[AppleSurf Inbox] May 2, 2000

[applesurf at myapplemenu.comapplesurf]

AppleSurf Inbox

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

Appel's Next Crisis: Drift Mode And Old Wars (Mac OS Daily)
<http://www.macosdaily.com/opinion/columns/nikkiT_009_20000502.html>
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? 
 

== Seize the Day! (Great news for Mac users) ====================

Apple Among The Good Guys (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0005/02.goodguys.shtml>
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."

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

QT Developers: Focus On Quality, Not Quantity (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0005/02.developers.shtml>
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.

Appel's Next Crisis: Drift Mode And Old Wars (Mac OS Daily)
<http://www.macosdaily.com/opinion/columns/nikkiT_009_20000502.html>
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? 
 

Glad I Bought Beige (Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.com/macinschool/2k0502.html>
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 (Go2Mac)
<http://www.go2mac.com/articles/read.cfm?id=198>
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.

== Reviews (The good and the bad) ====================

Star Wars Episode I: Racer (Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/00/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 (Macworld)
<http://macworld.zdnet.com/2000/06/reviews/powerbook2000.html>
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 (Insanely Great Mac)
<http://www.insanely-great.com/reviews/g4-400.html>
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.

== Thousand Flowers (News on Macintosh third-parties) ====================

FileMaker Admits Security Flaws (MacWEEK.com)
<http://macweek.zdnet.com/2000/04/30/0501fmresponds.html>
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.

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

Microsoft Eyes New Security For Windows (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-1799898.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1006-200-1799898>
Microsoft is swapping passwords for fingerprint readers and retinal scanners.

Access Windows 2000 Apps On Your Mac Via The Internet (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0005/02.internet.shtml>
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 (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1801681.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1005-200-1801681>
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 (Reuters)
<http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000502/tc/microsoft_response_1.html>
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 (Financial Post)
<http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost.asp?f=000502/276906&s2=worldbusiness>
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 (Associated Press)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/latestap/A51723-2000May2.html>
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 (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dg050200.htm>
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 (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/02soft.html>
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 (Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/05/01/breakup/index.html>
Gates' Microsoft defense is full of holes, but so is the government's breakup plan.

Microsoft 'Writes' To Public In Answer To Breakup Proposal (San Jose Mercury News)
<Many conservatives still share this negative view of The Simpsons—and that’s regrettable, because it’s possibly the most intelligent, funny, and even politically satisfying TV show ever. >
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 (MacBC)
<http://www.macbc.com/columns/Economist/2000.05.01.shtml>
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?

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

FileMaker Admits Security Flaws (MacWEEK.com)
<http://macweek.zdnet.com/2000/04/30/0501fmresponds.html>
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.

Amazon Cooks Up New Offering With Kitchen Store (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1800053.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1007-200-1800053>
The online retail giant launched the Amazon Kitchen store, hoping to capture the online culinary market with cooking accessories, products, recipes and tips. The store can be accessed through a kitchen tab on Amazon's main page.

Access Windows 2000 Apps On Your Mac Via The Internet (MacCentral)
<http://www.maccentral.com/news/0005/02.internet.shtml>
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.

Businesses Change Names To Match Domains (Associated Press)
<http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500199458-500274542-501451501-0,00.html>
What comes first, the dot or the com? In corporate America, the answer better be both.

Newspaper Prints Codes That Link Readers To The Web (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1798135.html?dtn.head>
Starting this week, The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., is delivering papers that have tiny bar codes on articles, allowing readers to use a pen-like wand to scan and pull up related information on the Web.

Jobs Sites Big On Listings, Short On Success (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1795553.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..1007-200-1795553>
But although industry insiders say the future of recruiting is online, employers and job seekers report limited success using recruitment sites to fill vacancies or take steps up the career ladder. This is partly because the sites have been too good at what they do: Companies are overwhelmed with applicants.

Metallica Fingers 335,435 Napster Users (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1798138.html?dtn.head>
The heavy metal band, which is suing music-swapping company Napster for what the musicians say are massive copyright violations, says it has identified more than 335,000 individuals who were allegedly sharing the band's songs online in violation of copyright laws.

Yahoo, Private Censor (The Industry Standard)
<http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,14618,00.html?nl=dnt>
If there's one thing political Web sites agree on, it's that government regulation of the Internet would be terrible. But amid the hand-wringing about what the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission might do to limit political speech, other troubling limitations on political discussion have come up. AOL, Lycos, MSN and Yahoo are restricting political discussion in ways few people realize.

Many Analysts Think Expensive Portal Deals Deserve More Scrutiny (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/commerce/01commerce.html>
Portal deals have been the second line item on the budget, after TV ads, to come under the microscope of e-tailing executives no longer willing to pay hundreds of dollars to acquire each customer.

Internet Radio Moving Toward Mobile Phones (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-1797847.html?dtn.head>
When the phone rings, it just might be the new Pearl Jam single calling.

Loyalty Programs Don't Create Repeat Customers (InformationWeek)
<http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000501S0016>
Free toasters, bonus points, and other loyalty programs aren't creating repeat buyers on the Internet, according to a study from market-research company Jupiter Communications.

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

Snoring In Paradise (Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/travel/diary/hest/2000/05/02/snoring/index.html>
Murderous thoughts are generally discouraged at Club Med. Leave it to the Canadians to send you to the brink.

Homer Never Nods (National Review)
<http://www.nationalreview.com/01may00/goldberg050100.html>
Many conservatives still share this negative view of The Simpsons—and that’s regrettable, because it’s possibly the most intelligent, funny, and even politically satisfying TV show ever.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam (The Industry Standard)
<http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,14566,00.html>
You are asking the reporter to put effort into learning about the company. This will only work if you've put some effort into learning something about the reporter or the magazine.

== Technology (The Technology Scene In Singapore) ====================

Work Together To Resolve Cable-modem Problem (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/for7_0503.html>
The buck-passing between SCV, StarHub, SingTel, Stix and now IDA, has gone on for too long.

== Entertainment (The Entertainment Scene In Singapore) ====================

Fann's Concert Tickets Selling Well (MTVAsia Online)
<http://www.mtvasia.com/News/Asia/Items/0005/0005001.html>
Fann's critics had to bite their tongues when it was reported that her concert tickets have been selling briskly.

Forever Fever Forever? (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/life/life5_0502.html>
The DVD release has been retitled That's The Way I Like It, but preserves the local lingo that characterises the original movie.

All The World's Our Stage (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/life/life4_0502.html>
The Singapore Repertory Theatre company is putting the Republic's theatre on the world map -- by setting up a branch in the Philippines.

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

Search For New Lease Of Life For Haw Par Villa (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/sin7_0503.html>
The tourism board is looking into plans to restore the park and maintain its unique cultural heritage.

Lightening Up: Appearances Aren't Always What They Seem (Time)
<http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/asiabuzz/2000/05/02/>
As the scene on the streets outside the Lido suggests, Singapore is lightening up, even if the government doesn't like to parade the fact publicly in the press. And you know what? The Internet and its supposed threats to autocracy have been with us for about 5 years and Singapore is still here. Moreover, the current government is likely to be in power after the next election, Internet or otherwise.

Full CPF Restoration In Under 5 Years If GDP Growth Tops 5%: PM Goh (Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/2/news/nfrnt05.html>
He said he expects economic growth for this year to be quite good, but made it clear that he cannot predict what the rate would be like in the next two years. The rate forecast by the Ministry of Trade & Industry for this year is 4.5 to 6.5 per cent. Growth in the first quarter is good, said Mr Goh but gave no details.