Really?
True story: back in the mid-90's, I worked as the Relationship Manager with the Arizona Macintosh Users Group (AMUG) in Phoenix. This was the largest MUG in the world at the time, and to say it was an uphill battle would be an understatement. With Performas going unsold in places like Office Max and acquisition rumors running rampant (Apple is going to be bought by Disney! Apple is going to be bought by Sun!), it was incredibly difficult to be an Apple fanboy.
Frankly, they could have added the name "beleaguered" to their name and nobody would have blinked. Every bloody news story that ever came out about Apple described the company as "beleaguered computer maker Apple Computer..."
Anyway, AMUG was a source of pride and optimism for the company. At least it should have been. I can't tell you how many times I tried to call on reps at the company for assistance and was rebuffed. I'm not talking about financial support, either. I was asking for things like t-shirts and stickers. Simple stuff. Apple reps treated MUGs like they were the proverbial "Cousin It" of the family -- to be barely acknowledged, if at all.
I'm happy for Apple's success. Really. But for Battelle to claim that Apple was somehow part of the conversation at some mythical time in the past seems rather ridiculous.