there's lots of mac nuts on this list
so here's some ptrs to some articles
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THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S
M E D I A G R O K
A Review of Press Coverage of the Internet Economy
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Jobs Unveils Gadgets, MS Software, Vapor
The trade-show beat is easily weighed down by megahertz and gigabytes
that bore the average reader into a coma, but this week's Macworld has
been packed with announcements your great-aunt Tillie could understand.
Steve Jobs announced cheaper iMacs in four new colors, new versions of
all Apple desktop computers, more Mac games and a new mouse to replace
the hated iMac "hockey puck." Macheads and the media ate it up, even
swallowing the treacly "two brains are better than one" slogan that
trumpeted Apple's new dual-processor machine.
These are cool improvements, and Steve Jobs gives good show. It must
have been easy to get caught up in the Macworld excitement, but a few
journalists examined the hoopla with a critical eye. Changes announced
for the iMac "were literally cosmetic," said ABCNEWS.com's Sascha Segan,
who also complained that Jobs "once again delayed the company's new
operating system, OS X." BBC News Online also noted that OS X is still
vaporware. "One member of the Mac press once said the new operating sys-
tem is called OS X because that is the number of years that Macintosh
users have been waiting for the new OS," wrote the BBC's Kevin Anderson.
Most Macworld attendees ooh'd and ahh'd over the new G4 Cube, a tiny
version of Apple's G4 computer in a sleek, 8-inch box. "It's just so
gorgeous and so elegant," gushed one online exec to News.com, echoing
the sentiments of many. But both News.com and Wired News observed a
similarity to the NeXT box, a black, cube-shaped computer unveiled by
Jobs and NeXT in 1988. "Job's NeXT Cube was meant to transform the PC
business," wrote Wired's Michelle Delio. It didn't. One Mac consultant
quoted by Wired questioned the G4 Cube's computing power, but said,
"it's a great looking machine all the same, and I can't wait to get my
hands on it to try it out." The thing has more infatuated admirers
than Britney Spears.
Apple also appears to be buddying up with Microsoft, which isn't as
sexy a prospect as gleaming new hardware but has plenty of business
implications. Office 2001 for the Mac hits the shelves in October
"with features not yet available on the Windows operating system,"
said the San Jose Mercury News, which didn't list any of them, and
Microsoft has promised to make Mac versions of Microsoft games. "The
Microsoft announcements carry significant weight for Apple because the
relative weakness of its productivity software and its vastly smaller
catalog of games are two of the main reasons why consumers choose
Windows-based PCs over Apple models," wrote the Merc's Jon Fortt.
And now that Microsoft plans to make its software browser based,
the platform wars may get a little less violent. "Internet-based
applications could theoretically run equally well on both platforms,"
said Fortt. "That could open the door for businesses to once again
embrace the Mac."
But enough about business, Aunt Tillie. Would you like your new iMac
in indigo, ruby, sage, graphite or, er, snow? - Jen Muehlbauer
Apple Goes Full Circle with Cube
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/front/docs/apple072000.htm
Apple's Encore
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/nymacexpo2000.html
Apple Unveils Products, iMac Colors (Bloomberg)
http://www.latimes.com/business/cutting/macworld000720.htm
The Cube: Apple's NeXT Mistake?
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,37669,00.html
Jobs Announces Tiny Cube Processor, Upgrades of Desktop Computer Line
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB964022209879317801.htm
(Paid subscription required.)
Apple Struts Stuff at Macworld
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-201-2290280-0.html
Apple CEO Unveils Two-Chip Power Macs, New iMacs at Macworld (Reuters)
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/07/19/apple.macworld.reut/index.html
Apple Redesigns Computers in Effort to Increase Sales
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/20apple.html
(Registration required.)
Apple's New Cube Turns Heads (San Francisco Examiner)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/19/Bapple.dtl
Apple Unveils Quicker Machines, Oval Mouse (AP)
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/appl20.shtml
Apple's Speedy Recovery?
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/macworldexpo000719.html
Apple Unveils 'the Cube'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_841000/841831.stm
The iMac Fashion Headache
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/07/20/new_imac/index.html
