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PC-only hardware Web site Sharkyextreme.com dedicates seven Web pages to explain that 'many things we take for granted in today's PC ... either started at or was proven successful at Apple Computer.' Even where Apple products have failed, such as Newton, others have taken Apple's ideas and turned them into 'PC standards, just as 3Com did when they made the PalmPilot.'

In 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh, the first affordable computer to have a graphic user interface (GUI) ö now it is inconceivable to think of a computer without one. As Windows gradually incorporates features that Mac users have been taking for granted for, well for ever, Apple leaps to the next stage with OS X's Aqua GUI ö transparency, anti-aliasing, colour blends, 3D, high-resolution icons, special effects and video. As the Mac GUI makes a great leap into the future, PC users can only say that, 'We expect Microsoft will slowly evolve their Windows interface to use similar features to Aqua.' See you later.

There's a very unfunny Web site out there called ihateapple.com that features a video clip of a redneck shooting at an iMac whilst mocking people for buying coloured computers. Yet the iMac's radical design shifted 800,000 units in the first 139 days and now every product range seems to have at least one iMac-style offering ö not just computer peripherals, there's even an 'iToaster'. The iMac gunman can mock, but HP, Compaq and Dell ö not too mention dozens of lesser players ö have each introduced elements of iMac design into their PC ranges. One PC manufacturer, eMachines, went so far that Apple sued.

Apple was also first company to reconsider the construction of the computer casing. Out went the old boxes, difficult to open and everything hidden away under disk drives and fans, and in came Power Macs, their inner workings released by a simple latch, unencumbered and easily accessed. Dell has just recently incorporated

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accessibility into new machines; other PC manufacturers have yet to do so. Ironically, the Mac is the one computer that least needs to be accessible, given that many of the things that have to be added to a PC via extension cards are standard on Macs.

Nonetheless the 'most exciting case innovation from Apple,' according to sharkyextreme is the exclusion of the fan, pioneered in the iMac and refined in the Cube. Using air convection to cool the chips, these Macs are quieter and much more power efficient, though they do have the advantage of using Motorola's low power chips. PC users may want the benefits of fanless systems, but the power hungry processors that generate the raw processor speeds that seem so important 'will need active cooling for quite a while.'

Apple has always been the leader in notebook innovation. The PowerBook 100 'was elegant and small even by today's standards'. Later incarnations integrated sound, Ethernet, SCSI and video-out while 'PC notebooks of the day were running along with beeps and a serial port.' PC notebooks have undoubtedly improved, indeed the Sony Vaio is seen as something of a benchmark, but Apple continues to raise users' expectations. The iBook introduced wireless networking as standard, after all the whole point of a notebook is that you don't have to lug cables around. The titanium PowerBook G4s bring fully-featured desktop computing, a 15.2 inch screen, a full set of input and output (I/O) ports, DVD and 5 hours of battery life into a laptop packed into a thin, light case of the kind 'that Sony is famous for.'

The last area that sharkyextreme covered is that of legacy I/O. When Apple first started building Macs it introduced a set of I/O interfaces that were exclusive to the Mac. With the iMac it started afresh, scrapping the old holes at the back ö the legacy I/O ö and implementing industry standards such as USB or creating them with FireWire. Much to the chagrin of the man with the gun, out went floppy drives; despite all the uproar at the time does anyone miss them now? Apple's no legacy I/O decision has made Macs cheaper and made peripherals more affordable. It was a brave decision; initially there were very few USB peripherals available and FireWire devices took even longer to reach the market but the long-term benefits for the company are unquestioned.

So that's it: a high-performance interface, improved case design, fanless cooling, fully featured slimline notebooks, integrated wireless networking, no legacy I/O; the future of the PC.

Why don't they just buy a Mac?