TidBITS#962/26-Jan-09
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/962>
What was the first Macintosh you owned? The computer for the rest of
us turned 25, and although Apple isn't marking the occasion, the
TidBITS staff reminisces (for some, not very far) back to our first
Macs, and Adam explains his potentially controversial choice for the
best Mac ever. This week also brings some significant business news,
starting with Apple's best financial quarter thanks to $10.2 billion
in revenue. Microsoft, however, announced layoffs - but as Glenn
Fleishman points out, the numbers may not be as bad as reported.
Glenn also notes that the SEC may be investigating Apple and Steve
Jobs over how Jobs's health issues have been disclosed to
shareholders. In other news, Apple quietly updates the low-end white
MacBook, Doug McLean roars about Growl, and Adam comments on why
people affected by malicious Trojans in illegally downloaded copies
of iWork '09 and Photoshop CS4 really shouldn't be surprised. In the
TidBITS Watchlist, we note the releases of Default Folder X 4.1.1,
QuickTime 7.6, Mellel 2.6, and Sandvox 1.5.4.
Articles
SEC Reportedly Investigates Apple over CEO Health
Apple Quietly Improves Low-End MacBook
Apple Posts $10.2 Billion Revenue for Q1 2009
Microsoft Plans Shift in Business, Thousands of Layoffs
Yet Another Reason Not to Pirate Software
Growl Offers System-Wide Notifications
The Mac Turns 25: Best Mac Ever?
The Mac Turns 25: Our First Macs
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 26-Jan-09
ExtraBITS for 26-Jan-09
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 26-Jan-09
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SEC Reportedly Investigates Apple over CEO Health
-------------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10019>
Before the close of trading on 21-Jan-09, the Wall Street Journal
reported (using an anonymous source) that the SEC had opened an
investigation into how Apple had disclosed information related to
Steve Jobs's health. Jobs, currently on leave from the company
except for major strategic decisions until June 2009, has made a
number of brief statements about his health over the last several
months. (See "Steve Jobs Takes Medical Leave Until June,"
01-14-2009.)
<http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1775550511&pt=Y>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/10004>
Publicly traded companies are required to disclose matters that have
a material effect on a company's performance, which could include a
CEO who was unable to perform as expected. The SEC typically only
discloses their investigations when a settlement is made, fines
imposed, or prosecution intended.
Apple Quietly Improves Low-End MacBook
--------------------------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10021>
The low-end MacBook, the white 13-inch polycarbonate model that
remained in Apple's laptop lineup at $999 when the company
introduced a new unibody aluminum model in October 2008 (see
"Updated MacBook Design Gets Metal and Glass", 2008-10-14), is now
an even better deal. Without any fanfare, the company has quietly
begun shipping a revised MacBook that features more memory,
more-advanced Nvidia graphics, and a faster frontside bus, without
giving up the low price or the FireWire 400 port that keeps many
users interested in the model.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9813>
<http://www.apple.com/macbook/white/>
Likely of most interest to prospective buyers will be the
performance boost the low-end MacBook now gets from the combination
of the Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor (replacing the Intel
GMA X3100 GPU of earlier 13-inch MacBooks) that also appears in the
newer aluminum MacBooks, and a boost in the logic board's frontside
bus speed from 866 MHz to 1066 MHz. Oddly, the upgraded model also
loses a little processor speed, dropping from a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2
Duo processor to a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo. We suspect the net result
will still be a faster machine.
At the same time, Apple has increased the $999 model's base memory
to 2 GB (upgradable to 4 GB), and now offers not only the previously
available 120 GB, 160 GB, and 250 GB hard drives, but also a 320 GB
hard drive for $225 more than the base model. The white MacBook
retains its Mini-DVI port, which supports adapters to DVI or VGA,
but can't drive Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display, which requires
dual-link DVI. By comparison, the aluminum MacBook model features
the newer Mini DisplayPort, supporting DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI
with appropriate adapters.
The FireWire 400 port remains the biggest technical difference
between the white MacBook (which has one) and the unibody aluminum
MacBook model (which has none). The absence of a FireWire port from
the aluminum MacBook model (though the MacBook Pro features a
backward-compatible FireWire 800 port) was the subject of much
consternation among users who felt they'd miss FireWire Target Disk
Mode and compatibility with FireWire-based digital video camcorders,
FireWire external hard drives, and other devices (see "On the Way
Out: FireWire and Matte Screens?", 2008-10-18).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9818>
Apple Posts $10.2 Billion Revenue for Q1 2009
---------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>, Jeff Carlson <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10020>
Despite the poor state of the economy, Apple has good news for its
latest quarter of results. The computer company hit $10.2 billion in
revenue and $1.6 billion in profit, and sold oodles of products: 4.4
million iPhones, 22.7 million iPods, and 2.5 million Macs in the
quarter ending 27-Dec-08 (the second highest number in Apple's
history for Mac sales). Revenue was up slightly over the same
quarter in 2008, which saw $9.6 billion in revenue (see "Apple Beats
Earnings Records with Q1 2008 Results," 2008-01-22); sales of Macs
were up 9 percent in the same period, iPods up 3 percent, and
iPhones up 88 percent.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/21results.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9417>
The company ended the quarter with about $28 billion in cash, cash
equivalents, and marketable securities as part of $35 billion in a
variety of current assets. On the downside of the ledger, Apple owes
or has to count as a liability about $15 billion in bills to pay,
expenses they've incurred, or revenue they deferred.
The numbers above are the official figures using GAAP (Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles). Apple now also releases a separate
set of "adjusted sales" and "adjusted net income" reports that deal
with how they account for revenue from iPhones on a subscription
basis over two years. The adjusted sales figure was $11.8 billion
for the quarter, while adjusted net income was $2.3 billion. This is
a closer representation of actual dollars taken in and net dollars
retained. This accounting was designed to cushion the flow of
revenue from the devices and allow zero-cost software upgrades, in
contrast with the iPod touch, which has its revenue realized when
sold (which is why major system software updates for the iPod touch
require a fee).
With the normal slowing in sales following the holiday quarter,
Apple is still projecting fairly robust sales of $7.6 to $8 billion
in the current fiscal quarter.
Apple said it sold a cumulative total of 13.7 million iPhones in
2008, and has sold a total of 17 million, which is far ahead of the
10 million units figure that Apple projected back in 2007. Passing
10 million units sold seemed unlikely until mid-2008 when Apple
introduced the iPhone 3G. Apple now sells iPhones in over 70
countries.
Despite the high level of sales, which puts Apple up against
Research in Motion BlackBerry phones in the United States, acting
company head Tim Cook said during a conference call with analysts,
"Our objective is not to be the unit-share leader in the industry.
Our objective is to build the world's best phone."
Cook also emphasized that there's a bit of buy-in by developers
writing software for the iPhone. "We approached this as a software
business," he said, which differentiates the iPhone for third-party
developers from products like the Android platform used by the
T-Mobile G1 or the Palm Pre (not yet released).
Cook also fired a shot across the bow, noting that competition was
good, but only, "as long as they don't rip off our IP," referring to
"intellectual property" such as patented ideas. "We will not stand
for having our IP ripped off and we'll use any weapons we have at
our disposal," Cook said. While he wouldn't single out any
particular company, it's possible this was meant as a warning to
Palm. (The Palm Pre project is run by former Apple hardware
engineering chief Jon Rubenstein.)
Apple Stores continue to drive traffic in huge numbers, with 46.7
million visitors in the last quarter alone, or 14,400 visitors per
week in each store on average. The company expects to open about 25
new stores this year adding to 251 stores open in 10 countries
today.
Cook was clear on Apple's future in the netbook category, one that's
been on fire as tiny laptops with decent capabilities have captured
what Cook said was 3 percent of the PC market. Cook reiterated a
point made by Steve Jobs in the previous quarter's earnings call
with some additional detail: netbooks are underpowered and lack the
quality that Apple wants to put in its devices. "We think the
products are inferior," Cook said, though he noted that Apple is
still watching the category.
Cook offered no new information about Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard,
which Apple said last year would be available somewhere in the
middle of 2009.
Unsurprisingly, the first question of the conference call was about
Steve Jobs's health: "How is Steve?" Without actually answering the
question, Cook responded at length, with a fluency that indicated he
was certainly prepared for the question: "There is an extraordinary
breadth and depth and tenure among Apple's executive team. And these
executives lead over 35,000 employees that I would all call wicked
smart. And that's in all areas of the company: in engineering,
marketing, operations, sales, and all the rest. And the values of
the company are extremely well-entrenched. We believe we're on the
face of the Earth to make great products, and that's not changing."
Microsoft Plans Shift in Business, Thousands of Layoffs
-------------------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10023>
As expected, Microsoft announced layoffs last week, a rare event in
the company's history. The actual scale - 5,000 Microsoft employees
and as many as 5,000 contractors - seems to have shocked analysts
and reporters so much that they ignored a few salient facts.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/technology/companies/23soft.html>
<http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/160115.asp>
Microsoft shed 1,500 employees at the time of the announcement and
plans to lay off 3,500 more over the next 18 months. But, during the
same period, CEO Steve Ballmer said in a staff memo the company will
add 2,000 to 3,000 new positions for its new initiatives, many of
which are focused on cloud computing, applications that run in a
distributed fashion over the Internet instead of being housed on
individual personal computers or servers.
<http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/160106.asp>
Even more specifically, insiders are claiming that the majority of
the first cuts are in the Xbox, Zune, and Windows Mobile divisions
of the company, according to veteran Microsoft reporter Mary-Jo
Foley.
<http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1836>
We have no word yet at TidBITS as to whether any Macintosh Business
Unit staff have been let go. The MacBU develops core business and
communications software for Mac OS X, such as the Office suite.
It's well known in the Seattle area that Microsoft has a penchant
for hiring and no talent for firing. Very few people are
involuntarily separated from the company headquartered in Redmond,
WA, even after they've committed egregious blunders or exhibited
total and complete incompetence. (Theft is another matter.)
As a result, Microsoft employs a lot of people that don't contribute
directly to the company's bottom line. The areas that Ballmer said
would be cut were largely support staff: IT, human resources,
marketing, and so forth, rather than the muscle and sinew of the
company, its core programming efforts.
It's never a good day to lose one's job, and one hopes that the most
competent and able folks will be able to shift within the company to
the new positions opening up.
And, by the way, Microsoft made $4.2 billion dollars on $16.6
billion in revenue in the last quarter, and has $20 billion in the
bank. These moves are expected to save them $1.5 billion a year in
expense and $700 million in capital spending.
Yet Another Reason Not to Pirate Software
-----------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10033>
I've been laid up in bed following a hernia repair operation last
Wednesday (feeling better, thanks!), and while that's undoubtedly
making me crankier than normal, I'm having trouble mustering any
sympathy for the people who downloaded pirated copies of iWork '09
and Photoshop CS4 and had their Macs turned into zombies
participating in distributed denial of service attacks. Yeah, it
sucks that those people are going to have to go to some effort to
wrest back control of their Macs (for safety's sake, I recommend
absolution of a clean install of Mac OS X and applications, moving
only documents and settings over) but let's face it, anyone
downloading this software was trying to get something for nothing.
Oh, I know, it seems that copying software illegally is a victimless
crime, but it's now painfully clear that doing so also attaches a
big "Practices Unsafe Hex!" sign to your back. Perhaps software
piracy isn't so victimless after all.
<http://www.macworld.com/article/138380/2009/01/iworktrojan.html>
<http://www.macworld.com/article/138432/2009/01/piratedphotoshop.html>
We've been saying for a long time that responsible computing
practices include avoiding untrustworthy sites and, especially, not
downloading software from such sites. For the most part, we were
thinking about the usual gambling, porn, and get-rich-quick sites
that attempt to prey on our baser instincts. But with (unverified)
claims that as many as 20,000 people downloaded the pirated version
of iWork '09, perhaps we've been remiss in not stating the obvious.
The kind of people who post pirated software aren't necessarily the
sort of people you want installing software on your Mac. And that's
just what you do when you download pirated software - you invite
someone who's intent on ripping off Apple or Adobe to do what they
want with your machine.
So let's not pretend that this Trojan Horse situation is in any way
a normal security exploit or that people who suffered from it didn't
know that they were doing something wrong. They may not have known
that their Macs would be dragooned into a denial of service attack,
but they certainly knew they were doing something wrong. Not to get
all preachy, but in this sort of situation, virtue offers not just
its own reward, but also the reward of keeping your Mac safe from
unsavory elements.
Growl Offers System-Wide Notifications
--------------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10027>
Multitaskers, which nowadays includes almost everyone, are
frequently presented with an annoying problem under Mac OS X:
application notification dialogs popping up and stealing your time
and mental focus. Granted, sometimes we're interested in the
information these notifications contain, such as when there's an
unusual error or a software update becomes available, but often the
moments and means these notifications choose are not ideal. While
the time and attention it takes to close a dialog or make an icon
stop bouncing on the Dock is slight, momentary distractions add up
(see "Minimize Desktop Distractions," 2008-12-04). What's needed is
a piece of software that can mediate non-critical alerts from
applications, giving us better control over how and when we see
them. Thankfully, the free and open-source Growl does just that.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9908>
<http://growl.info/>
While Growl has been around since 2004, many people aren't aware of
it - I just found out about it this fall when Adam introduced it to
me as a must-have. Growl is system-wide notification software that
presents application alerts according to your custom specifications.
It comes with 17 standard notification styles, 14 of which are
visual styles ranging from screen-length transparent bars to chat
bubbles. The remaining three standard options are audio, email, and
SMS notifications. Additional styles, including SpongeBob
SquarePants and a Vanna White lookalike alert, are available for
download from the Growl Web site.
<http://growl.info/styles.php>
Growl enables users to determine where alerts appear on screen, how
long they remain visible, and other visual style preferences such as
text size, bubble transparency, and text/background colors. Users
can also designate priority levels, and enable "sticky"
notifications that remain on-screen until clicked. Also,
notification styles and settings can be adjusted for each program
taking advantage of Growl. For example, Firefox could be set to
sticky Music Video style alerts that appear at the top of the
screen, while Safari could be set to display Smoke style alerts at
the bottom of the screen that disappear after 5 seconds.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-12/Growl-Options.png>
Unfortunately, Growl can't take over the notification tasks of just
any program because it doesn't actively seek and collect
information; it waits for other programs to post notifications to
Growl. If you do have a program that supports Growl, it
automatically appears under the Applications list in Growl's
preferences. Otherwise, there's nothing you can do to add it.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-12/Growl-Apps.png>
Users can also configure exactly which notifications from each
program are enabled and how they appear. For instance, Skype can
notify you of every new chat message you receive, but that's
ridiculous if you're actually maintaining a chat, since you see each
message in the chat window and then again via Growl. While there
could be a use for that sort of duplication if you were merely
monitoring a chat while using another application, in most cases it
makes more sense to turn off Skype's notification of new chat
messages. Even worse is the Contact Is Typing notification - it's
hard to imagine a reason why you'd want to be notified every time
your chat partners were typing.
Growl also possesses network capabilities that enable notifications
to be sent from one computer to another. So, if you were sitting on
the couch with your laptop waiting for a download to finish on a Mac
in the other room, Growl could alert you when it's done without your
having to get up and check.
The list of programs that are compatible with Growl is fairly
substantial; those that do not directly support Growl might work
with third party utilities that can. For example, iTunes does not
directly support Growl, but can be convinced to work with Growl via
GrowlTunes, Quicksilver, and Synergy Classic, which in turn
communicate with Growl. Similarly, GrowlMail enables Mail to work
with Growl, and GrowlSafari mediates between Safari and Growl.
GrowlTunes, GrowlMail, and GrowlSafari are all included with Growl
under the Extras folder. Growl can also notify users of hardware
changes via HardwareGrowler, also included in the download package.
HardwareGrowler notifies users of physical environment changes to
their computer, such as when devices are connected or disconnected.
<http://growl.info/applications.php>
<http://growl.info/documentation/hardwaregrowler.php>
OmniGrowl ($10) from Wooden Brain Concepts works with a host of
previously unsupported programs and services such as iCal and
Address Book events, traffic reports, RSS headlines, and more. A
handy plug-in for Gmail users is Waffle Software's Google + Growl,
which establishes communication between Growl and Google Notifier, a
program that enables users to check Gmail and Google Calendar
without opening a Web browser.
<http://www.woodenbrain.com/products/omnigrowl/omnigrowl.html>
<http://wafflesoftware.net/googlegrowl/>
<http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/notifier_mac.html>
Growl appears to be steadily gathering support from application
developers. As Growl's list of compatible applications and third
party plug-ins expands, this handy tool inches closer to truly
becoming a system-wide notification system, though I'd be shocked if
Apple ever actually integrated it into Mac OS X. I highly recommend
checking out Growl, and if you like it, encouraging companies whose
programs you use to add Growl support.
The Mac Turns 25: Best Mac Ever?
---------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10028>
When my friends at Macworld called and asked me to contribute to
their 25th anniversary issue, I jumped at the chance. Steve Jobs is
so uninterested in the past that he had Apple's famous icon garden
not only ripped out, but junked. I, on the other hand, find it
instructive to pay attention to the past because it both informs
where we are today and, hopefully, enables us to avoid repeating our
mistakes.
So when asked the question of what the best Mac of all time is, I
didn't have to think too hard - it's the Macintosh SE/30. Despite
Andy Ihnatko's sage comment that one's favorite Mac is one's first
Mac, the SE/30 was only my first Mac on the outside - it started
life as an SE that Tonya and I later upgraded to an SE/30 with a
motherboard swap in 1990.
<http://www.macworld.com/article/138328/2009/01/macat25_bestmac.html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_SE/30>
My choice, shared by stalwarts John Gruber and John Siracusa, was
not based on the fact that the SE/30 can in any way compete with a
modern Mac, which Charlie Sorrel seemed to think was relevant on
Wired's Gadget Lab blog. It's painfully obvious that the SE/30 has
nothing on any modern Mac. If the best Mac ever was simply the most
powerful, it would merely be a competition between Apple's current
models, and it would change as soon as a new Mac came out. Boring.
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/the-best-mac-ev.html>
No, the SE/30 gets my nod as the best Mac ever for more subtle
reasons.
* It offered, for the time, an amazing combination of power, small
size, and expandability, thanks to its 68030 processor and PDS
expansion slot. It wasn't the first to be that fast or the most
expandable - both of those awards went to the Macintosh IIx - but it
opened our eyes to the possibility that we could have a small Mac
that made no compromises. The next Mac to do that for me was the
PowerBook 100, which might be my runner-up for best Mac ever, thanks
to what it showed was possible in a portable form factor.
* That expansion slot was key, because it made multiple monitors an
obvious and financially realistic option for many people. An SE/30
with a video card and an external monitor was a lot cheaper than a
Macintosh IIx with two video cards and two monitors. Attaching a
second monitor is one of the easiest ways to increase productivity
to this day, something that New York Times writers noted back in
2006 and again just a few weeks ago. Since that SE/30, every one of
my main Macs has had multiple monitors attached.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/technology/20basics.html>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/technology/personaltech/15basics.html>
* Even after I stopped using the SE/30 as my main Mac, the expansion
slot kept it useful, since I was able to install an Ethernet card
and use the SE/30 for various Web and mailing list server duties
until 2001. Sure, a new Mac could have performed the SE/30's tasks
without difficulty, but I didn't have to buy one for that purpose,
because the SE/30 remained useful for over a decade, running
continuously updated software the entire time. No other Mac I've
owned has had such a lifespan, and with Apple ever more focused on
getting us to upgrade frequently, I doubt any Mac will enjoy such
longevity again.
In short then, the SE/30 was a great package that offered a glimpse
of what the Macintosh could be in the future and then stuck around
to watch that future come to life around it. And that's why I keep
my SE/30 around to this day in a bookshelf, where it can see the new
Macs that trundle in and out of our offices and remind us of where
we started.
The Mac Turns 25: Our First Macs
--------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10029>
The Macintosh turned 25 this week, and in honor of the event, we're
all taking a moment to dig back into the depths of time and share a
few thoughts about our first Macs.
**Adam & Tonya: Macintosh SE** -- Tonya and I bought our first Mac in
the summer of 1988, which required a little finagling, since
although we were students at Cornell University at the time, we
weren't enrolled in summer classes, thus making us ineligible for
the student discount until the semester started. Undaunted, we
convinced a friend to put her name on the paperwork, plunked down
our money, and brought home a double-floppy Macintosh SE. We weren't
new to the Mac at that time, since both of us had worked in
Cornell's public computer rooms, but having a Mac in our apartment
made it easier for Tonya to write papers and for me to work on my
senior honors thesis in a wildly pre-release version of the
Storyspace hypertext editor (still being sold by Eastgate Systems).
Apart from site-licensed programs like WriteNow, I remember buying
QuicKeys and Suitcase right away to outfit our new Mac.
<http://lowendmac.com/compact/art/mac-se-240.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_SE>
<http://www.eastgate.com/storyspace/>
I had, somewhat earlier, built a hard drive for my Atari 1040ST
(which had replaced my first computer, a Franklin ACE 1000, which
was an Apple ][ clone) from a Seagate 30 MB mechanism, a SCSI
controller board, and a massive case that could support up to five
full-height drives. All I had to do to move that hard drive over to
the SE was build a new cable to plug into the Mac's SCSI port, but
unfortunately I had no electronics gear to test my wiring. Once
again undaunted, I ran wires from the cable through a
battery-powered squirt gun to test continuity. My tests worked, the
drive worked, and we were up and running.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST#STF_and_STFM_models>
<http://www.myoldcomputers.com/museum/comp/museumpics/1040sta.jpg>
<http://www.vintage-computer.com/franklin.shtml>
<http://oldcomputers.net/pics/ace1200-right.jpg>
We used the SE for a year or so, but after graduation, when the
SE/30 upgrade came out, we jumped at the chance to move up, adding a
video card and an Apple 13-inch RGB monitor to the mix and turning
the humble SE into a veritable tower of power for its era. We still
have that SE/30 in a bookshelf, reminding us of what the world of
the Macintosh was like back in the early 1990s (see "The Mac Turns
25: Best Mac Ever?", 2009-01-26).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_SE/30>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/10028>
**Joe: Macintosh SE** -- During graduate school at the University of
Texas at Arlington, I had a conversion experience of sorts: I got
enough of a taste of Macs in the school's computer lab that I
realized I could never again own a PC. Although I'd found much to
like about Macs, the deciding factor was, without a doubt, Nisus. I
tried a demo version of this unusual multilingual word processor on
a Mac Plus at school and with every cascading submenu I just drooled
more. Nothing in the PC world could touch it, and since I was
studying linguistics, the program's superb support for non-Roman
languages made the decision that much easier.
There was just one problem: As a starving student, I couldn't afford
the cheapest new Mac available at the time, which was early 1991. In
fact, even a used SE/30 - a model discontinued the previous year -
cost a couple thousand dollars more than I had. But knowing that I'd
find some way to get a Mac as soon as possible, I went ahead and
ordered a copy of Nisus before I graduated so that I could use my
student discount - even though I had nothing to run it on.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Se30.jpg>
If I'd been able to afford it, I would have bought a Mac Portable,
which at the time seemed to me the sexiest computer imaginable.
Instead, that summer I spent (as I recall) about $500 on a used Mac
SE with a 20 MB hard drive, and another $100 or so to max out the
RAM to 4 MB. That fall, I added a new StyleWriter printer for output
and a Global Village ADB modem for connectivity.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable>
During the time I owned the SE, I spent more than I'd originally
paid for it replacing a busted logic board and a faulty hard drive.
But it was still my beloved first Mac. I gave it to a family member
a couple of years later when I made a major leap forward to my next
Mac, a Centris 610.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Centris_610>
**Jeff: Macintosh Classic** -- I'm going to start a little further
back in time, fully cognizant that I can't seriously compete with
some of my colleagues in the "first-computer used" category. The
first computer I owned was a Commodore VIC-20, which was fairly soon
replaced by the unbridled power of a Commodore 64. In high school I
lobbied the newspaper's journalism adviser to jump into the digital
age with a set of C64s, but she'd (smartly) already decided on
getting a Mac Plus, with a few Mac SEs arriving the following year.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20>
<http://tiof.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/vic201.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64>
Although I took that Commodore 64 to college, it was by then just a
word processor from which I could print papers; the Mac had become
the be-all, end-all computer for me. Working on the high school
paper taught me how to do layout (and swap floppies) in PageMaker
1.0, write in Microsoft Word, and play a mean game of Solitaire. As
a college freshman, I was the only staffer who knew how to use the
newspaper's new Macs. But I had no money to buy my own; on deadline,
I'd often beg a friend in the freshman girl's dorm to let me write
my articles on her Mac SE.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Commodore64.jpg>
Finally, as a sophomore, I took advantage of the student discount to
buy a Macintosh Classic, along with a case to carry it in (of
course!), which I'd frequently sling over my shoulder and then bike
to the newspaper office for weekly late-night production deadlines.
I would have loved to own one of the new PowerBooks (eventually I
bought a used PowerBook 100, one of my favorite machines), but the
price was prohibitive.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Classic>
<http://www.daniellight.co.uk/uploaded_images/Macintosh_classic-705825.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_100>
**Matt: Macintosh LC** -- As a programmer, I'd been working with
computers since 1968, but as a Classics professor in the early
1980s, my immediate problem was typing Ancient Greek, or, more
precisely, typing both English and Greek in the same document. I had
an IBM Selectric typewriter with interchangeable typeballs, and
later an Olivetti electronic typewriter that used interchangeable
typewheels and had a tiny "memory" so that it was almost a miniature
word processor. But the real solution was a personal computer: I got
an Apple ][c clone called a Laser 128. This, together with an
ImageWriter and a wonderful (now defunct) program called Gutenberg,
gave me a full-featured word processor with the ability to alternate
English and Greek letters at will.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Selectric>
<http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com/IBM_Selectric_Type_Balls.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128>
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Laser128_1.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagewriter>
<http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n6/64_Gutenberg.php>
While teaching at Cornell University in the late 1980s, I met Adam,
who taught me to use the Macs in the computer labs; I remember us
performing some clever tricks with Microsoft Word and QuicKeys (and
swapping a lot of floppy disks). But the Mac still felt like a toy
to me, and I didn't actually want one.
Then, in 1990, I arrived at Swarthmore College and found that, like
every professor, I was given an office Mac. It was one of those
early squat all-in-one machines with a tiny monochrome screen -
probably either a Plus or an SE. Naturally, since it was right there
on my desk and hooked into something called the "Internet," I
started playing with it constantly. (Oh, the INITs! Oh, the bombs!)
But what turned me into a Mac person wasn't the machine so much as
the killer apps I got for it. Nisus, a fantastic word processor with
amazing search-and-replace and macro features, along with
LaserGreek, a gorgeous Ancient Greek font, allowed me to do all my
multilingual scholarly writing. And HyperCard 2 made the Mac
interface itself programmable, letting me create an Ancient Greek
language lab for my students. By the end of that school year, I was
a Mac convert, the proud owner of a brand new pizza-box Macintosh LC
which, together with a StyleWriter printer, remained my workhorse
machine for many years.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/3154>
<http://www.linguistsoftware.com/lgk.htm>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/4075>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_LC>
<http://www.allaboutapple.com/museo/pictures/donazioni/mac_lc.jpg>
**Glenn: Macintosh Plus** -- The first computer I programmed on was a
Commodore PET, and the first PC I owned was an Ohio Scientific
Challenger 1P. I taught myself machine-code programming on the C1P,
and copyrighted a tape-based software loading program I wrote. My
folks bought me the $333 computer, and then saw little of me outside
my room for months.
<http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/commodore_pet4032_1.jpg>
<http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=191>
<http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/photos/OhioScient_Challenger1P_System_1.jpg>
<http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=168&ti=151,168&Search_Arg=fleishman&Search_Code=NALL&CNT=25&PID=m44Tr1xsRWJig3Dy5TMeSdUs5Za&SEQ=20090124225123&SID=1>
The 1P stood for one port, which was an unpopulated RS-232C port
into which you could stick some components, solder them to an
optional connector, and run a 110-baud modem. An easter egg in the
boot firmware let you enter the character "L" and be told that the
built-in 8K BASIC was written by Micro Soft and Bill Gates. (Who the
hell was Bill Gates?)
<http://glennf.com/vanity/computers.html#Anchor-OSI-57453>
Like the Apple ][, the PET and C1P all used the famous 6502
microprocessor. By the time I went to college, I'd upgraded to a
Commodore 64, which used a similar processor.
I started using a 512K Mac during my last year in high school, where
I was the school newspaper's typesetter. We had some aging
phototypesetting gear that allowed me to set one justified line at a
time onto a thin photosensitive paper that could be developed and
waxed to be cut and put down on boards for layout.
My marvelous journalism teacher let me take the newspaper's first
Mac home over winter holidays in 1985 so that I could learn
PageMaker 1.0, and come back ready to typeset and teach others. I
was completely blown away. This experience likely led to my decision
to major in art with a concentration in graphic design when I
started college the following fall.
I took my Commodore 64 to school to write papers, like Jeff. But I
was yearning for a Mac once the Macintosh Plus had been out for
months with a whopping 1 MB of RAM. My grandparents on my father's
side offered to buy me a Mac sophomore year, which I believe cost
about $1,200 with the student discount.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Plus>
My roommate, Ethan Robey, and I agreed to split the cost of a fancy
dot-matrix printer. But we somehow managed to order the wrong item.
After weeks of waiting, an ImageWriter II in the wide-carriage,
pin-fed paper version arrived! We couldn't return it, and we'd spent
much more than we needed to. Ah, well. The upside is that it could
handle normal and pin-fed continuous paper, of which a large supply
was available for the, uh..."borrowing." It wasn't being used much
by that point.
<http://www.parsons.edu/faculty_and_staff/faculty_details.aspx?pType=2&dID=79&sdID=104&id=4253>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageWriter_II>
<http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/data-labels_2035_4787346>
Now, this Macintosh Plus wasn't a passing fancy: I spent many a year
swapping sets of 800K floppies with that puppy. Sometime during my
senior year (1989-1990), I got a case-cracking kit so I could
upgrade RAM myself. The campus computer store wanted some truly
insane amount of money to upgrade from 1 to 4 MB - $750, perhaps?
The kit was a very long hex wrench, to remove two tiny and
hard-to-get-at screws at the top of the case; a spring-loaded clip
that you would insert into the seam of the Mac and gradually ease
open; and a grounding strap to avoid zapping internal components.
That spring, I was able to barely afford a 60 MB Ehman external hard
drive, the only affordable drive at that time, and my
floppy-swapping days were over.
Like Jeff, I used to haul this Mac around in a special case. It
would fit only in the middle seat of an airplane. I grew up in
Oregon and went to college in Connecticut. I sat in a lot of middle
seats.
I wound up getting about 4 years of use out of that Mac, finally
selling it to a friend. He moved to Brooklyn where, when he was out
of the house he shared with a number of other people, a pipe burst
in the basement, pouring water all over the Mac. Roommates unplugged
the computer (which was off), dried it out, and it kept working for
a while after that.
My next machine was enormously more advanced: a Macintosh IIcx. And,
in 1991, I took a job at the Kodak Center for Creative Imaging,
where I was responsible for 100 Macintosh IIfxs - curse you,
Jean-Louis Gassee! - and had a Macintosh Portable of my very own.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_IIcx>
**Rich: Mac mini** -- Since I'm truly frightened Adam will physically
eject me from the TidBITS staff once I reveal my first Mac, I'm
going to distract you by talking about the first Apple products I
used, as opposed to owned.
Similar to Glenn, I started programming in elementary school on a
Commodore PET, where I'd show off by switching it to binary mode to
demonstrate binary addition (both the beginning and end of my
education in binary). Fairly early on my best friend's parents
bought an Apple ][ for his family, and the two of us quickly
monopolized it for a mix of games and programming. I can't count the
hours we spent playing Wizardry and designing education software we
planned on selling back to our school, thereby allowing us to retire
before the eighth grade. During these same years we also toyed with
programming BASIC on an Atari 2600 using a small hand controller
(no, you couldn't even save your programs).
The first computer I owned was a Commodore 64, and my friend and I
would shift between his home and mine depending on whether we were
in the mood for Apple or Commodore. In 1984 our school obtained two
original Macs, and I remember reveling in correcting people who
referred to the plastic-encased floppy disks as "hard drives"
(ensuring I would later never get a date in my home town).
I shipped off to the University of Colorado with the Commodore 128
that I'd promised my parents would get me through all four years
(which would eventually became eight years, and require a few
additional computers along the way). While in school I used a
variety of Macs for layout and publishing, but used mostly PCs for
class work. Much of this wasn't by choice - I'd spend hours drooling
over the various Macs and eventually NeXT systems at our local
student bookstore. By the time I could finally afford one, I had
started my career in IT, with a side business of building PCs, and
Macs faded to my past.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Commodore_128.png/800px-Commodore_128.png>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Computer>
But then a strange thing happened. Steve Jobs returned to Apple and
the company produced a string of beautiful machines with a new,
Unix-based operating system. I was intrigued, and finally invested
in a first generation Mac mini for research purposes. Despite being
woefully underpowered compared to my home and work PCs, it quickly
became my primary system when I wasn't traveling.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini>
<http://images.apple.com/hk/en/macmini/gallery/images/gallery1img20060228.jpg>
Then the Intel transition was announced, and I pre-ordered one of
the first MacBook Pros off the assembly line. I virtualized my work
computer, totally against policy, and have been all Mac ever since.
In the process I've racked up two MacBook Pros, a MacBook for my
wife (after banning PCs from the house), five iPods, two iPhones,
multiple AirPort Express and Extreme units, and a one very loud
Xserve sitting in my closet. I've also converted my entire side of
the family, and am working on my in-laws.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbook_Pro>
Hopefully my exuberance makes up for my tardiness.
**Mark: Macintosh 512K** -- I'm a little surprised to discover mine
was the earliest Mac purchase of this august group, but after
several years of light programming experimentation on a Prime
minicomputer at my mom's office, Commodore PETs, TRS-80s, and Apple
][s at school, and an Atari 400 at home, I bought Apple's second
Macintosh model - the Macintosh 512K - soon after I got to Cornell
to use in my Computer Science programming classes. (It was even
Friday the 13th, which turned out to be pretty lucky for me.)
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Mac512K_wb.jpg>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_512K>
That first Mac, with its 9-inch black-and-white screen, saw me
through about three years of college, enjoying upgrades first to a
Macintosh 512Ke (enjoying new ROMs and support for 800K floppy
drives instead of the original 400K) and then finally to a Macintosh
Plus, with an entire megabyte of RAM! I wasn't a Computer Science
major for long, but my Mac was great for writing papers and
developing software for a professor who hired me to write the Mac
version of his DOS application.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_512Ke>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Plus>
Along with my Mac, I had an ImageWriter printer and one of the
coolest peripherals imaginable, a Thunderscan scanner attachment
from Thunderware that replaced the ImageWriter's ribbon cartridge
and used the printer's roller and ribbon mechanisms to move photos
or other documents through the printer to scan them.
<http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Thunderscan.txt>
It wasn't until my next job forced me to set up and support lots of
shiny new Macintosh II computers with 13-inch color monitors that my
1 MB of memory and monochrome 9-inch screen started to seem
inadequate. I eventually bought my own Mac II with color display and
twin floppy drives. The next year, I even added a 30 MB SuperMac
Dataframe hard drive!
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_II>
That Mac II lasted me several years, thanks to RAM and PMMU
upgrades. It was joined by a PowerBook 100, and eventually gave way
to a SuperMac C600 clone desktop. Along the way, I've also had a
Quadra 950, Power Mac G4, and a parade of PowerBook and MacBook
laptops.
**Doug: 20-inch Intel-based iMac** -- Given that I'm roughly the same
age as the Mac itself at 25, my trip down memory lane will be
considerably shorter than the preceding expeditions down memory's
Mariana Trench.
Having been raised on Apple through 12 years of public school,
distant memories of their computers waft through my brain: Playing
Number Munchers and Oregon Trail on what must have been some
descendant of the Apple ][ in elementary school; making HyperCard
animations with a Macintosh Classic II in middle school; and surfing
the Web on an iMac G3 in high school. While Apple was a constant
presence in my school life, we had a PC at home - the writing on its
console read only, "Standard Computer," a name I still find
hilarious for its cartoonishly generic character. It wasn't until
college that I began to have a conscious affinity for Macs.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Classic_II>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G3>
Studying art at Cornell University, I found myself working as a lab
monitor at the art building's Mac lab. The space was decked out with
about 20 Power Mac G5s paired with 22-inch Cinema Displays, and I
just loved being in there. Whether I was on shift, hanging out
between classes, or editing videos for my senior thesis, countless
hours of my collegiate career were spent in that lab with those
machines. So, in many ways, I consider that setup to be my first
Mac.
Eventually though, I did get my hands on one I could truly call my
own. Upon graduating from college and moving to New York City, I
trotted out to the newly opened 5th Avenue Apple Store to tinker
around with the new machines and fell in love with the 20-inch Intel
Core Duo iMac. Days later, I ordered one from Apple's Web site. Only
three years old, it still serves me well every day of the week.
<http://images.apple.com/hk/en/imac/images/index_hero20080429.png>
[Images linked from many sources, including All About Apple, Low End
Mac, Early Office Museum, Greater Pittsburgh Vintage Computer
Museum, Old Computers, and Wikimedia Commons.]
<http://www.allaboutapple.com/index2.htm>
<http://lowendmac.com/>
<http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com/>
<http://myoldcomputers.com/>
<http://oldcomputers.net/>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/>
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 26-Jan-09
---------------------------------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10022>
Default Folder X 4.1.1 from St. Clair Software is a maintenance and
stability update to the Open and Save dialog-enhancement utility.
Bugs addressed include a crash when you log out or restart your Mac,
an AppleScript bug preventing other applications from retrieving the
current URL in Firefox when Default Folder X is open, and a bug
causing repeated error messages to appear in the Console regarding
failed Finder queries. Also, support for Hazel has been improved by
mitigating a file labeling conflict issue. ($34.95 new, free update,
10.2 MB)
<http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/>
QuickTime 7.6 from Apple brings several updates to the multimedia
software. Changes include enhanced single-pass H.264 encoding
quality, more reliable Motion JPEG media playback, heightened AAC
encoding fidelity, improved export consistency for audio tracks from
MPEG video files, and increased compatibility with iChat and Photo
Booth. Apple has also released a separate security document
detailing the accompanying bug fixes. Issues addressed mainly
include maliciously crafted URLs and movie files that lead to
application crashes. The update is currently available via Software
Update and from Apple's Web site. (Free update, 72 MB)
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3292>
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3403>
<http://support.apple.com/downloads/QuickTime_7_6_for_Leopard>
Mellel 2.6 from RedleX brings a host of new features to the
increasingly powerful word processor. Freshly added is a
sophisticated Quick Look plug-in that enables users to access
document previews that appear identical to printed versions. Also
new is the Spread View feature, which displays a document's pages as
they would appear in a book or magazine spread. The new version also
now sports an improved statistics palette, support for automatic
updates, the capability to save directly to PDFs, and smart style
matching for switching between style sets. A full list of changes,
improvements, and bug fixes is available on RedleX's Web site. ($49
new, free upgrades for purchases since December 2006 or $19
otherwise, 33.3 MB)
<http://www.mellel.com/>
<http://www.mellel.com/releasenotes.html>
Sandvox 1.5.4 from Karelia Software is a minor maintenance update to
the template-based Web site creation tool. The biggest change is
added support for the JS-Kit commenting service Comments. The JS-Kit
Comments service enables site administrators to foster social
networks, encourage user-generated content, communicate directly
with users, and provide a fully functioning commenting engine.
According to Karelia's Web site, the new version apparently comes
with other undisclosed changes as well, presumably minor performance
enhancements or bug fixes. ($49 Regular/$79 Pro, free update, 26 MB)
<http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/>
<http://js-kit.com/>
ExtraBITS for 26-Jan-09
-----------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10034>
**Fix for Buggy Seagate Firmware on Intel-based Macs** -- Although
Seagate has yet to respond to our inquiries about how Mac users can
update buggy firmware in a wide selection of buggy Seagate drives,
Steve Maller reports that Seagate tech support walked him through
building a CD that booted his Mac Pro into FreeDOS, after which he
could run the firmware updater. PowerPC-based Macs and drives in
external cases are still out in the cold. (Posted 2009-01-26)
<http://stevemaller.com/blog/2009/01/22/my-seagate-hard-drives-are-safe-now/>
**iLife '09 Shipping on 27-Jan-09** -- Apple has announced it will
begin shipping iLife '09 on 27-Jan-09. The latest version features
major upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand; comes free with
new Macs; and costs $79 for all other users. (Posted 2009-01-26)
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/26ilife.html>
**Adam Prognosticates on Mac Software Future** -- For Macworld's 25th
anniversary issue, Adam contributed an article looking at the
near-term future of software on the Mac, focusing on three things:
what's coming in Mac OS X, the possibility of a Mac App Store, and
how Apple is embracing cloud computing. The nut? Don't expect big
changes in the next year or two. (Posted 2009-01-26)
<http://www.macworld.com/article/138387/2009/01/macat25_software.html>
**Macworld's Six Worst Mac Products Ever** -- As part of Macworld's
25th anniversary issue, Adam wrote an article about what he feels
are Apple's six worst Mac-related products of all time. It's pure
opinion, so check out the reader comments about what was - and
should have been - included. (Posted 2009-01-26)
<http://www.macworld.com/article/138404/2009/01/macat25_worstproducts.html>
**Watch Tonya and Andy Ihnatko Strategize at Macworld Expo** -- In
MacVoicesTV episode 917, recorded at Macworld Expo, Tonya plays
along as Andy Ihnatko plans to take over NASA and then they both
talk about Macworld Expos past, present, and future. Bob LeVitus and
Bryan Chaffin join them midway. (Posted 2009-01-22)
<http://macvoices.tv/macvoicestv-917-the-macnotables-fill-the-macworld-podloft-with-opinions-observations-and-show-picks/>
**Adam's Predictions for 2009 at Macworld** -- We forgot to post this
earlier, during the bustle of Macworld Expo, but here are Adam's
Apple-related predictions for 2009, as solicited by our friends at
Macworld before the show. Note that part of the second prediction
has already come true. Score! (Posted 2009-01-20)
<http://www.macworld.com/article/137891/2009/01/2009predictions.html>
**Seagate Hard Drive Firmware Bug Makes Disks Unusable** -- Hard drive
manufacturer Seagate is working on a solution to a firmware problem
that is rendering many of its high-capacity drives unusable. If
you've purchased a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, DiamondMax 22, or
Barracuda ES.2 SATA model, check to see if your drive is affected
and learn more about possible fixes. Seagate says data remains
intact but inaccessible, and is providing recovery services for
drives that have been bit by the bug. (Posted 2009-01-19)
<http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 26-Jan-09
----------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10032>
**SugarSync Problems** -- Readers report data loss and little
developmental work on the beta software for synchronizing files over
the Internet. (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2408>
**Leopard Use Percentage** -- It's difficult to determine how many
people are using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but statistics from the Omni
Group help provide one data point. (9 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2409>
**Caffeine** -- Readers discuss the pros and cons of software that
prevents your computer's screen from dimming after a set amount of
time. (13 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2410>
**Folder View Question** -- Is it possible to specify that all new
Finder windows open in column view? (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2414>
**MacBook shutdown with (just) power button?** Following an abrupt
freeze and shutdown of a MacBook, a reader gets conflicting
information on how to solve the problem from Apple's customer
support line and an Apple Genius at an Apple Store. (4 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2417>
$$
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