Tuesday, May 2, 2000
Top Stories
Appel's Next Crisis: Drift Mode And Old Wars
Some Generals can put a major victory behind them and humble themselves for the next battle. Others, fixated on the last victory become blind to the perils ahead. Which path will Mr. Jobs follow?
News
FileMaker Admits Security Flaws
FileMaker on Monday issued a statement confirming security flaws in the Web Companion software that's part of the comapny's FileMaker Pro 5 database package.
Apple Among The Good Guys
Macs are, naturaly, on the Good Guys page. The Good Guys page, according to Consumer Affairs, lists "companies who do well by providing great product and good service."
Opinion
QT Developers: Focus On Quality, Not Quantity
QuickTime developers seem confident in Apple's QuickTime engineers, but less so in the corporate level management of the QuickTime technology and how it's marketed.
Glad I Bought Beige
When shopping for a computer, there's always that nagging little fear that says, "Wait a little longer." It seems that if you buy today, the price will go down 10% tomorrow, or a new model that is 100 MHz faster will be announced for the same money. Of course, with that kind of thinking, one might end up forever waiting for the perfect computer at the perfect price.
Why Apple Should Give Away OS X
If Apple wants to grab a bigger share of the overall market for personal computers, they should seriously consider giving away OSX. Not when it is first introduced, as it will generate significant revenue and help pay for development costs, but after six months or a year.
Review
Star Wars Episode I: Racer
Do you dream of speed? Does the thought of traveling at high speeds only a few feet from the ground send chills down your spine? Hold on to your goggles. Fire up those converters. Tune in to the Force, and get ready because Star Wars Racer is here.
PowerBook 2000
What can we say? Apple's done it again with the release of the new PowerBook. Yes, the company blew it by not bundling iMovie, but for most mobile professionals that won't matter much. And yes, the date-reset bug is unfortunate. Otherwise, this is as close to a perfect PowerBook as you can get.
400 G4 Upgrade Shoot-out
Upgrading is a bit of give and take. Apple now offers high-powered, feature-rich computers at fairly affordable prices. For as much as twice the price of one of these upgrades, you could pick up a new machine with better overall performance. The catch is not everyone has a spare $900, nor is willing to abandon their previous investments.
Sidetrack
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From rec.humor.funny: When Microsoft says "Where do you want to go today?" they really mean "Let us take you for a ride." — Nicolai Leon Moser.
Hiawatha Bray: Now, it's Microsoft Windows for normal folk, Linux or Unix for gearheads, and Apple's Macintosh OS for the aesthetes and bohemians among us. I'm a normal aesthete-gearhead!
Wintel
Microsoft Eyes New Security For Windows
Microsoft is swapping passwords for fingerprint readers and retinal scanners.
Access Windows 2000 Apps On Your Mac Via The Internet
Macintosh users can now use Windows 2000-based software, without installing software emulation packages.... according to Personable.com. How? The company says because of its new browser support. Personable.com, the first Application Service Provider offering a range of "shrink-wrapped" software for rent over the Internet via standard Web browsers, claims to be the first company in the ASP space to serve Windows 2000 Applications to the Macintosh community.
New Windows Media Player Takes On MP3
Narrowing its aim on the digital music download market, Microsoft today announced a partnership with I-Jam Multimedia for a new portable music player that will exclusively play tracks encoded in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format.
Microsoft Wants Time To Examine Breakup Plan
Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it will ask for more time to prepare a detailed defense against the U.S. government's proposal to break up the software giant to curb its monopoly in computer operating systems. Microsoft will file its objections to the government's proposal on schedule on May 10, and also will suggest allowing it more time to gather data and detail its opposition to the breakup plan, spokesman Jim Cullinan said.
Microsoft's Ill Wind Blows Good To Linux
Investors caught another dose of Linux fever yesterday, betting hte U.S. government will win its case to break up Microsoft Corp. and end its stranglehold on the operating-system market.
Pros And Cons In Microsoft Case
The upcoming release of Microsoft Corp.'s latest operating system, Windows Millenium Edition, illustrates both the pros and cons of the government's bid to split the software maker into two companies.
Microsoft Now Must Suggest Its Own Penalty
NOW it's the defendant's turn. In a week and a half, Microsoft Corp. will tell U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson a) what's wrong with the government's proposal to break up the company and b) its own suggestions, if any, on what kind of remedies the court should impose in the antitrust case. This is tricky. After all, Microsoft insists it's done nothing wrong and should never have been put on trial in the first place. But the judge has ordered the company to do this — and it will be mighty interesting to see what it comes up with.
Microsoft Unveils Tactics It Will Use To Fight Breakup
Fighting to defeat the government's proposal to break the company in two, Microsoft plans to ask the trial judge next week for broad authority to obtain hundreds of pages of government records on the case, and for permission to summon witnesses to argue that the proposal is unwarranted and out of bounds.
Sayings Of Chairman Bill
Gates' Microsoft defense is full of holes, but so is the government's breakup plan.
Microsoft 'Writes' To Public In Answer To Breakup Proposal
Microsoft is taking its case to the public today, fighting back against government findings that chairman Bill Gates, calls ``very disturbing, not just for Microsoft but for consumers and the entire high-technology economy.''
Walking A Thin Line: The Breakup And Mac Users
But does the consumer deserve it? This is the real question that needs to be answered. Would this split harm the end users of Windows and Office? Not only them, but would it harm others as well?