Anyone who has tried to buy a Macintosh in recent years or who supports them professionally or personally has no doubt cursed Apple for the proliferation of Macintosh models

Truth is stranger than fiction. I didn't do a careful count, but last week's article on the October crop of Macs elicited as many irate comments as did my editorial on the subject several weeks before

Back in late 1993, I teed off on Apple for the proliferation of Macintosh models that were then appearing. That was around the time the Performa line (which often had models identical to the LC line) expanded beyond understanding, with model numbers sometimes indicating nothing but different software bundles or retail outlets