[AppleSurf Inbox] Apr 26, 2000

[applesurf at myapplemenu.comapplesurf]

AppleSurf Inbox

== Top Stories ====================

Improving The User Experience? (Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.net/macinschool/2k0426.html>
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 (Fortune.com)
<http://www.fortune.com/fortune/printversion/0,4216,617000424,00.html>
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.

== Listen Up! (Opinions around the web) ====================

Is The Mac A Game Machine? (Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.net/gaming/2k0426.html>
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.

Improving The User Experience? (Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.net/macinschool/2k0426.html>
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.

Does Apple Really Care About The Professional Mac Market? (MacUser)
<http://www.macuser.co.uk/macsurfer/php3/openframe.php3?page=/news/32823.html>
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.

Apple -- Saved By The Net (Fortune.com)
<http://www.fortune.com/fortune/printversion/0,4216,617000424,00.html>
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.

== Know Thy Enemy (Keeping track of the Wintel empire) ====================

Ballmer: MS Can Avoid Breakup (Reuters)
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35891,00.html>
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 (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1755661.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1003-200-1755661>
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 (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1757744.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1003-200-1757744>
It's time for the comeback, executives from Compaq computer said today.

Gates Takes A Shot At The iMac (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0004/25.gates.shtml>
"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.

== Breaking Barriers (About the internet and the web) ====================

Apple -- Saved By The Net (Fortune.com)
<http://www.fortune.com/fortune/printversion/0,4216,617000424,00.html>
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.

AOL 5.0 For Mac Due (MacWEEK.com)
<http://macweek.zdnet.com/2000/04/23/0425aolmac.html>
America Online is set to release AOL 5.0 for the Macintosh, a new version of its Mac client software that features a redesigned Welcome Screen, a built-in calendar, a new search engine and several e-mail enhancements. AOL said the client will be available for download late Tuesday.

== Misc (The other stuff) ====================

Computers In Schools, Sure. But What About Technical Support? (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/education/26education.html>
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 (The News & Observer)
<http://www.news-observer.com/daily/2000/04/25/biz00.html>
"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' (Reuters)
<http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,35898,00.html>
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.

Gates Takes A Shot At The iMac (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0004/25.gates.shtml>
"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.

== Press Release (Spreading the news) ====================

New Kodak Picture CD Improved Editing Features; Transform (Business Wire)
<http://www.cnetinvestor.com/newsitem-fd-bloomberg.asp?symbol=85190135>
Pictures too bright? Too dark? Too far away? Kodak has a new way to turn less than ideal snapshots into picture-perfect keepsakes. With the new issue of Kodak Picture CD, pictures that have been over / under exposed due to too much or too little flash or a premature click of the shutter button, can be easily fixed. By using simple photo-editing features, people can dramatically improve their pictures with a click of the mouse.

== The AppleSurf Reader (Great Reads!) ====================

The Dixie Chicks, TV Guides And Me (Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/ent/col/vowe/2000/04/26/tv_guide/index.html>
TV Guide might be the weirdest magazine in America, and thus the periodical providing the most accurate representation of American life. Its strangeness derives mostly from its schizophrenia. It is utterly rosy and dumb, except when it's being perceptive and harsh.

== Around Town (News out of Singapore) ====================

Silence Easiest Option At Speakers' Corner (South China Morning Post)
<http://www.scmp.com/News/Asia/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20000426031823363.asp>
Singaporeans will have their own Speakers' Corner within months - but they will not be as free to speak their minds as with the London model.

NTUC, Customers Protest DBS Charges (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/money/sinb1_0426.html>
It would be especially difficult for workers as "employers now pay wages through the banks...the Ministry of Education collects school fees by Giro. Workers have no choice." 

No Licence Needed At Speakers' Corner (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/sin20_0426.html>
The setting up of a Speakers' Corner provoked a lively and light-hearted debate in Parliament with six MPs questioning Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng on the plan. This is an edited extract of the exchange.