“101 Ways to Save Apple” is a half-joking, half-serious Wired article from June 1997, the month before Gil Amelio was replaced by a returning Steve Jobs as the near-bankrupt company’s CEO. Some of the serious advice was wrong-minded, though still far better than Fortune‘s coverage from that same year (“Most of the commentary I’ve seen about this decision is off the mark, especially the talk about Jobs coming back to save Apple. That is sheer nonsense. He won’t be anywhere near the company.”). A few excerpts:

“1. Admit it. You’re out of the hardware game. Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely, to compete more directly with Microsoft without the liability of manufacturing boxes.

10. Get a great image campaign. Let’s get some branding (or rebranding) going on. Reproduce the ‘1984’ spot with a 1997 accent.

21. Sell yourself to IBM or Motorola, the PowerPC makers. You can become the computer division that Motorola wants or the alternative within IBM. This would give the company volume for its PowerPC devices and leverage for other PowerPC offerings.

44. Continue your research in voice recognition. It’s the only way you’re going to compete in videoconferencing and remote access.

50. Give Steve Jobs as much authority as he wants in new product development. Let Gil Amelio stick to operations. There’s no excitement at the top, and Apple’s customers want to feel like they’ve joined a computer revolution. Even if Jobs fails, he’ll do it with guns a-blazin’, and we’ll be spared this slow water torture that Amelio has subjected us to.

99. Reincorporate as a nonprofit research foundation. Instead of buying computers, customers would buy memberships, just as they do in the National Geographic Society. They’d receive an Apple computer as part of their membership perks. Dues would be tax-deductible. Your (eventual) profits would also be tax-exempt, and the foundation could continue its noble battle to keep Microsoft on its toes.”