Mac Musings

Missing from Macworld

2000.07.25 - Daniel Knight - Tip Jar

My earlier articles looked at what was at the show; today let's look at what should have been there but wasn't.

Mac OS X Beta 1

Ever since Apple announced the revised release schedule for OS X, we've been hoping the beta would be ready and available at Macworld Expo. We were disappointed to find out that it's at least a month away.

AirPort-Compatible PC Cards

I was very jealous of AirPort users at the show. My wife's WallStreet PowerBook doesn't take an AirPort card, but Farallon, Lucent, and possibly others make PC Cards that are compatible with AirPort. If anyone had been selling them at the show, I would have bought one.

Apple T-shirts

What better place to buy an Apple T-shirt than Macworld Expo, right? Wrong. The only shirts available were Macworld Expo 2000 shirts. Nice shirts, but they're already dated. I would have paid good money for some nice Apple T-shirts, polo shirts, denim shirts, etc. Instead, I brought home New York City shirts for my family.

Shown But Not For Sale

• Compucase on Wheels from Tutto. Their Office on Wheels is great, and I have no regrets about buying it, but I would have prefered the slightly smaller Compucase on Wheels, which is better organized for storing computer accessories.
• The MacPad mousepad, which only retails for US$9.99. I would have bought one or two.
• Farallon SkyLine AirPort-compatible PC Card, as noted above. I would have balked at their US$219 price, but if they'd had special show pricing.... (Maybe I should have just ordered it for US$190 from Outpost.com, or tried to find a deal on Lucent's Orinoco IEEE Turbo PC Card.) It does help you see what a value Apple's US$99 AirPort card is.

Faster Portables

No change to the iBook or PowerBook lines. The iBook remains at 300 and 366 MHz, the PowerBook at 400 and 500 MHz.

ADB Mice

I packed an ADB mouse without a mouse ball for the trip. Nobody was showing or selling ADB mice.