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Gil Amelio was right after all. Middleware was Apple's future, he said, and it's an ideal Jobs has followed ever since. Only Amelio's idea of middleware was very different to Jobs'. To Amelio it was transitory systems that would sit in between other, bigger systems and help them communicate with each other. He didn't see what the company could have been with exciting, innovative products like the iMac; it was only when Jobs returned and gave Jonathan Ive and his crew the freedom to invent the products they really wanted to work on that things took off.

Jobs' idea of middleware has nothing to do with facilitating the brilliance of other companies. It's all about selling the right computers at the best prices, and giving Apple's customers an easy ride when it comes to buying a brand new Mac: always pick the one in the middle. The middle-ware.

Apple

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revamped its iMac line-up just as we were finishing off this issue. As before, it consists of three machines of slightly differing configurations, and as ever, you're best served by picking the one in the middle of the bunch. The same goes for the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

With very few exceptions, the lasting impression of Apple's entry-level machine in each range is that it could try harder. The new entry-level iMac is a case in point, missing the graphics power of its beefier siblings and hobbled with a measly 1GB of Ram. And then there's the top-end machine. When was the last time its spec - in any range - justified the higher price? With the new iMac, a 21% premium gets you an extra 4in of usable pixels and a speed hike of just 5% over the mid-range, which will be barely noticeable in day-to-day use.

The mantra, then, when buying a Mac or advising friends of the same, is to pick your range and then start in the middle. If Apple was to produce only one machine in each series, and that was the one in the middle, we'd be happy. If we could add or subtract components at will, Mac Pro style, so much the better.

Poor old Gil Amelio. He's not fondly remembered, and few Mac users are willing to see the good he may have done for the company. But perhaps we should cut him some slack. Maybe - just maybe - his talk of middleware, middleware, middleware was the inspiration Jobs needed to make the company the success it is today.