TidBITS#662/13-Jan-03
=====================
Steve Jobs kept us busy during his keynote at Macworld Expo,
introducing two new PowerBooks; updates to iMovie 3, iPhoto 2,
and iDVD 3 (grouped with iTunes 3 into a package called iLife);
a presentation application called Keynote; and the new Safari Web
browser. We cover them all, including a look at how it affects
the Apple-Microsoft relationship. Also this week: X11 for
Mac OS X; Rendezvous support from TiVo, Brother, and Aspyr;
and Office X 10.1.3.
Topics:
MailBITS/13-Jan-03
New Apple Software Spices up iLife
New PowerBooks: Mini Me and the Lunch Tray
Apple Reduces Its Microsoft Dependency
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-662.html>
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MailBITS/13-Jan-03
------------------
**Apple Releases X11 for Mac OS X** -- Leveraging the Unix core of
Mac OS X, Apple has made available a public beta of X11 for Mac OS
X, an environment that enables X11 applications to run within Mac
OS X and makes it easier to port X11 applications to the Mac. The
X11 package includes display server software, client libraries,
and developer toolkits; an optional X11 Software Developer Kit for
Mac OS X is also available. The public beta is available now as a
free 41.5 MB download; the SDK is a 3.8 MB download. [JLC]
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/>
**TiVo, Brother, and Aspyr Rendezvous with Macs** -- Apple made
networking easier with the introduction of Rendezvous, a method
of automatic discovery and connection of devices over IP networks
that the company has submitted as an open-source standard. Now,
other companies are starting to implement Rendezvous, starting
with three announcements made last week. TiVo Series2 digital
video recorders will soon be able to discover Macs and play shared
music or display photos on a TiVo-equipped television, using an
upcoming premium service package. Brother's HL-5070N Laser Printer
boasts the capability to streamline the process of setting up and
printing to local printers, and Aspyr's NASCAR Racing 2002 Season
game makes it easy for multiple players to find and join games on
their network. [JLC]
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/rendezvous>
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/jan/07rendezvous.html>
<http://www.tivo.com/>
<http://www.brother.com/>
<http://www.aspyr.com/mini-sites/sierra2002/>
**Microsoft Office X 10.1.3 Released** -- Microsoft today released
an updater for Microsoft Office X to address several issues
with the Italian Spelling Tool and the French Proofing Tools.
Installing 10.1.3 requires that you already have the 10.1.2
update (released in November) installed.
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/DOWNLOAD/OFFICEX/OfficeX_1013.asp>
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/DOWNLOAD/OFFICEX/OfficeX_1012.asp>
The update patches the English, French, German, Spanish, and
Swedish versions of Office X, and the stand-alone Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, and Entourage applications for Mac OS X. Since the
update appears to fix only issues with foreign-language features
within Microsoft Office, it's not clear that most users will need
this upgrade. [MHA]
New Apple Software Spices up iLife
----------------------------------
by Geoff Duncan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Saying he had "two Macworld's worth of stuff for you today,"
Steve Jobs unveiled a host of new software (and hardware, covered
elsewhere in this issue) offerings at his Macworld Expo San
Francisco 2003 keynote address. In fact, the sheer number of
products prevents us from going into much detail about the
software in this issue - look for more detailed analysis in
upcoming editions of TidBITS.
**iLife** -- The digital hub remains a core Apple strategy, and
the company has tightened the radius of its iApps by creating
iLife, a bundle consisting of iTunes 3, iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, and
iDVD 3. In addition to new features, these applications now
integrate with each other - so iTunes playlists are available in
iMovie, iPhoto albums are accessible in iDVD, etc. iPhoto 2 and
iMovie 3 will be available 25-Jan-03 for free download (iTunes 3
is already available). Due to iDVD's size, it's not practical to
make it available online, so on 25-Jan-03 Apple will start selling
the entire iLife package on CD-ROM for $50.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/>
**Keynote** -- Steve Jobs has always been noted for his showy
keynote addresses; now he's revealed the application he used to
create his sophisticated slide shows during 2002. Keynote is a
presentation program which takes advantage of Mac OS X display
technologies like Quartz and OpenGL to make sophisticated slide
shows. It imports and exports from PowerPoint, making it an
intriguing alternative to Microsoft's dominant presentation
program (see "Apple Reduces Its Microsoft Dependency" elsewhere
in this issue). Keynote is available now for $100.
<http://www.apple.com/keynote/>
**Final Cut Express** -- Apple also announced Final Cut Express, a
slightly stripped-down version of its Final Cut Pro digital video
editing application. Final Cut Express uses the same interface as
Final Cut Pro and offers most of the pro-level non-linear editing,
transitions, and real-time effects as its big brother at about
one-third of the price. That makes it a good choice for someone
who wants to produce projects more sophisticated than what iMovie
can handle, but who doesn't need extensive image capture and
export capabilities. Final Cut Express is available now for $300.
<http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/>
**Safari Public Beta** -- One of the most exciting announcements
was Safari, Apple's home-grown Web browser. Built by some of
the folks who develop Chimera for Mac OS X, Safari is a new Web
browser based on the open source KHTML rendering engine. Apple
intends it to be the fastest browser available on the Mac - and so
far, they seem to be pulling it off - with easy-to-use features.
Currently Safari is in public beta and available as a tiny 2.9 MB
download. On 10-Jan-03, Apple released a v51 update, which is
recommended for everyone who initially downloaded Safari in the
first few days after release.
<http://www.apple.com/safari/>
New PowerBooks: Mini Me and the Lunch Tray
------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Amid rumors of video iPods and tablet Macs appearing during the
Macworld Expo keynote address, Steve Jobs calmly introduced a pair
of new PowerBook models that slot neatly into Apple's existing
iBook and PowerBook lines. The most obvious distinction for the
new machines is display size, and that's how Apple refers to them
officially: the 12-inch PowerBook G4 and the 17-inch PowerBook G4.
The 12-inch PowerBook G4 packs a lot of power into the smallest
laptop Apple has ever made, and the 17-inch PowerBook G4 breaks
new ground for the size of a screen in a laptop computer. Both
PowerBooks support Apple's new 802.11g AirPort Extreme wireless
networking; both also exclusively run Mac OS X and cannot boot
into Mac OS 9 (though the Classic environment is still available
to run Mac OS 9 applications).
<http://www.apple.com/powerbook/>
Given Apple's penchant for differentiating the names of new Macs
as little as possible, there was much talk at the show about what
these new PowerBooks would end up being called. After all, many
people refer to the Titanium PowerBook G4 as the TiBook, and
Apple's parenthetical descriptors like Power Mac G4 (Mirrored
Drive Doors) are both awkward and hard to say (and as a wag at
the Netters Dinner chided me when I said the entire name aloud,
the parentheses are silent). So the attendees of the Netters
Dinner voted the most popular name for the 17-inch PowerBook G4
as "Lunch Tray," with the 12-inch PowerBook G4's matching name
being "Happy Meal." Despite the elegance of a matching set of
names, I suspect many people will call the 12-inch PowerBook
something based on "Mini Me," the character played by Verne
Troyer in the Austin Powers movies. That comes thanks to Apple's
hilarious TV ad for the new PowerBooks featuring the diminutive
Troyer with Yao Ming, the 7-foot, 6-inch (2.3 m) center for
basketball's Houston Rockets. We'll see what names actually
catch on in common usage.
<http://www.apple.com/hardware/video/powerbookg4bigandsmall.html>
**17-inch PowerBook G4** -- With the new 17-inch PowerBook, Apple
broke new ground in laptop size. The 17-inch screen is reportedly
the largest laptop screen ever, although at 1440 by 900 (the
widescreen 16 by 10 aspect ratio), it can't claim the award for
highest resolution, since some PC laptops have screens that run
at 1600 by 1200. Kudos go to Apple's designers for implementing a
counterweight in the hinge that makes the lid incredibly smooth to
open and close. Despite the massive screen, Apple managed to keep
the overall weight down to 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg). It's also the
thinnest PowerBook yet, with a thickness of just under 1 inch
(2.54 cm), which is slightly thinner than the existing Titanium
PowerBook G4. Rounding out the dimensions, it's 15.4 inches
(39.2 cm) wide and 10.2 inches (25.9 cm) deep.
<http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html>
Rather than rely on titanium for the new PowerBooks, Apple
switched to an aircraft-grade anodized aluminum. Although I'm not
enough of a metallurgist to verify this, Apple claims the anodized
aluminum is lighter and stiffer than the titanium used in the
TiBook. My reading of bicycle frame building discussions comparing
aluminum and titanium agree that aluminum is lighter, but not
generally stiffer. However, it's also clear from reading those
discussions that specific design makes a huge difference in final
stiffness. The aluminum isn't painted, which will please those
people whose watches have scratched the titanium finish or whose
hand oil has caused the TiBook's paint to bubble and peel.
Under the hood, the 17-inch PowerBook G4 offers a 1 GHz PowerPC G4
processor with 1 MB L3 cache, 512 MB of PC2700 DDR RAM (upgradable
to 1 GB), a GeForce4 440 Go graphics processor with 64 MB VRAM, a
60 GB hard disk, a slot-loading SuperDrive (CD-RW/DVD-R), two USB
ports, Gigabit Ethernet, a PC Card slot, audio line in, stereo
speakers, a headphone jack, and an internal microphone. Video out
is handled by S-video and DVI connectors, and Apple includes a DVI
to VGA adapter. The 17-inch PowerBook G4 supports dual displays,
and a new function key on the keyboard lets you switch easily
between an extended desktop and mirrored displays. Despite the
huge screen and fast processor, Apple claims users should see up
to 4.5 hours of battery life with the new lithium-ion prismatic
battery.
FireWire is also onboard, in the form of a standard FireWire 400
port and a new separate FireWire 800 port that runs at, you
guessed it, 800 Mbps. FireWire 800 requires a new connector, but
it's backward compatible with FireWire 400 if you use the adapter
Apple provides. And speaking of ports, the two USB connections are
smartly placed, one on each side of the base, making it easier for
left-handed users (or anyone using extra USB devices such as video
or audio editing controllers) to minimize cable clutter.
Also built in are not one, but two forms of wireless
communication. Bluetooth is now standard for communicating with
cell phones and other Bluetooth-capable devices. Then there's
AirPort Extreme, an enhanced version of AirPort wireless
networking. AirPort Extreme relies on the 802.11g draft standard
to provide 54 Mbps of bandwidth when communicating with another
AirPort Extreme device, while still maintaining full backward
compatibility with 11 Mbps (802.11b) AirPort devices. In a bit of
good news for frustrated TiBook users looking to upgrade, Apple
moved the antennas (which are used by both AirPort Extreme and
Bluetooth, with some clever switching to make sure they don't
interfere with one another) from the base to the upper edges of
the screen. Apple claims that reception should be as good as with
the recent iBook models, which provide better reception than any
other machine I've seen.
Lastly, Apple upped the cool factor of the 17-inch PowerBook by
adding a fiber optic system that illuminates the keyboard from
underneath, with the light shining through laser-etched keycaps.
That's neat, but what's even neater is that it's controlled by
an ambient light sensor that automatically raises the level of
backlight as the room light goes down. The ambient light sensor
also automatically adjusts the screen brightness, although you
can control both manually from the keyboard as well. People who
regularly work in dim environments are sure to find this
particularly useful.
The 17-inch PowerBook G4 will be available in February (though
Apple's online store currently lists a 7 to 10 week estimated
shipping timeline) for $3,300, and short of paying $300 more to
add another 512 MB of RAM, there aren't any other options. It
comes with a free copy of Intuit's QuickBooks for Mac New User
Edition.
<http://quickbooks.intuit.com/qbcom/jhtml/skins/prod_ovw.jhtml?
ssaPath=qb_2003_mac_pro_1user>
I'll be interested to see how the 17-inch PowerBook sells.
Although the price is reasonable, the feature set is extremely
good, and the screen is stupendous, it has one problem: it's big.
Really big. Almost without exception, everyone I talked with at
the show felt it was too big to be used as a general laptop
computer, although it would be ideal for someone who merely needs
a portable computer that can be moved from desk to desk. Though
it's only very slightly taller than the TiBook thanks to a clever
screen hinge, it's awfully wide, and I can't imagine using it in
coach on most airplanes. It won't fit in many PowerBook bags, but
the Apple Online Store offers two optional Brenthaven cases that
are designed to hold it (and other bag manufacturers have already
started working up new designs). When I asked about the size
issue, Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of hardware products,
shrugged and said, "That's what they said about the Titanium
PowerBook G4 when it came out, too." For Apple's sake, I hope
he's right, since it's one heck of a cool machine, and there
will be people for whom it is utterly perfect.
**12-inch PowerBook G4** -- It was the biggest of PowerBooks, it
was the smallest of PowerBooks. With apologies to Charles Dickens,
that's how the keynote felt, since after introducing the big-
screen 17-inch PowerBook G4, Steve Jobs reversed gears and
showed off the svelte 12-inch PowerBook G4.
It shares an anodized aluminum case with the 17-inch PowerBook G4,
but with a 12.1-inch screen running at 1024 by 768, the new
PowerBook has more in common with the 12-inch iBook. It's even
smaller than the iBook in every way, measuring only 1.2 inches
(3.0 cm) high, 10.9 inches (27.7 cm) wide, 8.6 inches (21.8 cm)
deep, and weighing in at 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg). Both the PowerBook
Duo and PowerBook 2400 are slightly smaller than the 12-inch
PowerBook G4 in one or two dimensions, but not in all three or
in overall volume.
But where the iBook has been slowed by its reliance on the PowerPC
G3, the 12-inch PowerBook G4 uses an 867 MHz PowerPC G4. To that
it adds 256 MB of PC2100 DDR RAM (expandable to 640 MB), a 40 GB
hard disk (add $50 for a 60 GB disk) a GeForce4 420 Go graphics
processor with 32 MB VRAM and dual display support, a slot-loading
Combo drive (CD-RW/DVD-ROM), VGA and S-video out (both via an
adapter), a FireWire 400 port, two USB ports, 10/100Base-T
Ethernet, along with stereo speakers (and a third mid-range
speaker embedded in the bottom of the base), audio line in,
headphone output, and an internal microphone. On the wireless
front, the 12-inch PowerBook G4 boasts built-in Bluetooth support
as well as a slot for an optional $100 AirPort Extreme card. The
antennas are in the screen again, and Apple claims it should match
the iBook's wireless range. Apple also says the 12-inch PowerBook
G4 gets up to 5 hours of battery life from a lithium-ion battery.
The 12-inch PowerBook G4 should be available in about two weeks
with prices starting at $1,800; for an extra $200, you can replace
the Combo drive with a SuperDrive (CD-RW/DVD-R). It currently
ships with a copy of Intuit's QuickBooks. Unfortunately, the
12-inch PowerBook lacks the ambient light sensor and fiber optic
keyboard backlight of the 17-inch PowerBook G4.
While I'm unsure about how well the 17-inch model will do, I have
few doubts about the 12-inch model, since there are many people
for whom the TiBook was too large and expensive, but the iBook
suffered from lack of both performance and dual display support.
Adding Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme merely sweetens the deal.
The 12-inch PowerBook G4 is, quite simply, the perfect travelling
laptop for a serious Mac user. And I want one.
**A Step Back** -- All that said, you may have noticed a few
annoying limitations in the 12-inch PowerBook G4. Although 640 MB
of RAM is enough, many people would like to install more. A PC
Card slot might be nice, and a backlit keyboard would be welcome.
It also has only VGA out instead of DVI, FireWire 400 rather
than FireWire 800, and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet rather than Gigabit
Ethernet. Why the limitations? Though space and power are
undoubtedly tight in such a small machine, Apple was careful to
provide a rational way for people to choose among Apple's iBook
and PowerBook models, and the company didn't want the 12-inch
PowerBook G4 to eclipse the larger and more expensive PowerBooks
(the 15-inch Titanium models are still offered, and now represent
the mid-range of the PowerBook line). Apple's pricing ramps up
smoothly, as you can see in the list below:
* $1,000: 12-inch iBook (CD-ROM, 700 MHz)
* $1,300: 12-inch iBook (Combo, 800 MHz)
* $1,500: 14-inch iBook (basic config)
* $1,750: 14-inch iBook (more RAM and hard disk)
* $1,800: 12-inch PowerBook G4 (Combo drive)
* $2,000: 12-inch PowerBook G4 (SuperDrive)
* $2,300: 15-inch Titanium PowerBook G4 (Combo drive, 867 MHz)
* $2,800: 15-inch Titanium PowerBook G4 (SuperDrive, 1 GHz)
* $3,300: 17-inch PowerBook G4 (SuperDrive, 1 GHz)
The feature set of each machine follows along with the price,
making it easy to determine which laptop is right for you.
Apple is clearly taking portables seriously, and Steve Jobs
said that the company believes that someday portables will
outsell desktops. Currently, about a third of Apple's Macintosh
sales go to notebooks, compared with less than a quarter of
sales industry-wide.
Keep this product line ramp up in mind as you imagine what
the future might bring. I could see Apple releasing a 15-inch
PowerBook G4 using the anodized aluminum case of the new
PowerBooks, particularly if the current TiBook continues to meet
the needs of many new customers. I also think a G4-based iBook
might be in the offing, but only if the total package doesn't
impinge on the PowerBook line.
Apple Reduces Its Microsoft Dependency
--------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
As is becoming increasingly common at Macworld Expo, Apple
dominated attendees' attention by introducing a wide-ranging set
of new hardware and software products. The new 12-inch and 17-inch
PowerBooks, the speedy 802.11g-based AirPort Extreme, significant
updates to three of the four iApps, three new major applications
in Safari, Keynote, and Final Cut Express... the rapid-fire of
announcements had journalists scribbling madly through Steve
Jobs's two-hour keynote presentation.
But, as interesting and important as most of the announcements
were, the release of the Safari Web browser and the Keynote
presentation program offer the first major public look at what has
been one of Apple's main goals of late: to reduce the company's
dependence on Microsoft for essential productivity software. The
task is by no means done, so look for future moves to complete the
task of making Microsoft's software excellent alternatives, rather
than the sole choices in any given field.
**Past Efforts** -- When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, a
five-year agreement was made between the companies, requiring
Microsoft to continue producing Macintosh software, in exchange
for which Apple would bundle Microsoft software - Outlook Express
and Internet Explorer - with the Mac OS. That agreement is over
now and won't be renewed, but Apple has been working for some time
to wean itself from Microsoft, a move that's not only in Apple's
best interests, but which may also benefit Microsoft by giving the
company's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) some much-needed
competition.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04090>
Though Apple didn't make much of it at the time, the inclusion of
Mail with Mac OS X was the first step in this strategy, enabling
Apple to drop Microsoft's Outlook Express, which had been bundled
previously. More recent public hints came with Apple's unveiling
of iChat in May of 2002, since iChat specifically offered
compatibility with AOL Instant Messenger, rather than Microsoft's
MSN Messenger. Then, although it wasn't blatant, Apple's system-
wide Address Book and the release of iCal meant that Apple had
duplicated most of the basic features of Entourage X. The public
problems became more obvious after Microsoft complained about how
Office X wasn't selling well enough because Apple wasn't helping
to market it.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06816>
<http://news.com.com/2100-1040-943859.html>
**Big Game with Safari** -- Once the cracks began to show, it
became clear that Internet Explorer would be Apple's first target.
Internet Explorer's favored position on the Dock made it the
only non-Apple program to receive such treatment, and given the
undeniable importance of a Web browser in today's computing world,
Apple simply had to reclaim that spot.
Conceivably, Apple could have purchased one of the smaller
browsers, such as OmniWeb or iCab, but the company has avoided
that approach with the iApps after turning Casady & Greene's
SoundJam into iTunes. In particular, Apple chose to develop
iPhoto and iCal in house, even though there were plenty of
decent programs that Apple could have bought to kick start the
development effort. Part of that is undoubtedly Apple's desire
to show how quickly Cocoa applications can be developed from
scratch; there's probably some of the old "Not Invented Here"
syndrome in play as well, although there are good reasons to
write software yourself, as you can read in the "Joel on
Software" article linked below.
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000007.html>
So Apple set out to create their own browser, hiring a Netscape
developer who was also working on the open source browser Chimera.
That led to assumptions that Apple would use the open source Gecko
HTML rendering engine that's behind all of the Netscape-derived
browsers (Netscape, Mozilla, and Chimera), but those assumptions
proved false when Steve Jobs announced that Apple had instead
chosen the open source KHTML engine, reportedly because KHTML is
significantly faster than Gecko and has about seven times fewer
lines of code. Whatever the under-the-hood details, Safari looks
to be a good, if not yet great, Web browser, and we hope Apple
will continue to use it to push the browser paradigm forward.
<http://www.apple.com/safari/>
Does the release of Safari change the Web browser landscape? Yes,
since it will overnight become one of the primary Web browsers on
the Internet, and anyone writing HTML must test against Safari
along with all the other heavily used browsers. But overall, I
don't think Mac users will find the change all that unsettling.
Until Safari, Internet Explorer was the dominant browser, and all
the rest (Netscape, Mozilla, Chimera, iCab, OmniWeb, and Opera)
were used by people for whom Internet Explorer wasn't quite right.
I suspect Safari will replace Internet Explorer, not just on the
Dock, but also as the dominant Macintosh Web browser, and Internet
Explorer will join the others as a browser of choice for those who
eschew the status quo.
**Selling the Keynote** -- If the release of Safari was not
unexpected, the appearance of Keynote was an almost complete
surprise. Perhaps PowerPoint experts had been wondering about some
of the effects in Steve Jobs's Macworld Expo keynotes in 2002, all
of which relied on pre-release versions of Keynote, but if there
was any such speculation, I never heard it. I had been thinking
privately that Apple might be working to beef up AppleWorks so
it could give Microsoft Office X some competition, but since
AppleWorks doesn't include presentation software, I wasn't
thinking in those terms.
In retrospect, though, a cutting-out expedition to separate the
weakest member of the Office suite from the herd makes total
sense. Excel occupies an extremely solid position, since it's
incredibly mature and Excel spreadsheets are required for the
day-to-day functioning of innumerable businesses. Word's position
is also rather secure, thanks to the need for people to exchange
Word documents among Macintosh and Windows users and to import
them into layout programs. Word is more vulnerable than Excel,
though, because many people find the program's features - even
essential ones such as version tracking and comments - ungainly
and awkward. As much as Word is currently an essential application
for vast numbers of people, a competitor that read and wrote Word
format files perfectly would have a chance of supplanting it.
With Mail, Address Book, and iCal already offering an alternative
to Entourage, PowerPoint made sense as the next target for Apple.
With the exception of a few programs like ConceptDraw Presenter
from small companies, PowerPoint hasn't had any real competition
since the demise of Aldus Persuasion in the mid-1990s. Although
PowerPoint isn't a bad program, it had become the dominant
presentation program more through its inclusion in the Office
suite than its incomparable feature set or overwhelming ease of
use. PowerPoint's file compatibility is important, but not nearly
as much as with Word, and it doesn't fill the day-to-day role
of Excel in running a business.
<http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/CDPresenter/>
Hence Keynote. Although I'm not qualified to compare it to
PowerPoint on a feature-by-feature basis, it looks as though
it will be highly credible competition. Not surprisingly, Apple
focused on helping users make visually arresting presentations
with Keynote, but in a forward-thinking move, Keynote's file
format uses XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Since XML files are
merely structured text files, other programs will be able to write
out Keynote files, thus making it possible to create automatic
presentations based, for instance, on daily sales data. Plus,
Apple enabled Keynote to import and export PowerPoint files, a
capability that should address many file compatibility concerns
(reportedly, QuickTime movies in PowerPoint presentations must
be moved over manually).
<http://www.apple.com/keynote/>
Unlike the free Safari and iApps, Keynote costs $100, and thus
will not automatically take over as the Macintosh presentation
software of choice. But the buzz about it at Macworld Expo was
positive, and if nothing else, it should serve as a wakeup call
to the PowerPoint team that they need to innovate or risk losing
the Macintosh platform.
**How Should Microsoft Respond?** While not declaring war, Apple
has certainly thrown down the gauntlet, and it remains to be seen
how Microsoft will respond. Microsoft's MacBU has been flailing
since the release of Office X in October of 2001. The more recent
departure of MacBU general manager Kevin Browne emphasized the
group's confusion and underscored the importance of Apple reducing
its dependency on Microsoft for essential software.
Apple must extricate itself from this too-close relationship with
Microsoft carefully. Were Microsoft to become too angry about how
Apple was portraying the company and its products, it's not
inconceivable that Microsoft would dissolve the MacBU (which
probably doesn't contribute that much to Microsoft's bottom line)
and stop producing Macintosh software entirely. Such a move could
still be disastrous for Apple, given the essential roles that Word
and Excel play in business, government, and academia. However, I
expect better from Microsoft, particularly since the company has
long utilized the same strategy in the Windows market that Apple
is following in the Macintosh market. What's good for the goose...
Aside from the problem of being beholden to a company that is
essentially your primary competition, the other reason it makes
sense for Apple to lessen its dependency on Microsoft is that
Microsoft hasn't been delivering of late. It's been 14 months
since the release of Office X, and although carbonization of
the four programs in the Office suite was an admittedly huge
undertaking, Office X has few new features over Office 2001,
released 13 months earlier. And Internet Explorer hasn't seen a
major update since March of 2000, thanks in part to being left
without a development team for long periods of time.
Sadly, a renewed sense of purpose at Microsoft, if it's indeed
happening internally, hasn't yet bubbled to the surface. In our
briefing with Microsoft, the only new thing they showed was MSN
for Mac OS X, a novice-level Internet service that, short of some
moderately interesting parental controls, was basically a yawn.
But even MSN for Mac OS X was exciting compared to the rest of
Microsoft's limp announcements - the extension of a discount on
Office X for new Mac buyers, the release of Entourage X on its own
for $100, and the bundling of the Office X Test Drive with all new
Macs (in which you can see Apple trying to let Microsoft down
gently). My questions about whether we'd see a new version of
Office X in 2003 were ducked, and no one would venture a comment
on Safari or Keynote.
Call me an optimist, but I hope that Apple reducing its dependency
on Microsoft will motivate Microsoft to take renewed interest in
moving Office X and Internet Explorer forward in interesting and
innovative ways. Competition is a good thing, and Microsoft hasn't
had nearly enough of it lately.
$$
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