Who invented apple computer

Silly of me to say that Apple's back? Premature, maybe, but not silly. A company is only as good as its people and Apple's got some pretty darn good people.

One of the things that made a great deal of column inches during Apple's stumble was the so-called brain drain. Apparently, when Apple was on the ropes, quality people were jumping ship faster than fans off the Buffalo Bills bandwagon. Well, either that wasn't true or the tide has turned. Either way, Apple's looking good.

Call it the Microsoft effect, but Apple is attracting some pretty bright lights. First, let's talk about who isn't there. We've already dealt with Amelio and as momma Langton always said, if you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all. Nothing at all.

Goodbye Mike Markkula. You never lifted a finger while Scully and Amelio dragged a great and proud company to the depths of corporate degradation. Your tar-and-feathers party is waiting, As for Delano Lewis, Katherine Hudson and Bernard Goldstein, you had a chance to be part of the new Apple and you said no. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

So, who's on the new board? My favorite is Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle. Oracle is one of those stealth corporations that doesn't actually make anything you'd recognize but just happens to be the world's second-biggest software company (behind you-know-who). Ellison was no small part of that.

The other cool addition is Jerry York. York is a numbers guy. Now it could be argued that number guys are what sent Apple spiralling downward in the first place, and that's fair. But the fact is, the company needs a good money person, it just doesn't need one to go nuts. York was on the Chrysler board when that particular resurrection happened. And then he moved to IBM and lo, another miracle. I'm not entirely sure what this guy does, but I know he's good luck.

And that doesn't even take into account Steve Jobs, the guy who invented the personal computer. Yeah, Jobs is on the board. Oh, let's be frank, Jobs is the board. Less than six months after he was invited to take a spot as an advisor on the board, the deadweight has been shown the door, Gates has been invited in on a limited basis and Apple stock is selling for actual money again.

Love the guy or hate the guy, he does things and he gets results - and he gets them quickly. Apple, or at least the Mac OS, will survive no matter what. But for Apple to thrive, Jobs needs to be there.

Jerry Langton is an expatriate Canadian, and veteran Mac user, living in New York City. His e-mail address is: langton@tfn.com.