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Home > Editorial > The Lite Side Niners to Xers: Apple's Switch Campaign for Mac Users 2003.05.13 Be it known that three new terms are going to be coined in this article, and you are henceforth obligated to use them whenever possible: Niners are people still booting in OS 9. Xers (pronounced "tenors") are people who boot in X but use classic applications. XORs are users who only use X native applications and leave Classic turned off. That is, they use X exclusively. Get it? Really? You're such a geek. If you thought that was clever, wait until you read the Lite Side's future history of Apple's next switch campaign. Niners to Xers June 20, 2003 Apple initiates its "Niners to Xers" campaign to encourage Mac OS 9 users to switch to OS X. Among the incentives Apple devises for old-timers to make the switch are: $50 on X rebate for proof that you've recycled your pre-G3 computer. New "service fee" makes OS 7.5.5 available by CD-only for $50; OS 8 is $90, and OS 8.6 is "unavailable." New ad campaign features old Niners talking about crashes, freezes, multitasking, and other previously "verboten" topics. June 20, 2003 MacSurfer posts over 1,400 different articles on the topic, a new record. Among these: c|net: Apple computer begins trolling for users at the bottom of the barrel Macworld: Apple begins recruiting Mac Enthusiasts Wired: Bobbing for Apples: Apple is so desperate for new X users it's spamming its own customers PC World: Frantic Apple offers rebate for older machines LEM: The new X with rebate value equation: Is selling out worth it? Mac Observer: Idiots at c|net and Wired Just Don't Get it Forbes: Will Apple's latest gambit bring more core users? Think Secret: Ad campaign we predicted six months ago debuts - badly Seattle Times: I really like the iPod O'Reilly Network: Why isn't iTunes available for the PC? June 21, 2003 c|net: Apple's latest bribe falls flat Macworld: Trade in your low-end machine while you can Wired: Someone should slap Steve Jobs upside the head PC World: X recruitment effort doomed to failure because of small market share IDG: Apple's market share falls to 0.3 percent, all in Berkeley Seattle Times: Explaining why X is not Windows to your mother CNN: Apple's desperate gamble: Will it pay off? PC World: Dell adopts Apple upgrade plan LEM: They can have my OS 9 when they pry it from my cold, dead CPU June 22, 2003: LEM: Since when is OS 9 "old"? Wired: Some weirdoes decide to switch to X despite lame ad campaign CNet: Apple is doomed - get over it PC World: We're switching to X when it's PC compatible Fox News: Apple finally shoots itself in its own left wing June 23, 2003 LEM: Fifteen more dumb things Microsoft plans to do with OS 9 Wired: People who read Wired aren't falling for Apple's bruised ad campaign Mac Night Owl: Not Just Yet - Niners Make a Stand August 10, 2003 c|net: Whatever happened to the big X upgrade? August 24, 2003 LEM: What? What? Hah? Whaddaya mean, it was just a dream? What OS do you want to use today? Recent Lite Sides What if Apple thought like a PC company?, 11.01. Apple has innovated and blazed its own trail. But what if it had followed the path taken by the PC copycats? How Microsoft can turn Vista lemons into lemonade, 10.22. How Microsoft could profit by no longer allowing manufacturers to sell new PCs with Windows XP installed. iPods that never passed beta or focus groups, 09.13. "What most Apple fans don't realize is that there were a few iPod variants that never made it out of beta testing and the focus group stage." Pigs fly, snow in Death Valley, and Dvorak uses a Mac, 08.03. What has the world come to when John Dvorak, founding member of the Axis of Macevil, walks into the temple of All Things Macintosh? More in the The Lite Side index. Links for the Day Mac of the Day: Centris 650, Feb. 1993 - The replacement for the Quadra 700 has room for an internal CD-ROM. List of the Day: Old Mac MP covers 604-based multiprocessor Macs and clones. September 7 in LEM history: 98: Banner exchanges - 00: Tips from the Mac manager - Getting a Mac job - 01: Apple and the gray market - Repositioning the 'Books - 04: Tray loading iMac a good choice for OS X? - Pismo CPU upgrades - 06: Mac mini value equation - Setting up a Mac Classic II - Putting the Intel transition in perspective - 07: Region free DVD viewing, - My Newton - Solving Mac disk and hardware problems - 2 apps every MacBook should have Recent Content on Low End Mac Anticipation: New iPods Now, New Macs Later, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 09.05. The season of new iPods is at hand, but new Macs may wait until 2009. Buy a MacBook Now or Wait?, MacBook touch Patents, Samsung X360 Takes on MBA, and More, The 'Book Review, 09.05. Also 20 years of portable Macs, data backup and preservation, universal U-Charge battery charger for Mac 'Books, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,699, and more. Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05. Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise. Source of iPhone 3G Problems, Army Uses iPods as Field Translators, Gains with Business, and More, iNews Review, 09.05. Also UK bans iPhone ad as 'misleading', iPhone password easy to bypass, GM to offer radios with USB in 2009 models, weather tracking software, and more. Macs Gain Ground in August, Consumers Most Likely to Buy Macs, LaCie USB Speakers, and More, Mac News Review, 09.05. Also migrating Time Machine to a new drive and two new keyboards from Logitech. Best iPod touch Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $284; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $399; new, $453. Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $999; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,450 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $1,849; rebates on new. Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $279; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz $390; 17" 800 MHz SD, $439; 1.25 GHz, $449; 20", $569. Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs, Adam Geller, My First Mac, 09.04. Stories of hot rodding iBooks, G3 iMacs, and PCI Power Macs on the cheap. Apple Will Not Abandon Optical Drives, the Mac Drought, Purposeful Mac Acquisition, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.04. Also Mac OS X 10.5 on a G4-upgraded Blue & White G3 and problems using a flat panel display with a Quadra 700. Only Leopard Runs Routine Maintenance Tasks after Startup or Waking from Sleep, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.04. Mac OS X 10.5 runs routine system maintenance scripts as soon as possible after starting up or waking up your Mac. Earlier versions of OS X do not do this. Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04. Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them. Best Mac mini Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1.25 GHz G4 SD, $549; 1.42 Combo, $409; new 1.83 Core2 Combo, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 after rebate. Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 867 MHz Combo, no APX, $490; 1 GHz, $550; SuperDrive, $625; 1.5 GHz w/o APX, $660; w/APX, $675. Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1 GHz, $779; 1.33 GHz, $799; 1.5 GHz, $859; 1.67 GHz, $910. 11 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 09.03. The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Flock, and Camino tested in Leopard. Save Internet Radio, USB and Hard Drives, Hardware Manufacturers vs. Linux, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.03. Also Mac won't book after cleaning, newer versions of OS X improve wake from sleep, downgrading to OS 8.6, unreadable pages on Low End Mac, and more. Another Free POP3 Provider, Recharging a Dead PRAM Battery, Current Kanga Value, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.03. GMX email now available in US, Panasonic UJ-841S drive won't burn discs, restoring a dead PRAM battery in a Pismo, and thoughts on Kanga value today. Best eMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $150; 1.42 GHz, $349. Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Mac OS X 10.5, single user, $99; 5 users, $140; 10.5 Server, 10 users, $395; unlimited, $850. Best MacBook Air Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Refurb 1.6 HD, $1,499; new, $1,690 after rebate; refurb 1.8, $1,699; new, $1,919 a/r; refurb 1.6 SSD, $2,099; new, $2,294 a/r; refurb 1.8, $2,299; new, $2,400 a/r. Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03. Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS. More links in our archive. <go to the Lite Side index> Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .   LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.   Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.   Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.   PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. 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