Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Top Stories
Cisco, Apple, And Probabilities
Apple isn't nearly as good a business, even when it's firing on all cylinders, as the company relies on a steady stream of innovative new products to fuel its growth, many of which are very popular but some aren't, making its earnings a bit erratic.
Apple Grades Dropping In Schools
Stiff competition from Dell and other Windows-based PC makers is beginning to take a bite out of Apple's education stronghold.
New Economy: Apple Dances With Nemesis Microsoft
The arrival of Microsoft's Macintosh Office will be vital to the success of the new Macintosh OS X. So as Steve Jobs struggles to bring the Macintosh back to the future, he remains dependent on his past nemesis and current ally, Bill Gates.
The Readers Speak: QuickTime 5
QuickTime 3 interface was just fine, thank you. Apple messed it up with QuickTime 4 by emphasizing eye candy over functionality. QuickTime 5 takes two steps forward and another two back.
News
Does This iMac Clash With My Shirt?
While processor speed and memory size used to be a computer buyer's main concerns, the iMac's latest rainbow of colors has raised a troubling question the average technophile is ill-equipped to tackle: Am I a ruby or an indigo?
Adobe Shares Drop On Sales Concerns
Adobe Systems shares fell 6 percent Tuesday after a PaineWebber analyst lowered his rating on concern that sales of the company's PhotoShop publishing and design software will be hurt by slowing corporate spending.
Obsolete Macintosh Is Still A Classic For Some Users
The icon that appears at the start-up of every Apple computer has the distinctive shape of the Color Classic and its more common black-and-white Mac Classic cousins.
Apple Computers Phased Out By Schools And Colleges, WSJ Says
Analysts said many schools and colleges are realizing how Windows-oriented the world is, as children learn Windows at an early age and go to college with Windows-based computers. And some schools have complained because Apple changed its education sales force and now has much less direct contact with schools, the paper said.
Are Canadian Tax Dollars Promoting Microsoft?
"Last Friday (Oct 13, 2000), Canada Internet.com reported a partnership between Canada Post and 3Web. The announcement boasts a service, which can reach "70 percent of all Canadians". You have probably guessed the rest: This service, paid for with our tax dollars, supports and promotes Microsoft to the detriment of other OS vendors"
A New Kind Of OS
"Could it be? An operating system that worked over the Web. Through a browser? Could it actually be? It was true. First I checked by internal kill list. You know, those things you look at before you're willing to do business with a company."
Apple: Two Routes To Mac OS X
In an all-out effort to attract developers and applications to its new operating system, Apple Computer Inc. has provided two ways to program for Mac OS X. But how do the results match up for end users?
Opinion
Bye To One Of The Apple Corps
In the frenetic, always-on atmosphere of Silicon Valley, Mandich was an island of reason and insight. He attacked his tasks with vigour and knowledge, but he was also a very nice man with whom it was a pleasure to sit and talk.
Apple Explained, Part II: What Ails Apple?
The truth is that we are at the bottom of a typical October bear market, which, typically, makes mud out of high flying, volatile technology stocks. It's the market's way of flushing the system.
Review
Baldur's Gate
Baldur’s Gate is a fine game, well worth the effort it took to port it to the Mac. It offers the definitive computer version of AD&D, a good story, a huge number of places to explore and things to do, and stays fresh even after weeks of constant play.
UMAX Astra 6450
Software glitches aside, UMAX has done a spectacular job with the $300 Astra 6450, bringing unmatched speed and quality to the consumer level.
Risk 2
In a world where the quality of a game seems to be rated upon it's polygon count and number of cheat codes, Risk is a reminder of what really makes a game great.
Spring Cleaning 3.5
I feel a bit badly about been so rough on Spring Cleaning, but it is simply slow, buggy, and I didn't find it especially useful.
To iBook Or PowerBook?
The iBook would seem better suited to those for whom a laptop is an occasional, or secondary machine, used mostly for travel rather than frequent presentations. Since I use my laptop daily and actively, the PowerBook seems the better bet for me.
Commotion 3.0
Commotion's new interface improves an already powerful and unique product. In addition to facilitating smoother workflow, Commotion's new compositing facilities mean you'll spend less time moving between Commotion and a compositing or editing program such as Adobe After Effects or Apple Final Cut Pro.
Sidetrack
Ramblings From A Web Surfer
The Register: Sony Goes iMac With Trendy Transmeta Vaio. Just want to let you know that this article has nothing to do with Apple. Thank you.
Dave Winer: Do you have any idea how much Netscape's demise cost us? (Not just [my company], but writers, designers and developers of content tools.) They left a big buggy browser in th emiddle of the market. Do we have to work around their three-year-old bugs forever?
As The Apple Turns: Poor Bill... someone actually made it look like he broke federal electronic trespassing laws, when in fact his company has only been found guilty of breaking federal antitrust laws.
NYToday: "Will you accept this message?" In this case, the subject line read, "Marriage Proposal."
Old News
4 Years Ago - Analysts Don't Bite On Apple: Apple Computer's stock jumped 7.8 percent today in trading after it surprised Wall Street with news that it would post a fourth-quarter profit, but analysts remained apprehensive about the company's future.
Wintel
Tech Titans Show Achilles' Hells
Hurt by softening PC demand and strategic errors, longtime kingpins such as Intel and Microsoft face being supplanted.
Transmeta Chip No Speed Demon
Sony and NEC launched the first notebooks based on Transmeta's revolutionary new Crusoe chip, but preliminary benchmark scores seem to indicate the much-ballyhooed chips are no speed demons.
AMD Moves Further Ahead Of Intel With Chip
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD on Tuesday released new processors—the 1.2-GHz Athlon and the 800-MHz Duron—that will appear in systems from Compaq Computer, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard. Micron Electronics sells a Duron system at Best Buy stores, and IBM sells some Duron PCs directly.
IT Giants Who Don't Pay Tax Part 2: How Microsoft Does It
The worst scenario for Microsoft would be if the share price stayed depressed during the appeals. A long-term financial decline at Microsoft is beginning to look more likely than a defeat in the appeal courts.
Microsoft Scores Extra Time To Answer EU Charges
The European Commission said on Tuesday it had given U.S. software giant Microsoft extra time to answer charges that it is abusing its power to gain an edge in the global market for server software.
Intel Beats Estimates, Says Growth May Slow Next Quarter
Intel beat lowered earnings expectations Tuesday, but the outlook for the fourth quarter looks like it could be disappointing.
NEC Is Third Manufacturer To Release Transmeta Notebook
NEC has become the third major manufacturer to release a notebook PC containing Transmeta's Crusoe processor, as competition in the laptop market escalates.
AMD, Intel Launch Chip Price War
Chip industry rivals discount prices in the face of flagging demand and sagging stock prices. And analysts say they've just begun to fight.
Clouds Hang Over Intel's Earnings Report
Intel will report earnings Tuesday afternoon, and nobody seems to be in a good mood about it.
AMD Speeds Up, Supports Two-Chip Systems
A Fleeting Chance To Bid For An Xbox
Winners won't get the Xbox until it starts shipping next fall. But in the meantime, they will have a hand-signed certificate from Bill Gates assuring that they will be one of the first with the console.