Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Top Stories
Improving The User Experience?
Anyway, now after some eight months of such "improvement" and the preservation of the Apple look and feel, maybe it's time for Apple to reevaluate its decision in light of the mixed success of its Software Update control panel and the QuickTime Updater.
Apple — Saved By The Net
Jobs and Apple made computing tolerable, even fun, when they introduced the Mac back in 1984. Ten years later, Netscape introduced its browser—in many ways, an extension of the intuitive interface that the Mac pioneered. It's good to see that Apple is still around to enjoy the fruits of what it started.
News
Computers In Schools, Sure. But What About Technical Support?
While companies entering the information age consider computer support a standard cost of doing business, schools, whose budgets are less flexible, seem to be taking longer to reach that point.
The Greatest Ideas You've Never Heard Of... And Why
"Apple said, 'How can we make this little handheld device as much of a computer as we can?' So they crammed all kinds of leading-edge technology into it. But in the end, the consumer said, 'Would I rather buy this, or pay a little bit more and get a full-sized laptop computer?'" he says. "And by setting it up that way, the company loses."
MS: 'Not So Fast There, Pierre'
Microsoft said on Tuesday that proposals from French parliamentarians to require software companies to reveal their program's secret codes could threaten intellectual property rights.
Opinion
Is The Mac A Game Machine?
The Mac is not a gaming machine. Like it or not, the fastest Athlon will pound a G4 in Quake 3 any day. Wait a minute. How many times have you heard similar statements? Probably too many. The truth is, gaming on the Mac is what you make of it. For me, it has been a pretty good choice.
Does Apple Really Care About The Professional Mac Market?
The key to understanding where Apple sees its future is going to be how it markets Mac OS X. On the surface, Mac OS X is a professional level product, offering features that pro Mac users have been screaming for for years. Pre-emptive multitasking, true multiprocessing support and an imaging model that uses PDF will mean a lot for customers in publishing and design, while consumers often neither know nor care about them. But the Aqua interface is clearly oriented towards consumers, and has been widely derided by long-term professional Mac users.
Sidetrack
It's here: a web-log on Mac OS X. It's all about Mach BSD Quartz Aqua QuickTime OpenGL COcoa Carbon and Classic.
Wintel
Ballmer: MS Can Avoid Breakup
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Tuesday that he was extremely bullish about the software giant's future and was confident the company would avoid being broken up in the U.S. government's antitrust case against it.
White House Gets Peek Of Proposed Microsoft Breakup Plan
Justice Department officials today briefed members of the White House economic team and counsel's office on their proposed plan to divide Microsoft into two companies in hopes of sparking competition in the software industry.
Compaq Hits Profit Marks On Consumer Sales, Cost Cutting
It's time for the comeback, executives from Compaq computer said today.
Gates Takes A Shot At The iMac
"You're going to have it on either all the time or else have it come out of hibernation or boot almost immediately," Gates said. With its upcoming Windows Millennium OS, Microsoft was able to get the boot time down to 25 seconds, he said. "For comparison, Gates noted that the Sony PlayStation takes 33 seconds to start up, and the Apple iMac takes an average of 1 minute, 10 seconds to boot up.