Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Top Stories
Thinking Outside The Cube: Mac OS X For X86
Thereís an opportunity here. A comment that surfaced again and again in readersí responses was that users are looking for a way out of Windows, and Linux isnít cutting it for them.
Change The System!
In the case of OS X, I think what has happened is the convergence of three things: a product designed with such attention to detail that the drop-shadows do grow and shrink as you move the windows around; an audience that has so fetishized the product that the shadows actually seem like a big deal to them; and a web of communication that enables people to share their excitement with thousands of other people before that excitement wears off.
Mac Users Deliver The Early Word On OS X
Some praise its stability and jazzy looks. Some see a Mac-ified Windows. And nearly all griped about paying $30 for the beta version.
Apple Rallies Troops After Slump
Sources say Steve Jobs tells employees no layoffs are in the works, although some projects may be scaled back.
News
Give Us Mac OS X Or Give Us Death, Intel Users Demand
Even if Apple wanted to ship MacOS X for Intel, it's doubtful whether it can afford to do so.
AirPort For Mac OS X Public Beta
The Mac OS X Public Beta doesn't officially support Apple's wireless networking technology, but that didn't keep MacWEEK contributor Raven Zachary from trying a hack he found on a message board. He provides step-by-step instructions for running AirPort from the new OS.
Funds Don't Halt 'E-Pack' Instruction
The first phase of an ambitious program to put portable computers in the hands of every St. Johns County public school student is under way in 10 classrooms in five schools, including 45 students at Fruit Cove's Cunningham Creek Elementary School.
Microsoft Plans Low-Key Launch Of Office 2001:Mac
"It is sort of the poster product for the old way of doing computing. It's client-centric and code heavy and that's not the message Microsoft wants to put out at the corporate level anymore. It's sort of an embarrassment in terms of its architecture when you consider where Microsoft wants to go the .NET world."
Corel Follows Microsoft Deal With CEO Decision
Mac Developer Wendy Sternick Dies
"We received a wonderful response to our request, and for that we thank the Mac community on behalf of her family."
Casual Mac Gamers Get Four Newly Updated Hoyle Titles
The games augment Sierra's line of casual, family-friendly games with new features and abilities.
The Readers Speak: Using OS X
Many have fallen in love with the public beta, but others think OS X spells the death of the Macintosh as we know it. Here are early impressions from MacWEEK readers, pro and con.
Opinion
OS X On Intel: Belaboring The Obvious?
The Bridge To Nowhere: Part Two
In the previous episode, "The Bridge to Nowhere: Part One, " the author has marched into the wilderness to find the mythical Bridge to Nowhere. Blind with fear, he leaps off the bridge and finds it remarkably like upgrading his operating system.
Is The iMac Becoming Apple's K-car?
Apple has simply hung onto the iMac design as its mainstay for too long. Its tinkering with different color schemes and processor speed bumps is analogous to Chrysler's repeatedly tarting up the aging K-car floorpan and drivetrain with new sheet metal.
Apple, Wall Street And Overreaction
You can call it a crisis or a wakeup call, but it's not an impending apocalypse, and Apple has already weathered one of those.
Review
FireWire CD-RW Drives
Do you have a need for speed? Macworld Lab evaluated seven new FireWire CD-RW drives that should keep even the greediest speed demon happy . . . for a while, anyway.
Netscape: Small Improvements, One Huge Mistake
MacWEEK contributor John C. Welch likes most of what he sees in Preview Release 3 of Netscape 6, but the lack of LDAP support in the e-mail client is a deal-killer, he writes.
Iomega HipZip
Neither the hippest nor the zippiest of the portable MP3 players available, Iomega's $299 HipZip is an adequate digital audio player that offers only one advantage for budget buyers and students — cheap media.
Adventures In X
Frankly, unless you're a developer or have a serious need for OS X, you're better off leaving the potential problems to those that can afford to have them. Average users are better off finding an Apple dealer or friend with a Mac running OS X and playing with it for a bit.
BBEdit Rules The Web
If you're a Mac user who spends a lot of time working with plain text in any form, you owe it to yourself to give BBEdit a test drive. In my estimation, BBEdit (available only for the Mac OS) is one of the great unspoken joys of using the Mac platform.
Sidetrack
Experiment Goes Bonkers
Running the good old Finder in the brand new Aqua... (Click on the image for an enlarged view)
Best of both world, or an experiment going bonkers?
Damage Control?
Steve Jobs reassures his employees that our favorite company is not about to layoff people. It makes no sense that a $9 billion company can be turned into a $4 billion company overnight. Tell that to all the dot-com companies that are still suffering from the shock of Aprilís meltdown.
On the other hand, do expect projects to be scaled back. Does that mean we might not see any real differences between the actual final version of Mac OS X next year and the not-ready-for-primetime Mac OS X Public Beta on my iMac?
And on the third hand, is Microsoft really saying bye-bye to the old way of doing application (read: cash cow) and betting the whole company on .NET? (How many betting the whole company can Microsoft do?)
Start Me Up, Oh Baby
Bob Peterson: It is as though Apple made a list of all the coolest things about the Mac user interface, then eliminated them.
On the one hand, I would really like to see some innovative programmers whip up a new shell for Mac OS X to allow the old Mac OS look and feel. On the other hand, this can really kill Mac OS X.
How about the hardware? Is the equation consumer market equals iMac still valid after so many profitable months? Or is new form factor really due? What is Steve really talking about when he said that Apple has "so many wonderful new products" in the pipeline? Surely he isnít just talking about next Springís wonderful new colors, is he?
Reason #3631 For Getting A Mac
Jason Snell: BBEdit is one of the greatest unspoken joys of using the Mac platform.
Wintel
AMD Readies New Athlon, Duron Chips
Keeping the heat on chip rival Intel, Advanced Micro Devices is preparing to ship its next-generation processors.
Dell Warns Third-Quarter Sales Weak
Dell was only the latest tech victim of weak demand in Europe.
Microsoft Has Big Plans For New Office Complex
Microsoft unveiled plans for an 800,000-square-foot office complex in Issaquah, Wash., that could rival its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
MS + Corel = Office For Linux? In Your Dreams...
MS Lost The Verdict, But It's Winning The Trial
Microsoft may have comprehensively lost the trial, its lawyers and witnesses may have blown it at every available opportunity, but it hasn't a scratch on anything, apart from its reputation; nor will it have for a long while to come. So again, who was it that won?
Government Rips Microsoft's Appeal Schedule
The government said Microsoft's proposal "is excessive and would delay resolution of this appeal unnecessarily."