Teacher Tools: AppleWorks

1999 – Two of the most opinionated and product loyal groups of folks I know are teachers and Macintosh users. The old adage of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is often their battle cry. I’ve watched fellow educators fight tooth and nail to continue using older educational materials (often with very good reason) […]

Getting an Old Mac Running

1999 – I’ve found/been given/bought on the cheap a 68030/68040 Macintosh. I’m a broke college student, and I need to set this machine up to do word processing and surf the Internet as cheaply as possible. What should I do? (A common question around here.)

The Beginning of the End

1999: I am a PC user. I’ve been one professionally for about six years. Working on PCs has truly been bliss, I so enjoyed maintaining them, tweaking them, and making them run efficiently. Throughout the years, I have moved up through the ranks very quickly. I started out as a technician and am now working […]

Niches and Mac Cloning

1999: Last week, Evan Kleiman suggested that Apple produce a wider variety of models to meet the needs of more buyers (see More Macs). He even suggested that Apple open the door and allow cloning again. In Pseudo Clones on osOpinion, Jonathan Gelling made a similar suggestion.

Apple’s NeXT Direction

1999: A reader got me thinking when he wrote, “I find myself more and more bothered by Apple’s current direction and am curious to know what you think. “Here’s what has me agitated: shutting out Be, shutting down involvement in mkLinux, the rumored ‘no G4 upgrade’ bomb in the G3s, OS X not compatible with […]

iBook: The Price Is Right

1999: I’ll admit it right up front: I was expecting the iBook to come in at about $1,400, not $1,600. But then, I was expecting a different computer. A lot of us were expecting something smaller and lighter than the Lombard PowerBook G3.

My Last Mac: Maybe Not

1999: Walter writes, “I have used Macs since 1993. I have three at home. My first one was a Performa 200 (Classic II). I have always loved the Mac, and I have actively encouraged people to buy them. I have ‘forced’ one on my wife who works in a PC environment – with all the […]

Convergence: Count On It

1999: Convergence is the coming together of separate streams. In this case, the streams of personal computers and television. In Why Convergence Won’t Happen, Rabbe Sandelin says that it isn’t going to happen.

Tomorrow’s iMac

1999.06: No, this article isn’t about C2, the second-generation iMac expected Real Soon Now. This is about where computers, including the iMac, are going over the next few years.

Feeling Left Behind?

1999: Change is the very nature of the computer industry. From the first computer kits to the first personal computers. From the 8-bit Apples, Commodores, and TRS-80s to the pseudo-16-bit IBMs, and then to the graphical Lisa and Macintosh.

Mac OS X and the econoMac

1999: Our friends at the Macintosh Broadcasting Company (MacBC) are thinking different. In the article Is It Time for a Cheaper Mac?, they propose that Apple wait to release a new inexpensive modular Mac until it can ship with Mac OS X Client installed.

Mac Alive and Kicking

1999 – Lately, many people have been saying to me, “Ha! You have a Mac! Macs are dead!” Well, I don’t think they are. The Mac might’ve been a bit unconscious for a while, but it most definitely isn’t now.

Is Apple Bruised?

1999 – If you haven’t read Fred Langa’s latest anti-Mac tirade, you’ve missed a great compilation of misinformation and innuendo. (By now most Mac users know that Fred Langa seems to have a low tolerance for Apple Computer, the Macintosh, and especially the iMac.)

Unfilled Multi-Promises

This article was written in 1999, the days of the Classic Mac OS (then at version 8.5), which was designed for a single CPU – and the G3 was then bleeding edge. We now have OS X, which supports multiple CPUs, CPU cores, and hyperthreading, but some of the problems discussed in this article remain […]

Why Mac Users Aren’t the Stiff Necked

A certain Mac-basher implied that Mac users want to make everyone else use Macs. Well, that may be true in his world of beliefs. Actually, it might be entirely true in the US; I don’t know. I have never been outside Europe, so I cannot (and will not) say anything about Mac users in America.

Mac Y2K Problems

1999 – Articles circulated in the past few days – see Cnet and Yahoo+ stories – note that Mac users shouldn’t be too smug about the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem. The Mac is not immune.

Apple’s Good Moves

1999: It feels good to be right. Last August, I asked, “Is Apple Too Popular for Its Own Good?” – and I suggested that Apple needed to outsource iMac production if it wanted to increase market share.

Mac Musings Archive for 1998

1998 was the Year of the iMac. Announced in May, it didn’t ship until August, and it killed off all those legacy printer, AppleTalk, hard drive, keyboard, and mouse ports with something new called USB. The iMac quickly became the most popular computer on the market.

Time to Let the Big One Go

“Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing; but this is a mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general […]