Apple Educator Advantage CD booklet (1995)

Based upon my own recollection, Apple offered a program called the “Apple Educator Advantage” to educators around 1993–2004. I personally participated in the program between 1999–2003. I first recall the program as a low-interest buying program for teachers and school staff that was set up through a school district’s administration center and offered to school staff. Educators were able to make purchases at the same discounted pricing offered to school districts and then pay over time.

The Apple Educator Advantage program was started at a time before Apple Stores existed, before online purchasing was commonplace, and continued to be offered a few years after Apple Stores began opening around the United States.

This CD booklet was likely offered to school staff who participated in the Apple Educator Advantage program. This booklet is made from frosted vinyl and measures 7.5 x 9.25 inches. The front and back flap have internal pockets that hold paperwork such as software licenses, and the two inside pages can hold 2 CDs each.

This CD booklet contains the following software:

  • ClassMaster 2.0 (TECHBYTE Internation, 3.5-inch disk)
  • Apple Teacher Productivity (CD, 1994)
  • Claris Organizer (CD, 1995)
  • SuperPrint (1991)
  • Smithsonian’s America (1994)

Source: Apple

Macintosh Disability Resources letter, packet, and disk (1992)

As a company, Apple has historically focused upon making hardware and software that is accessible to all people. As of this writing in January 2023, Apple’s Accessibility features are available in categories of Vision, Hearing, Mobility, and Cognitive.

Apple’s Developer site provides a comprehensive set of tools for developers to use their Accessibility guidelines to create software, stating, “Apple operating systems provide extraordinary opportunities to deliver high-quality experiences to everyone, including people with disabilities.”

This letter, packet, and disk—now over 30 years old—attests to Apple’s long-time commitment to accessibility. Back in 1992, Apple called this division “Worldwide Disability Solutions.” This mailing was sent to education customers with a welcome letter, an information packet, and a 3.5-inch disk with a database of “Macintosh Disability Resources.” The disk contains “up-to-date information on the entire range of assistive hardware products for Macintosh computers.”

The aspirational welcome letter reads:

At Apple Computer, we have always believed that with a good idea and a lot of determination, anyone can do just about anything.
That’s the inspiration behind our company.
It’s the inspiration behind the computers we make.
And it’s the inspiration behind the people at Apple who are working to change the way the world understands disability. And what it means to be disabled.
Apple’s Worldwide Disability Solutions Group was formed in 1985. Our principal focus then, as now, was the individual. Young and old. His needs. Her wants. His dreams. Her imagination.
Technology, of course, was important to us, too. But our computers have always been secondary. People have always mattered most. Especially people who live with a label.
These are the people who, every day, tell us how Macintosh computers are helping them to express themselves. In words. In letters. In music. In pictures. In numbers. In whatever ways that matter to them.
These are the people who are now living their lives out loud. Or quietly. It’s their choice.
And that, in the end, is the point. Our technology. Their choices. Just as it should be.

Sources: Apple (Accessibility, Developer)

eWorld 3.5-inch disk (1995)

eWorld was a relatively short-lived online service operated by Apple from June 1994—March 1996. eWorld’s services included email, news, a bulletin board system, and access to Apple software. According to the website, Remember eWorld, “eWorld competed directly against AOL, CompuServe, and MSN, and finally lost this competition.”

The service was available for Apple IIGS, Macintosh, and offered limited support for the Newton. Although AOL (America Online) was, by far, the most popular service of the time, Cult of Mac author Rob LeFebvre wrote fondly about eWorld, remembering, “When eWorld went online…the combination of real time chat and a distinct graphical style really made it stand out.”

Several historical references to eWorld noted its relatively high price. A Business Insider article reported that eWorld cost “$8.95 per month, which included two hours of evening or weekend use, with each additional hour costing $4.95.”

This 3.5-inch disk contains the software (Version 1.1) that allowed a Macintosh to access eWorld. According to TechNotif, “Users accessed eWorld through Apple’s custom client software and connected by way of a dial-up modem. Once you connected, the eWorld software displayed a playfully illustrated aerial view of a small city.”

Sources: Wikipedia, Remember eWorld, Cult of Mac, Business Insider, TechNotif

ClarisWorks 4.0 for Macintosh (6 3.5-inch disks, 1996)

In early days of personal computers, a series of “Works” applications were released with a few traits in common. Software packages such as Microsoft Works, AppleWorks GS (for the Apple II GS), and ClarisWorks, all contained a package of simplified applications sold as a set and were usually accessed through a launcher application. For example, when launching AppleWorks, a user would launch the application and decide if they wanted to create a word processing file, a spreadsheet, a drawing document, or a database by clicking the appropriate icon.

ClarisWorks has a complicated history. In general, it began as AppleWorks (with earlier versions under different names), switched to ClarisWorks, switched back to AppleWorks, and was replaced by iWork.

This set of six 3.5-inch floppy disks contain an installer for ClarisWorks 4.0.

A fascinating history of ClarisWorks/AppleWorks is available from Bob Hearn on a page published by MIT. I wholeheartedly agree with the author who writes, “RIP ClarisWorks, ‘the best-loved application for the Mac,’ 1991–2007.”

Interestingly, this history is somewhat preserved by Apple’s iWork concept. Currently, Apple’s three productivity apps—Keynote, Pages, and Numbers—are referred to collectively as iWork. Although the apps are separate, their user interfaces and behaviors make the apps function very much as a set. This may also be the reason so many users incorrectly refer to iWork as “iWorks.”

This set of disks was among the final 3.5-inch floppy disks produced by Apple since in 1998 Apple released the iMac and officially stopped including floppy drives in their products. My collection also includes a ClarisWorks 4.0 CD installer, also from 1996.

Sources: Wikipedia (AppleWorks, floppy disk), Macintosh Garden, MIT

Macintosh Educational Software Guide 1992 (3.5-inch disk, 1992)

The 3.5-inch floppy disk was used in the very first Macintosh computer in 1984 after its initial introduction by Sony in 1981. By 1992 the format had evolved several times and was used as a relatively inexpensive and reliable way to share digital files before the Internet. At the time, the CD-ROM was gaining popularity, but most users had access to 3.5-inch floppy drives.

This Macintosh Educational Software Guide from 1992 contains a compressed HyperCard Stack.

HyperCard was a software application and development kit for Apple computers that allowed users to create and/or read hypermedia documents, a format that was used before the World Wide Web. The system was developed and used extensively between 1987 and 1994, and retired in 2004.

According to its accompanying envelope—found digitally, but not a part of my collection:

The “MacEduGuide ’92” compressed HyperCard stack on this floppy disk includes information about more than 1,300 software programs for students, teachers, and administrators in K-12 schools. Each product listing includes the following information:

  • Product description
  • Publisher’s name, address, and phone number
  • Education pricing (when available)
  • Grade range
  • System requirements
  • Additional items included with the software
  • Product review citations in educational software journals
  • Publisher’s policies (copy protection, site licensing, 90-day free trial, and so on)

The special features of this stack allow you to search for information using any combination of elements: title, publisher, subject and topic, specific grade or grade range, and system requirements.

You can print any or all of the product lists and product information. The “mailer” button that appears with each product description allows you to print a letter to the publisher requesting additional information.

Further, the HyperCard Stack was compressed using the .sea compression method popular at the time for Macintosh computers. While Windows primarily used .zip for compression, Apple used .sea (Self Extracting Archive). The format was built into the Macintosh Operating System at the time and did not require a “helper app” to open and decompress the file.

Sources: Macintosh Repository, Wikipedia (floppy disk, HyperCard, archive formats)

3.5-inch floppy disk stickers (c. 1984)

These disk labels were offered by Apple in the mid-1980s. At least one photo I located verifies that these stickers were included in the packaging with the original Macintosh (but they may have also been included in other products).

The labels are in their original package and measure 3 x 2.75 inches. The part number printed on the labels is 026-2001A. The back of the labels show disk use safety guidelines.

Originally introduced in 1981 by Sony, Apple used 3.5-inch floppy disks with the original Macintosh. The first 3.5-inch floppy disks were single-sided and held 400kB. In 1986, Apple introduced a double-sided 3.5-inch floppy disk that held 800kB. In 1987, a “high density” (HD) format of this disk was introduced that was advertised as holding 1.44 MB (although they actually held 1.40625 MB).

Sources: Digibarn, Wikipedia, LowEndMac

Macintosh SE (1987)

The Macintosh SE is similar to the original Macintosh models that came before it with a new front case design and the addition of either a second 3.5-inch floppy drive or Apple’s first offering of an internal hard drive. The floppy disk drive (or drives) read 800 k disks and the hard drive was available in 20 MB or 40 MB options. The internal RAM available was 1 MB or 2MB. Like the original Macintosh, the Macintosh SE had a 9-inch black and white (monochrome) display made by Sony.

This particular Macintosh SE originally shipped with two 800k floppy drives, but was later upgraded with a hard drive. To accomplish the upgrade, the upper floppy drive was removed and replaced with a Maxtor-brand hard drive.

Also like the original Macintosh, the signatures of the team that developed the original Macintosh were engraved inside the back case. New vents were added to the back of the Macintosh SE, but the signatures were not moved to reflect the placement. Thus, some signatures have been partially obscured. The signature of “Steven Jobs” is visible near the center.

This Macintosh SE was purchased from a family in the town where I live and it exhibited a curious rattle when I picked it up. During the restoration process, I opened the case and found several items inside, likely inserted through the slot left from the removed floppy drive. The rogue items included a comb, a custom metal printing plate, about 20 flash cards on the topic of electronics, a slide rule calculating concrete volume, a metal ruler, a protractor, a handwritten personal note, $1.02 in change (two fifty-cent pieces and 2 pennies), staples, a curtain hook, and a Polaroid photo of two children (perhaps depicting the perpetrator of this minor offense).

Source: EveryMac