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The Low End Mac Link Archive, October 2001
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.
LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
External news links are listed below by the date of publication
with the most recent articles listed at the top, older ones below
them. Other monthly archive indexes are linked on the right. Links
were correct when originally posted. However, we cannot guarantee
that these links are still active.
Software: iDVD 2
released for Mac OS X only, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.31.
Another incentive for Mac users to upgrade to OS X.
Opinion: Forward into the past?,
Dan Knight, The Knight Line, Low End PC, 10.31. Why both Windows XP
and the Pentium 4 offer one step forward, two steps back
performance.
Opinion: Apple,
Aqua, and interface freedom, Michel Munger, On the Flip Side,
Mac Observer, 10.31. Once a supporter of interface freedom, Apple
now blocks efforts to change Aqua appearance.
Dark Side: Dell punts out
pre-built $599 WinXP PC, The Register, 10.29. 1 GHz Celeron,
128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, 90 day warranty, no upgrade
options.
Opinion:
The state of Apple, Philip Machanick, Macintelligence, Mac
Opinion, 10.26. "As I have been saying since the G4 launched,
AltiVec is a mistake."
Dark Side: Hotmail
users must use Web client, Microsoft, 10.25. "Security updates"
no longer allow Entourage 2001 or Outlook Express for Mac to
download Hotmail mailboxes.
Opinion: Why
iPod doesn't do Windows, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 10.25.
"Apple obviously hopes that the iPod will prove one more enticement
to Windows-users to upgrade to a Mac...."
Myth: Macintosh LC
V, Dana Sibera. Scroll down for what looks like a Quadra
605/Mac IIsi hybrid. Nice job with Photoshop. :-)
Analysis:
Calculated rave: iPod wows, disappoints, Andras Puiz,
Applelust, 10.24. "The only way to modify the music library or the
playlists on the iPod is through a Mac and iTunes."
Dark Side: Intel
strong-arms site, OC-AthlonXP.com [Van's]. Intel lawyers demand
publisher remove "Trash Inside" from parody of "Intel Inside"
logo.
News:
Apple introduces new portable music player, Matt Richtel, New
York Times, 10.23 (free registration required). "...songs loaded
onto the iPod from a Macintosh computer, cannot then be loaded from
the device to a different Macintosh computer...."
Oops: New picture of the
iWalk, SpyMac.com, 10.23. Newest Mac rumor site buys nonsense, completely mispredicts
iPod - complete with doctored photo.
Analysis: Apple's
"breakthrough" iPod, Wired News, 10.23. "...Jobs hinted that
the company is looking into making the iPod compatible with
Windows...."
Benchmarks: Pentium vs.
Athlon, Emulators.com, 10.22. Pentium 4 consistently slower
than Pentium III and AMD Athlon, even running SoftMac.
Macinschool: Reports
claim that single platform better, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral,
10.23. Ignorance of the Mac drives move to PCs, "because the
district's technical staff was more familiar with PCs."
Analysis:
The new 'Books, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion,
10.23. "The most significant change announced for the PowerBook on
October 16th is its price."
Opinion: A wish list for
AppleWorks 7, Greg Torok, osOpinion, 10.23. My favorite
suggestion: resurrect Claris Home Page as part of AppleWorks. (We
design LEM with Home Page.)
Dark Side:
Meet the dark side of Windows XP, David Coursey, ZDNet, 10.21.
Licensing, cost, activation, firewall woes, wireless troubles,
drivers, software compatibility, "home version" limitations, memory
demands, Passport, MSN, lack of MP3 support, and MS firewall are
all issues with new OS.
Analysis: Billy gets a
laptop, MSNBC.com, 10.19 [
/.]. Gov. Angus King of Maine, a technologically literate
politician (and also a Mac user).
Photography: Nikon N4004
(F401) and N6006 (F601)
profiled, Dan Knight, Digigraphica, 10.19. I've been into 35mm
photography far longer than computers.
Opinion: Is the G3
unfairly getting the short schrift?, Charles W. Moore,
Applelinks, 10.19. "It's hard to swim against the current of
popular sentiment, but I'm still a fan of the inexpensive,
cooler-running, less power-hungry G3...."
OS: Open War,
Russ Mitchell, Wired. "Linux is highly reliable, but unfortunately
that's about all it offers the typical desktop user."
Dark Side:
Gateway loss in line with outlook, Yahoo/Reuters, 10.18. $520
million in losses on 818,000 units sold plus cost of layoffs,
closing overseas operations.
Software: Transitive
creates 1 GHz PowerPC on Athlon, Matthew Broersma, ZNet UK,
10.18. Virtual Mac offers 1 GHz performance on a 1.4 GHz AMD
Athlon, but not ready for market.
Consumer: Free
digital camera with iMac, Macworld UK, 10.18. Buy a CD-RW iMac
in UK and get HP Photosmart 318 2.3-megapixel digital camera - for
a pound for £1.
Hardware: Apple's
cool new portable AC adapter, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
10.18. I'll gladly trade my TiBook's yo-yo adapter for one of
these!
Art: Poster of clear
Mac SE, Raft Island Productions. The sample image on the site
is gorgeous! Posters are printed and mailing tubes are ready.
News: iBook
education sales triple in 4th quarter, Apple, 10.17. iBook
sales "to education tripled in the fiscal 2001 fourth quarter over
the same quarter last year, growing by an unprecedented 205
percent."
Opinion: Resisting
the Borg, Charles W. Moore, Appelinks, 10.16. "Microsoft makes
at best mediocre software, and their market dominance is due to
consumer ignorance, fear, dysfunctional conformity, and mental
laziness."
Overview: Apple feels the
need for speed, Philp Michaels, Macworld, 10.16. A look at the
new PowerBook and iBook models.
Rights: RIAA wants to
hack your PC, Wired, 10.15 [
/.]. "The recording industry wants the right to hack into your
computer and delete . . . stolen MP3s."
Opinion: Apple's
X factor, Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, 10.15 [MacNN]. "Apple is betting that OS X
will freshen the MacOS bloodline, overcome the Mac's inbred
disorders and provide a new base for future expansion."
Macinschool: Thermos
bottle barometer, Steve Wood, View From the Classroom, 10.15.
Coffee, old Macs, education priorities, and handicapped kids.
Opinion: Microsoft
will remain a monopoly, Bradley J. Fikes, North County Times,
10.14. Odd quote: "The vaunted Apple advantage of smart design and
style will appeal to an elite, but by definitions elites are not a
mass market."
Tech:
IBM to unveil "Sahara" PowerPC chip, Daniel Drew Turner, eWeek,
10.11. New G3/750fx to reach 1 GHz, "AltiVec-like
acceleration." But will Apple adopt it?
Opinion: Disabling
formatted email - yes!, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 10.12. "I
regard formatted email as a regressive plague, and I strongly
advocate disabling it...."
Virus: SirCam
ready to drop payload, Wired News, 10.12. "...every year on
Oct. 16 the worm will delete all the files and folders contained on
the hard drives of randomly selected SirCam-infected
computers."
Opinion:
Is Dell the antitechnology company?, Red Herring, 10.11.
"Dell's style of rapidly commoditizing marketplaces . . .
goes against everything technology companies are all about."
Rumor: Everyone seems to be speculating on speed-bumped
PowerBooks and iBooks coming out later this month - but nobody
seems to agree on specs. That's rumors for ya!
News: Michigan
legislator says use Macs, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 10.11. Rep.
Vern Ehlers (R-Michigan) promotes Macs as more stable, secure
platform. (Ehlers represents the district where LEM is
headquartered.)
Opinion: Make
nice with PC users?, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 10.11. "It's
hard to be humble, when you're a Mac user."
Opinion:
Mac passion and its abuse, David Schultz, Infinite Loop,
Applelust, 10.10. A thoughtful meander on Mac passion and the Mac
Web. (If you're not sure what he's addressing, click here.)
Advice: E-mail
droppings: On the trail of the wild equals sign, Jon C.
Thomason, Washington Apple Pi. "Quotation marks get a long list of
letters and symbols, the number 20 keeps appearing everywhere,
contractions are also big problems..."
Analysis:
Why Apple can't pull the plug on OS 9, Charles Hadded, Byte of
the Apple, BusinessWeek, 10.10. "Today, too many users - and too
many programs - are still dependent on OS 9, the last version of
the original Mac operating system."
Analysis:
The "Mac-ness" of Mac OS X, Brian Tiemann, Applelust, 10.10.
Mac OS X compared with the classic Mac OS and Windows.
Dark Side: A "must not" upgrade:
Windows XP, Michelle Klein-Häss, Geek Speak, Low End PC,
10.10. Why you really should avoid Windows XP at all costs.
Dark Side: AMD's Athlon XP
numbering scheme misses the (bench)mark, Tony Smith, The
Register, 10.10. "...we're not sure that slapping '1800+' on a CPU
enough to convince punters that it's faster than a 1.8 GHz Pentium
4."
Dark Side:
There'll be no XP for me, Brian Livingston, Window Manager,
InfoWorld, 10.08. "After looking at the changes Microsoft has made
in its forthcoming Windows XP, I'm recommending that most companies
and individuals avoid it."
Dark Side:
Microsoft eyes auctions of old Windows, Active Network, 10.08.
"...people who buy a computer with pre-loaded software cannot break
out the software and sell it."
Analysis: Who wants to
buy Excite?, Jim Hu, c|net, 10.08. Even at fire sale prices,
they may have a hard time selling beleaguered excite.com
portal.
Opinion: Did
someone say "Nimda"?, Aaron Russell, Brave New Mac, 10.8.
"...if you're using Virtual PC, don't think your fake Windows
machine is any safer than real ones."
AAPL: Apple
profits "on course," Macworld UK, 10.08. "Apple is set to
return a profit of 16 cents per share...."
Opinion:
Why hast thou forsaken me?, David Nagel, Talkin' Smack,
Creative Mac, 10.08. After seven months, Mac OS X finally
crashes.
Opinion: The
PC performance scam, Mike Wafkowski, Thinking From the Box, Low
End PC, 10.08. The need for the latest and greatest and fastest PC
is nothing but marketing hype and adolescent ego insecurity.
Dark Side: Microsoft
Research: Defending ourselves from "The System," Ken Standard,
osOpinion, 10.04. "This stinks of maniacal dominance of an industry
that has been relatively free flowing since the home-built"
computers of the mid-70s.
Web: Colour Classic
Upgrade Mega FAQ, Chris Lawson. Want a 640 x 480 screen, 40 MHz
68040, or even a PowerPC in your CC? Learn more here.
Opinion: Counting
down to the day when Apple kills "classic," Rodney O. Lain, Mac
Observer, 10.03. "OS X 10.1 is proof that we should start making
some closure to our love affairs with Classic and all that it
entails."
Web: FTC seeks
to trap a mousetrapper, Wired News, 10.02. "...the FTC has
charged Zuccarini with engaging in unfair business practices, as
well as attempting to defraud consumers."
Web:
FCC shuts down "pop-up trapping" sites, Slashdot, 10.01. "The
FCC today ordered the shutdown of 5,500 sites owned by John
Zuccarini, all of them the so-called 'typo' sites...." More on
c|net.
Dark Side?: IE 5.1 (OS X
only) autorun feature, MacInTouch, 10.01. Is this an attempt to
make Macs more susceptible to malicious software?
Consumer: 
News: