This symbol first turns up in HW with the arrival of the Callahan family's new Apple IIIc+ computer.¹ The Apple logo in question is the early striped version,noticeably without the "bite". To Dairine, at first much more interested in the computer itself than any weirdness in its logo, this difference is initially of no interest. But when she clones the computer and takes off on her Ordeal, she slowly begins to catch on to what the apple's biteless status implies.

The next mention of the symbol comes in TWD, when Dairine upgrades the Callahans' household computer. That machine arrived with the software version of the Wizard's Manual installed. Because of this, Dairine has become involved with the Manual software'sPower Macintosh G4 Cube beta group, and the upgraded computer on which she's testing the beta version is plainly a tweaked version of the . Its logo is the modern, non-striped variety, and biteless like its predecessor. (Dairine's "beta version" wallpaper, minus the computerized Manual's lovely rippling-curtain desktop animation, is here, at 1024x768 resolution.)

The latest variation on this theme occurs in WAW, when one young wizard turns up at the crisis meeting on the Moon carrying a WizPod that features a "glass" version of the biteless logo. (An ad for this interesting piece of hardware, detailing some of its more attractive features, can be found here.)

In the YW universe, the Biteless Apple has become something of a symbol of the wizardly implementations of modern technology, and therefore seemed like a perfect choice for the logo of ErrantryWiki. Whether the symbol's usage in the books also implies some covert admiration of the intrinsic coolness of the products of the company associated with the Biteful Apple in what passes for the Real World, the Powers That BeHW, TWD, et seq.) have so far declined to say. (HW, TWD, et seq.)

¹ This computer is, of course, fictional, and loosely based on the Apple IIc/IIc+.

(actually "//c") A model of Apple computer that came out in 1984. The IIc and IIc+ computers were the first Apple "compacts".

In HW, the Callahan family's first computer is described as an "Apple IIIc+". This machine never existed, being a sort of invented "average" taken between the IIc and the III.

(Actually "///c+") A mythical Apple computer. The name appears to be a mashup of the names of the Apple III or /// and III+ or ///+ (1980) and the Apple IIc or //c and IIc+ or //c+ (1984).

The machine is described as "a cream-colored object about the size and shape of a phone book", having a single motherboard / keyboard body, like the IIc, and also (in this mythical version) a flip-up liquid crystal screen -- turning it for all intents and purposes into an early laptop or transportable. The version the Callahans buy comes with an external monitor as well.

This is the form in which another iteration of the Manual arrives in the Callahan household after Dairine takes the Wizard's Oath. The cloned / copied version of this computer is the one Dairine takes on Ordeal with her and later names Spot, q.v.

The "home" computer itself then undergoes multiple upgrades after Dairine becomes involved in the "beta group" for the machine-friendly versions of the Manual. (HW)