Mac Advocacy July–December 1998

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December 19, 1998

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December 19, 1998
Latest word on the net is that Microsoft will introduce Internet Explorer 4.5 for Macintosh at the MacWorld Expo in January. I'm certain I'll be upgrading since I need to maintain Explorer compatibility in my web site design work. I use Navigator 4.06 in my day-to-day browsing, and though I don't anticipate changing my "browser of choice," I'd love to do a bake-off between Navigator 4.5 and Explorer 4.5 when both hit the market.

According to news reports, CompUSA in Portland is selling iMacs for $999! Whether this price will remain in effect, or if it will be bumped up to the $1099 Best Buy level remains to be seen. Either way, it should mean more iMacs get sold, and that can only be a good thing for the Macintosh platform.

December 18, 1998
Best Buy currently has iMacs on sale for $1099—a $200 price drop! This is a regular consumer price. No rebates or educational deals are needed. I assume this is "for a limited time only" since, as far as I know, the standard price remains $1299.

ZDNet reports on a straw poll at this week's Gig Information Group's Emerging Technology Scene conference. The poll indicated that 58 percent of executives "would switch from Windows if they had the chance." Asked to "name the vendor they trusted least to deliver on promises," Microsoft easily topped the list at 59 percent, followed by AOL at 14 percent. The article mentions Linux as an alternative OS, but fails to note that the MacOS is also miles ahead of Microsoft's offerings.

December 17, 1998
Microsoft might insist, as they do in their on-going trial with the Department of Justice, that Window 98 and Internet Explorer are one and the same and cannot be separated. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the truth has prevailed yet again and a Maryland biologist with what can only be too much time on his hands has succeeded in separating the aforementioned products. (Plural.) Not only does the new Windows "98Lite" take 32 MB less hard drive space, but it also nearly doubles performance, according to this TechWeb story.

Speaking of Microsoft—and these days it's hard no to—it turns out their marvellous ClearType technology introduced at COMDEX last month is actually a 22 year old invention of Apple's Steve Wozniak. ZDnet provides the details.

Y2K problems got you down? Not if you're on a Mac. Here's a cost comparison for all you shoppers.

December 10, 1998
Steve Jobs spoke at an education event and revealed that Apple will introduce QuickTime 4 at the January MacWorld Expo. QuickTime 4 will feature the ability to stream audio and video over the Internet among other improvements.

Rumor is that Apple will also be introducing a new line of G3-based desktop machines at MacWorld. I don't know the specifics but one can only assume that things will be getting faster at about the same price point.

December 8, 1998
I upgraded last night to MacOS 8.5.1, a free bug-fix upgrade for owners of MacOS 8.5. For a fix-it upgrade, it's actually remarkably good. Applications launch noticeably faster, and the system itself feels a good 15-20 percent quicker. This is not mentioned anywhere in the Apple ReadMe file, so I have no idea why this speedup is taking place, but I'm hardly one to complain.

After about a month and a half of using MacOS 8.5, I have only two programs, Adobe ScreenReady (which is obsolete) and an old verison of Specular Logomotion, which have compatibility problems. Adobe Type Manager looks to have a few issues, but it can be made to work with 8.5. Everything seems to run just fine—in many cases faster and more stable than before. (Note that in my list of "problem" applications I'm excluding software like AOL's Instant Messenger which has never been stable no matter what operating system I use.) Apple's done a great job with MacOS 8.5.

December 3, 1998
According to ZD Market Intelligence, the iMac was the best selling desktop computer in PC superstores in the U.S. in October—the third consecutive month.

In the next couple of weeks Apple is due to ship MacOS 8.5.1, a free bug-fix upgrade for owners of MacOS 8.5, improving an already terrific operating system. Meanwhile, the latest survey I read showed that 47% of upgraders regretted switching from Windows 95 to Windows 98. That oughta tell you all you need to know.

November 28, 1998
I don't want to dissuade anyone who is thinking about buying an iMac, but the latest word is that the machine will get a price drop to $999 in February, 1999. Whether or not it's worth waiting that long is clearly an individual decision, but if an iMac is not a "must-have" this Christmas, waiting two months could save you $300. There are also rumors of an upgraded iMac available in February at the $1299 price point.

November 22, 1998
TechWeb is reporting that Apple desktop sales for October were 11.7 percent, up from 7.6 percent during the same time last year.

This Globe columnist got tired of always being incompatible with Wintel standard PCs, and ditched his Mac for a PC two years ago. After two years of troubleshooting, guess who just bought an iMac?

November 18, 1998
iMac computer of the year? Yep, according to those wacky people at Computer Retail Week, "the leading weekly retail channel publication."

Sun Microsystems, Inc. was granted a preliminary injunction against Microsoft which will require Microsoft to either change their version of Java to conform with Sun's version or stop shipping Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4. Guess which option they will choose. (There is the potential of secret option number 3 whereby Microsoft drops Java support entirely, but this is considered unlikely by most pundits.)

November 12, 1998
CompUSA is reporting that it sold more iMacs last weekend than it ever has, including the iMac launch weekend. Apparently, Apple's "iMac for $29.95 a month" promotion (aka iMac for 3 pizzas a month) is working like gangbusters. Here's a nice quote from the CompUSA press release:

Since studies are showing about 40 percent of iMac purchasers are either new computer owners or PC converts, this continuing sales strength is excellent news for the Mac platform.

November 11, 1998
I've continued to add Contextual Menu Plug-ins to my System Folder, allowing me to Control-Click any Finder icon and come up with a range of options. Since I'm using a Kensington Orbit Trackball with 2-buttons and I've set the right button to "Control-Click" this lets me very easily perform a range of actions with very little effort indeed.

For example, let's say I have a Word document on my desktop, and I "Control-Click" the document. I instantly get a contextual menu which allows me to: (1) get help, (2) open the document, (3) move it to the Trash, (4) Get Info on the document, (5) Label the document, (6) make an Alias of the document, (7) duplicate the document, (8) put the document away, (9) add the document to my list of Favorites (8.5-only) or (10) Find Similar Files. Additionally, I've added third-party Contextual Menu Plug-ins so I can also (1) instantly Stuff or Expand the document, (2) encrypt, decrypt or digitally sign the document using PGP, or (3) immediately view detailed file information or display any graphic.

In short, if you're not using Contextual Menus on your Mac, you're missing out on a big time-saver, and I very fun feature to boot! (All this and I didn't even mention Apple Data Detectors.)

November 9, 1998
There have been various reports of users suffering catastrophic hard drive failure upon updating to MacOS 8.5. These occurrences have been estimated by MacFixIt to be less than 1 percent of all users but more than .1 percent. In other words, for the vast majority of people there's nothing to worry about, and MacOS 8.5 remains the easiest major upgrade of all time (at least in my experience).

Nonetheless, these reports are a good reminder that one should always backup, backup, backup before doing any major system upgrades. Personally, I keep two backups of my hard drive contents, and though I don't backup as often as I should, I think I consistently remain in the realm of "hard drive failure would not be catastrophic," which is definitely where I want to be. I advise everyone, whether you're doing a system upgrade or not, to enter this same realm.

There was also a report over the weekend that G3 upgrade cards were inherently unstable for older PowerPC 604-based machines. Despite these claims, I have not found this to be the case with Zeke, my G3-upgraded PowerMac 7500/100. Many other readers of Accelerate Your Mac!, a Mac web site focused on upgrading Macintoshes report no problems as well.

November 5, 1998
Apple announced a "revision B" iMac and a financing program that will let people buy an iMac for $30 a month. The "revision B" iMac features a new video controller chipset (ATI Rage Pro Turbo), 6 MB of video RAM (versus the old 2 MB), MacOS 8.5 installed, Adobe PageMill 3.0 installed, and other minor upgrades. All this, and the price remains $1299.

Additionally, Apple launched a consumer loan program that will allow iMac buyers to get an iMac for $29.95 a month. ``For the price of three pizzas a month, you can own an iMac,'' said Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO. ``The world's coolest consumer computer has just become the most affordable.'' For details on the program, call 800-730-4121 or visit Apple's web site at www.apple.com.

Integrade Pro 5.1, a professional level gradebook program that Erin uses, has been updated to 5.11, fixing all compatibility problems with MacOS 8.5.

October 20, 1998
It appears my worries about WriteNow 4.0 (see yesterday's entry) were unfounded. I tried to break it this morning without success. Apparently my problems were related to Adobe Type Manager 4.0.2's incompatibilities. (In ATM you have to select "Preserve Line Spacing" instead of "Preserve Character Shapes." If you don't MacOS 8.5 won't like you.)

As a reminder, it might be worth checking out my July 2 MacAdvocacy entry regarding the Windows 98 upgrade fiasco. Sure, there have been a couple glitches along the way to 8.5, but nothing like 98.

Motorola announced the specs on the G4 chips with AltiVec. Prepare for warp speed, boys and girls, because these chips will scream. Remember the huge speed jump between the 603 chips and G3 chips? Get ready for the same type of performance jump between G3 and G4 chips. It's gonna blow the mind. Details at MacKiDo.

I've completed a fair amount of testing with MacOS 8.5, and of the dozens of different programs I use, so far the only ones with problems are: WriteNow 4.0, Integrade 5.1, Adobe ScreenReady 1.0, Adobe Type Manager 4.0.2, and Specular Logomotion 1.5. I hear that the production bundle of Adobe After Effects has problems as well since the copy protection dongle Adobe uses isn't recognized. Of these six programs, I'm confident of MacOS 8.5 patches for Integrade, Type Manager and After Effects.

ScreenReady, which I frankly have never used, may or may not be fixed. ScreenReady actually might work since the problems appear to be display-based; I just don't use it often enough to know.

Logomotion 1.5 has similar display problems, but since later versions are available which may be 8.5-compatible, I might be out of luck there. For what it's worth, it looks like Logomotion 1.5 still retains full functionality except for a couple small pull down menus on floating palette windows. I don't know if these palettes are crucial to the programs operation or if they can be accessed in another way (like via the regular menu system).

Of greater concern to me is WriteNow 4.0, my word processor of choice for the last few years. It doesn't offer a lot in the way of "gee-whiz" features, but it's small (perfect for Mac SEs and PowerBooks, for example), fast, and easy to use. Unfortunately, I'm not certain that it's supported by a manufacturer any more, so MacOS 8.5 may be the end of the line for it. (Indeed, WriteNow 4.0 can now be purchased at Power-On for $9.99. Not a good sign for those of us hoping for a 8.5 patch.) I've been looking at moving over to Nisus Writer 4.1 for a couple weeks now, and since Nisus Writer works under 8.5, that's probably what I'll do.

It's worth mentioning that almost all the software I tried under MacOS 8.5 did work. The list of working software includes: Quicken, PageMaker, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Dimensions, TechTool Pro 2, Metro 4.0, MacBench, ResEdit, NetCD, Eudora Pro 4, Navigator 4.0.6, MT NewsWatcher, Fetch 3.03, StuffIt Deluxe, TextureMaker, Type Twister, ExaChess Lite, MacMAME, PageMill 3.0, CyberStudio 3.1.1, Claris Organizer, Reunion 4.0, On-Line Bible, Movie Cleaner Pro, Nisus Writer, Virtual PC 2.1, and more. For the vast majority of software, MacOS 8.5 does nothing but make everything more stable.

In that same vein, it was pointed out to me that the crashes I mentioned experiencing yesterday weren't really system crashes but were, rather, application crashes. The difference is that in a system crash the entire machine freezes (like in Windows!) while in an application crash, the program you're in goes down, but the system stays up. Except in my testing of WriteNow 4.0, the system has always remained viable.

October 18, 1998
The file size was starting to border on gigantic, so I moved the first half of this year's MacAdvocacy reports (January to June) into the Advocacy Archives.

I've now installed and started using MacOS 8.5. There is an awful lot to like about this upgrade, so much so that I'm inclined to say that if you're running a PowerPC machine (it's PPC only), you have the hard drive space (150 MB without the web browsers), and you have the RAM (I'd say 32 MB minimum), you should go get yourself a copy. It's that good.

I won't go into great depth here, since all the major Mac sites are covering 8.5 pretty extensively. I'll just throw some random, bulleted thoughts your way:

So there's some of my initial experiences. I've been very impressed with virtually every part of the upgrade, and I think it's really a remarkable bit of work. And you just know that if Windows 98 had offered even half of these features it would have been considered a ground-breaking success. (It didn't, it wasn't, it isn't.) The MacOS lead over Wintel machines has widened.

October 15, 1998
Apple announced a $106 million quarterly profit yesterday, concluding their first fiscal year of profitability since 1995. Revenues were up, shipments were up, and inventory is down. Life is very, very good.

Apple also announced the results of the largest survey yet of iMac purchasers. According to this survey, 29.4% of iMac buyers are first-time computer purchasers. Another 12% are Wintel PC switchers, meaning fully 40% of iMac buyers are new to the Mac market. As of September 25, approximately 278,000 iMac had been sold, meaning 111,200 iMac owners are new to the platform. That is a huge number for 6 weeks of sales, and a crucial number to Apple and Macintosh developers because new users typically buy more software.

October 10, 1998
Steve Jobs will announce Apple's financial results for the quarter next Wednesday along with news of iMac sales. (Specifically, how many purchasers are first time computer owners, how many are Wintel converts, etc.)

October 7, 1998
Latest word is that MacOS 8.5 will cost $99 but will include QuickTime 3.0 Pro, a $30 value. I never bothered to upgrade to the Pro version, but since it contained a lot of multimedia authoring tools, I was considering it. What finally dissuaded me was that most multimedia programs (Adobe Premiere, etc.) required the Pro version, so they included in their own packaging. (This will also let me get rid of the annoying "Buy QuickTime Pro" graphic that comes up.)

I guess someone was able to MacBench 4.0 a prototype G4 machine with AltiVec and the scores were around 2800 for the processor. For comparison's sake, Zeke (320-MHz G3) runs around 1150. Henry (25-MHz, 68030) scores about 17.

October 1, 1998
Like they did with the iMac, Apple is asking for volunteers to man the battlements as the release MacOS 8.5 on October 17. Basically, if you're an Apple Evangelist (meaning you're a Mac-head like me and know a fair amount about how Macs work), Apple is offering you the chance to spend a few hours in the stores touting the virtues of MacOS 8.5. You don't get paid, but you do get a nifty Apple polo shirt. Here's the URL for more details.

If, after reading all that, you feel compelled to, say, switch word processors from Microsoft Word to something that makes you feel better about yourself, Nisus (pronounced "Nice us") is giving away version 4.1 of their excellent Nisus Writer. The download is a touch long at around 6.5 MB, but this is a great word processor. And if you have MacLink installed (it came with MacOS 8 and, I believe, MacOS 7.6 and 7.5.x), you can automatically translate all your Word documents into Nisus format.

In addition, Nisus Writer has spell-check, a thesaurus, AppleScript support, non-contiguous text select (cool!), and a host of really top-flight features. It's definitely worth checking out.

September 25, 1998
MacOS 8.5 is now scheduled for world-wide introduction on October 17, 1998, according to MacNN.

September 15, 1998
Surveys are now indicating that about 16 percent of iMac purchasers are first-time computer buyers, an important market niche. Additionally, it looks like about 12 percent of purchasers are members of the "forward migration" vanguard from the PC platform. That 28 percent is a critical piece of the computer marketshare pie for Apple. Users new to a platform tend to buy the most software which in turn drives more development.

September 14, 1998
I've moved my SeyboldSF Publishing 98 report to a separate page. It includes information on Steve Jobs' keynote address; MacOS 8.5 including Sherlock, network file copying, and AppleScript; upcoming Apple products; DVD; WebObjects 4.0; Adobe's "K2" layout program; FireWire; Adobe PageMill 3.0; Font Reserve 2.0; Corel Draw 8; and more.

September 11, 1998
PowerBook users found them so handy, Apple made them part of the desktop environment as well. What are they? Control Strip Modules. Where can you find a slew of them? At Control Strip Haven.

September 10, 1998
It's just too much love, man, in CNN Interactive's "Windows 98 glitches are driving consumers batty." I like how step three of installing Windows 98 is "...don't forget to cross your fingers."

PC Data is reporting that the iMac was the #1 selling computer in August. Although specific numbers won't be out for a couple more weeks, there's a chance that it may be the biggest sales month ever for a personal computer—and the iMac only began shipping August 15.

September 9, 1998
I downloaded Netscape Navigator 4.06 today, replacing version 4.04 which I'd used for the last six months or so. New to 4.06 is a "What's Related?" button at the top right below the Netscape logo button. Clicking on "What's Related?" sends a query to a Netscape database which returns a drop-down list of related sites. It's a pretty useful feature for bopping around the Internet; sort of like having an instant search engine at your beck-and-call.

Other features include an integration of America On-Line's Instant Messenger program into the menu bar. I've not been wild about the stability of AOL IM, but I doubt it will be any worse within Navigator versus outside of it. In theory, Navigator's Java performance has also been improved, but I've not yet done any testing in this regard.

I'd have to say that the biggest disappointment was that in 4.06 Java is still disabled for 68k Macs. Since 4.06 is the last Navigator for Macs (4.5 is PPC only), this strikes me as a real shame.

Still, I think 4.06 will prove to be a worthwhile upgrade for most people. The "What's Related?" button is great Internet technology and a solid benefit for users.

September 4, 1998
Amongst the numerous free CD-ROMs I acquired at the recent SeyboldSF 98 Expo was a humble-looking little disc entitled, "Apple Publishing Solutions." For the most part, this was all about using AppleScript to automate database work and therefore of little concern to the average Joe. One AppleScript-based item called Apple Data Detectors (ADD), however, was a mind-blower. In short, this extension and control panel operates on text you highlight in, say, a word processor. It takes that text, does a contextual search of the highlighted information, and presents you with options for immediate action. That's not a terrifically clear explanation, so here's an example:

Now I highlight that information and do a Control-Click to activate the Apple Data Detectors (this also brings up any appropriate Contextual Menu). The Apple Data Detectors read through my highlighted text and present me with a Contextual Menu which gives me instant choices to (1) get a city map for Mountain View, California (via the Internet), (2) get U.S. zip codes for Mountain View, California (via Internet), (3) add "[email protected]" to an Emailer address book, (4) send e-mail to "[email protected]" (using Emailer, Eudora, etc.), (4) connect to "www. slip.net" with web browser, and (5) open, bookmark or make a Navigator shortcut of "http://www.slip.net/~davison."

The other thing is that you can configure which programs come up in the ADD Contextual Menu. In the above example, I would by default by given options of sending e-mail using Emailer, Eudora, Explorer, and Navigator. Since I only use Eudora, the other options aren't helpful to me. So I just open the ADD control panel, unselect a few boxes, and -presto!- now only the "Send with Eudora" option comes up.

Now Apple Data Detectors don't work with all programs. Some software (like Adobe PageMill 3.0, for example) uses the Control-Click to present its own Contextual Menu. In such cases, Apple Data Detectors will yield to the application, or if necessary, Apple Data Detectors can be disabled on an application by application basis.

Pretty great, eh? And what's more, because this is all AppleScript-based, you can even write your own actions for ADD! Tell me this isn't the coolest thing you've heard of in days.

September 1, 1998
IBM announced 400-MHz copper-based PowerPC G3 chips. These chips use 58 percent power than current PowerPC chips, making them even more perfect for PowerBooks. The new chips also use a .20 micron technology versus Intel's bigger (and slower and hotter) .25 micron process. Because the PowerPC G3s are almost 2 to 1 faster than Pentium IIs at the same megahertz, the PowerPC speed lead is getting ready to shoot into the stratosphere, and this is without AltiVec technology.

August 31, 1998
Word is the Apple is set to introduce a whole bunch of speed-bumped G3-based systems at Seybold SF this week. I'll be attending Seybold on Tuesday, and I'll have a full report on Steve Jobs' keynote speech available on-line by Tuesday night.

Adobe is now shipping Illustrator 8. PageMill 3.0 for Macintosh, supposedly markedly superior to PageMill 3.0 for PC, should be announced this week.

August 29, 1998
Admittedly, bashing Microsoft's Window 95 is like taking candy from a baby. Nevertheless, these guys are pretty good candy-snatchers. Read Interface Hall of Shame: Windows 95. (My favorite line is the one where they quote reviewers saying the Windows 95 Explorer is "something you will eventually get used to.")

While we're at it, here's what author Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galazy) had to say about Window 95 back when it was released.

Though I perpetually give Microsoft a lot of flak for the their lame operating systems, I'm also very willing to give them credit for stuff they do right (Word 98 for Mac, for example). Turns out that their HTML editor, Front Page, isn't one of those things. What's wrong with Microsoft FrontPage?

Once upon a time I thought that Internet Explorer was all right. Could I have been more wrong? Doubtful. Here's one reason.

Latest word is MacOS 8.5 has gone golden master and could be released before the end of September.

August 23, 1998
A week after the introduction, I had a chance to go play with an iMac yesterday. Wow. There is an awful lot to like about this computer. Besides that it's terrifically cool-looking, the speed was really apparent. This machine really buzzes right along. The video display was, as expected, excellent, and I was really happy with the small space requirement. This looks like a great machine for schools, students, business networks, and consumers.

A lot has been made about the lack of a floppy drive, but the more I think about this the less important it seems. I'm at the point right now where I don't think it's any big deal at all. (Even in terms of backups, all you need is a couple megs of web space on server some place; applications can be restored from CD-ROM. Heck, that way it's even an off-site backup.)

The keyboard, which contains several undersized keys (notably the functions keys, esc, and the arrow keys), seemed perfectly usable to me. I pretend to be a touch typist in my spare time, so for what my opinion's worth I think the keyboard is just fine.

I can't say the same about the mouse. It is simply too small for me to operate effectively. Some have claimed that the mouse's perfectly round shape also makes it easy to lose orientation between mouse and screen—in short you end up scrolling sideways when you thought you were scrolling up and down. I didn't have this problem, but I'd still recommend a third-party USB mouse or trackball for most people.

Overall, however, the iMac is one heck of a machine. There is some serious computer power sitting behind the pretty plastics, and frankly, I hope Apple sells a load of them. If I were a first-time computer buyer, this is what I'd get.

August 21, 1998
A survey of iMac purchasers indicates that 15 percent of them are first-time computer owners. Another 13 percent are converts from the "Dark Side" of the Wintel world. These numbers are crucial since, as I noted previously, growing the installed base of Mac users is really the iMac's big goal.

August 19, 1998
It appears that last weekend's iMac launch was incredibly successful. Apple reports that most dealers are sold out and that production is running 24/7 to meet demand. If this broadens Apple's installed base (meaning it reaches new computer users or converts PC users), I'm willing to pronounce the iMac the greatest thing since sliced bread.

August 17, 1998
Here's a great story (with pictures!) of the iMac roll-out over the weekend. I think it captures the whole Macintosh community feeling pretty well. Notice how the other compares this to the roll out for Windows 98. I think the difference is that PC users have been beaten down by their computers, and Mac users have been liberated by theirs.

August 15, 1998
Apple introduces the iMac. The company had approximately 150,000 pre-orders for the machine, and given what I hear about the roll-out festivities and sales events, getting an iMac in the next month or so will be very difficult. There's just no way Apple can meet demand. Hopefully that won't curtail the iMac purchase plans of friends Joe (already a Mac-guy) and Bruce (soon to be new to the Mac community).

Apple announced that they will spend $100 million between now and the end of the year to advertise the iMac.

August 7, 1998
I confess I've had to stifle a bit of annoyance at the news that Microsoft has moved into Mountain View. Their new campus will be less than 3 miles from my residence. Since it'll be home to their Macintosh products groups, I'll forgive them.

August 3, 1998
A quick note to Mac gamers: Unreal is approaching "final master" status and should begin CD-ROM pressing soon, and Tomb Raider II is in alpha. Both were huge hits on the PC platform, and from what I hear about the quality of the gaming experience, I'd be surprised if they weren't huge hits on the Mac as well.

August 2, 1998
Just a note to all you bargain hunters: ComputerCity, recently bought out by CompUSA, is blowing out there Mac-related items at bargain basement prices. I picked up Quake (which normally retails at $49) there today for $6.50.

Apple has chopped prices on its G3 machines (faster ones are on the way is why). The low-end G3 233 MHz desktop machine is now only $1399. Since this is upgradable and has 3 PCI slots, and it is still faster than the fastest Pentium II, it might be worth consideration.

July 29, 1998
Motorola has announced the availability of 366-, 333- and 300-MHz G3 PowerPC chips. Apple is expected to use these chips to up the speed of their G3 computers within the next couple of months. Also of note: The power consumption of these new chips has dropped to 3.4 watts, meaning they run even cooler than previous PowerPC chips. (Meanwhile, Intel's Pentium IIs put out around 40 watts.) Excellent for portable computing!

Here's a great Mac Advocacy article by an ex-PC specialist called "I'll Take What Works, Thank You." It pretty handily summarizes many of the features that make the Mac great and the PC lousy. Spread the word.

PowerPC Mac users who have delayed purchasing MacOS because of the high price of the upgrade might want to check out deal-mac where there's currently a deal via MacResQ to get MacOS 8 for $29. Remember, the upgrade from MacOS 8.0 to MacOS 8.1 is available for free download off of Apple's web site.

July 25, 1998
If I understand it correctly, Wintel computers have won the crown when it comes to having the all-time most malevolent computer virus. It's called the "CIH virus" and according to MacInTouch, it's a doozy. Here's what the University of Texas' Academic Computing and Instructional Technology Services had to say:

So if I understand it right, the poor Windows-based sap would launch his computer, the virus would overwrite the flash-ROM chip which controls startup functions (i.e. the "BIOS chip") and it would trash the hard drive information. And none of this is covered by warranty. I can't tell you how happy I am that Macintoshes aren't susceptible to this kind of attack. (There's no BIOS chip in a Mac.)

PC Data is reporting that Apple's market share for June was 9.4%, a substantial rise from 4% earlier this year. Now market share for a given month is not terribly important—it's the long-term trend in market share that's more important. But it will be interesting to see if Apple can maintain this positive momentum. (Also, as MacOSRumors pointed out, market share isn't the same thing as installed user base. Apple's installed user base is actually much higher.)

July 23, 1998
Here's a special invitation to all my Oregonian friends to read up on the wonders and excitement of a Oregon Health Sciences University's upgrading of their Macintoshes to G3s. It's a relatively lengthy and complete article, so to summarize: The upgrade process is moving forward faster than expected—so fast in fact, that the lead tech wants to upgrade all the Macs this year instead of just the half that was originally planned. There's a few quibbles based around the Novell NetWare network that OHSU runs, but nothing substantial. (In fact, the biggest difficulty seems to be some small AppleTalk networks that the school runs on its larger network—these problems aren't surprising given that AppleTalk is a networking protocal that's almost 15 years old!)

From the Now-Don't-We-All-Feel-Safer Dept.: The Government Computer News reports that last September the U.S.S. Yorktown "suffered a major crash with the Windows NT servers controlling ship functions after someone entered a zero in a database, causing the computer to crash." Apparently the ship even had to be towed back to port. It took two days just to fix the problem. The Navy, in typical military style, termed this "an engineering local area network casualty." Said the highly-critical civilian engineer handling the project, "Using Windows NT, which is known to have some failure modes, on a warship is similar to hoping that luck will be in our favor."

Windows 98 Bash of the Day, courtesy of CMP Net: "Network Computing concluded that despite all the enhancements Windows 98 offers [What enhancements?—Ed.], 'if you already have Windows 95 and it's working well, Windows 98 doesn't buy you enough to incur the installation, troubleshooting and training costs.'" I've yet to hear that said about a MacOS upgrade.

July 22, 1998
I found the coolest site for desktop pictures and textures. It's called GUI Junkie. That's GUI ("gooey") as in Graphical User Interface. There's lots of neat stuff for souping up your Mac's interface!

Word on the net is that the higher education price for Apple iMac will be even lower than the already low retail price of $1299. Most institutions look like they'll be carrying it for $1249, but I saw at least one mention of $1199.

July 20, 1998
The marvelous storm surrounding Windows 98 continues, this time in Scot Peterson's Dear Bill, thanks for nothing. (Only major error: Calling Windows 95 a "stable platform.")

In a related, heart-warming news brief entitled "Windows 98 Snafus Continue to Mount," the ZDNet AnchorDesk notes that "This week, manufacturers are rebelling over the Windows 98 Update Wizard. The built-in tool lets people get enhanced versions of the operating system over the Internet. Trouble is, those new versions may render the computer unusable. Now some computer makers are publicly warning customers against using the automatic update feature." Ah, what a beautiful story....

July 18, 1998
Apple's new iMac is scheduled to ship August 15, 1998. MacOS 8.5 has just entered beta.

July 15, 1998
Now at 3 quarters in a row: Apple Computer, Inc. announced today a quarterly profit of $101 million (including $26 million in one-time profits) for their fiscal third quarter. Apple now holds nearly $2 billion in cash and short-term securities.

On the PC front, reports like this one from CNN Interactive are coming in that Windows 98 disables competing programs on install by changing crucial dynamic link libraries (DLLs) used by these competitors' programs. PC Magazine columnist John Dvorak, while something of a professional idiot when it comes to his commentary on the computer industry, reported that Windows 98 disabled Eudora Pro and automatically installed Microsoft's Outlook Express. The invasion of the desktop continues.

July 13, 1998
In case yesterday's listing of new MacOS 8.5 feature wasn't enough, MacOS Rumors has it's own list. Most notable? Probably that 8.5 shows a 30% speed increase for PowerPC machines over MacOS 8.1. And this is in pre-beta versions of 8.5. Final versions are usually tweaked for even greater speed.

July 12, 1998
After yesterday's notes on the continuation of the horror show which is Windows 98, I thought it might be fun to talk a bit about MacOS 8.5 which is due out by the end of the summer. Unlike the truly marginal upgrade for the Wintel machines, MacOS 8.5 (code-named "Allegro") offers some excellent and exciting new features. Among them:

There's more, of course, including updates to scrolling functions (and scroll bars), control panel consolidation, and improved alias appearances. I'm betting that it installs pretty well too.

July 11, 1998
Apparently the 800 pound gorilla is at it again. PC makers who just last week were tell customers to wait for upgrade patches and BIOS updates to for their computers before upgrading to Microsoft Windows 98 have pulled this information from their web sites. ZDNET is reporting that the PC manufacturers (including Toshiba, Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM) have "now changed their tune as a result of pressure from Microsoft Corp."

Why all this pressure from Microsoft? Well, perhaps it's because the PC industry consensus seems to reflected in this article by David Coursey entitled, "Wha...Win98? ZZZZZZ, yawn, snort, ZZZZZ."

In related news, Microsoft has decided to delay releasing the first Service Pack for Win98. This Pack, which was to include DirectX 6.0, a media player, and loads of bug fixes, will instead just be bug fixes. Microsoft continues to deny there are an usual number of installation problems, but tech support phone lines are still jammed.

And let's not kid ourselves here: For many, perhaps even most people, the Windows 98 installation has been a nightmare. Read all about ZDNN columnist Mary Jo Foley's experience, and the e-mail she's been receiving from users. (It's 27 bad installs to 3 good ones in an unofficial poll of her e-mail.)

Another good summary of this debacle is "Microsoft runs into PR buzz saw with Win98 glitches." (The story contains the wonderful opening sentence "Complaints from users upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98 range from blue screen errors to reports that the operating system fails to recognize peripherals such as PC Card modems and floppy drives.")

July 7, 1998
Connectix announces Virtual PC 2.1 coming in August. Owners of Virtual PC 2.0 will be able to download the update for free from Connectix' web site. The upgrade features VooDoo 2 video card support, improved Ethernet support, and increased stability for Windows NT applications, among other things.

July 5, 1998
USA Today columnist Sam Vincent Meddis apparently doesn't mind all of Microsoft's various lies, cheats, and steals. Except one: His Win95 computer keeps crashing, and it tweaks him that he's gotta shell out $90 to get the bug-fix that is Win98. Read all about it.

Microsoft, in their continuing efforts to flout the law whenever its advantageous to their business position, have announced a new policy whereby temporary workers will be required to take 31 days away from their Microsoft assignment after having worked with Microsoft for a year. This way, everyone knows that they're temps and aren't entitled to stock options, health coverage or any of the other benefits which regular employees enjoy.

Said one Microsoft temp to the Seattle Times: "Obviously, it's just another attempt to dance around employment law and Internal Revenue Service guildelines."

July 2, 1998—Windows 98: Welcome to Hell
Did anybody expect life to be hunky-dory out there in Windows-land now that Microsoft's latest crime of an upgrade, Windows 98, has hit store shelves? Lord alive, the Internet can hardly contain the news:

Remember, Windows 98 has only been on the market for about a week, so these just represent the initial reports. We'll have plenty of fodder for MacAdvocacy in the days ahead, I'm sure.

Latest update on December 19, 1998
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