatism. He identifies his purpose and enemies and he does whatever he
thinks is necessary to win."

But given the depth of Apple's problems, some see Mr. Kawasaki's return as a
sign of hopeless nostalgia -- or worse. Critics call Mr. Kawasaki a
self-promoter who glosses over Apple's shortcomings. "It's so characteristic of
Apple -- talk about the good and don't acknowledge the bad," says Jim Youll,
owner of the Answer Factory computer store in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Others say Mr. Kawasaki occasionally relays wrong facts and encourages his
subscribers to "flame" the electronic-mail boxes of Mac detractors. "There are
people who hate his guts," says Richard Theriault, senior editor of Mac Today
magazine, who is nonetheless an admirer.

Mr. Kawasaki shrugs off any criticism. "It goes with the territory," he says.

Rhetoric alone, of course, won't save Apple. Chief Executive Gilbert F. Amelio
has said it could take until next April to restore profitability to the company,
which had a record loss of $740 million in the fiscal second quarter ended March
29. But Dr. Amelio has said he regards Mr. Kawasaki as an important "opinion
leader."

Mr. Kawasaki was hawking jewelry in Los Angeles in the early 1980s when a former
college roommate at Stanford (Mr. Kawasaki also received an M.B.A. from UCLA)
called to say that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was looking for "evangelists" to
popularize the Mac. Mr. Kawasaki signed on and worked relentlessly to persuade
developers to support the new computer, which was officially launched in 1984.
One time, he bought nearly $1 million of Mac software samples to motivate Apple
dealers and salespeople without getting Apple's authorization first, forcing top
Apple executives to intercede on his behalf.

One of his guiding tenets has been to target an enemy. Early on, the enemy was
International Business Machines Corp. and its competing PC standard. More
recently, it has been Microsoft Corp., whose rival operating system dominates
the industry, though it also happens to be one of the biggest developers of
software for the Mac.

When Mr. Kawasaki returned to Apple, he began attacking Microsoft-run personal
computers with venom. "My goal is to carry the Macintosh torch and save computer
users from the gates of hell," he said then. And at the Macworld trade show in
Boston last August, he regaled the audience with a top 10 list of reasons why
Mac users shouldn't switch to Windows.

To promote his message, he set up EvangeList, an Internet newsletter of often
obscure but almost always positive news about the Mac. In postings, Mr. Kawasaki
marvels at the versatility and reach of the Mac, citing its use by climbers on
Mount Everest and Coptic monks in the Sahara. Recently, he called on readers to
counter a poll by an on-line news service that predicted Dr. Amelio would fail
as Apple's CEO. EvangeList also occasionally breaks news, as when an Apple
engineer disclosed that Dr. Amelio was considering a return to charging premium
prices for Macs.

Starting with 1,000 daily subscribers, the EvangeList has since ballooned to
nearly 30,000. Some of the readers have become fanatical fans of Mr. Kawasaki.
"If I was a poet, I would compose a sonnet or something in his honor," says
David Silver, a language student in Taiwan.

Lately, Mr. Kawasaki has been toning down the Microsoft bashing. He no longer
signs off each EvangeList with the slogan, "Stop the hegemony," a reference to
the domination of the PC market by Microsoft and Intel Corp. He now uses: "We
Shall Overcome. First, we survive."

On a recent sortie into the heart of Microsoft territory, he was the host at a
bash for about 100 of Microsoft's Mac software engineers at a brewery near
Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., working the crowd with jokes and
exhorting the developers not to give up on the Mac. "I just want you to know
Apple is doing everything it can to come back," he told the group. The peace
offering seemed to work: The Microsoft engineers raised a toast to the Mac, and
many asked Mr. Kawasaki for autographs.

The next night, though, Mr. Kawasaki couldn't resist a few Microsoft digs.
Addressing more than 300 members of the Washington Software Association at a
Seattle hotel, he looked up from his talk on marketing and deadpanned: "Bill
Gates is about to have a baby, right? Well, I hope it's not late." Microsoft is
notorious for delays in delivering new software, and the joke wasn't lost on the
crowd.

"Hey, we're the underdogs, man," says Mr. Kawasaki. "We've got to fight."

Last Friday, though, Melinda French Gates gave birth to a girl -- several days
ahead of schedule.

Sander Temme

unread,

May 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/3/96

Martin Volder wrote:
>
> ________________
> Do you believe in Macintosh? Learn how to help the Macintosh cause by
> subscribing to EvangeList, Guy Kawasaki's (un)official Apple listserver
> of good news about Apple, Macintosh, and third-party developers. To
> subscribe to EvangeList, send an email to <evang...@macway.com>.
> ________________
>
> FROM: The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1996
>
> Mac Evangelist Struggles To Restore Good Old Days
>
> By JIM CARLTON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
> Guy Kawasaki helped create the cult of the Macintosh computer, and now he's back
> at Apple Computer Inc. trying to keep it alive.
>

Amen. Zijn boekje 'The Macintosh Way -- The art of guerilla management'
is mijn kantoorbijbel. Nu nog mijn werkgever overtuigen.

Sander (heeft gisteren een 7200 gekocht) (-:

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