Top Links: December 2001

Mac News Today

The Low End Mac Link Archive, December 2001

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.

Analysis: 2001. A browser odyssey, CodeBitch, MacEdition, 12.31. A look at browser trends shows majority using "standards compliant" browsers.
Web: New to Mac?, Apple Asia Pacific. A newbie's introduction to what makes Macs so special.
ATI: Developer relations, Linux/XFree86, ATI Technologies. Hmm, ATI actively supports those creating ATI drivers for Linux - but no similar page for Mac developers.
Advice: All 2001 iMacs should have iMac Power Management Update 1.1 installed to solve a problem with losing PRAM settings when the computer is disconnected from power for an extended period of time. See Knowlege Base article 120048 for details.
Opinion: The educational freewares of 2001, Steve Wood, Educator's Week, 12.31.
Opinion: The year in Internet law, Carl S. Kaplan, New York Times, 12.28 (free registration required). The most important laws and court cases concerning the Internet.
Advice: USB vs. FireWire CD-R drives, Damien, AppleTechs.com, 12.30. Why you really want FireWire on your CD burner instead of USB.
Benchmarks: PowerBook G4/500 vs. G4/550, MacSpeedZone, 12.28. Generally similar results under OS 9 and X, but newer model benefits from improved graphics for 3D gaming.
Advice: Internet sharing, CD backup, and video ports, Dave Hamilton, Mac Observer, 12.28.
Web: Happy birthday to Macs Only!, begun Dec. 28, 1995.
Opinion: Open letter to board of directors of Apple Computer, Bob McCormick, MyMac.com, 12.28. I bought my PowerBook G3 "for the singular purpose of being able to make the transition to OS X."
Analysis: Fascinating discussion of Mac OS X, 2D graphics performance, and Cocoa vs. Carbon speed in Maca Only, 12.27.
News: Palm Desktop 4.0 public beta supports Mac OS X, Mac Observer, 12.27. Another obstacle to adopting OS X is falling by the wayside.
Analysis: Is it time to fence in broadband?, Rachel Konrad, ZDNet, 12.26. "The government should monitor Internet service providers like utility companies...."
News: Apple CEO Jobs takes $1 salary again in 2001, Yahoo/Reuters, 12.26. Dollar sales down 33% in FY2001, unit sales down 32%, losses total $25 million.
Opinion: A realistic look at the ATI chip conspiracy, Mac Night Owl, 12.26. "If Apple and ATI were ordered by court or convinced by incessant user demand to commit resources to get make those older chips work better under Mac OS X, would it make any difference?"
Advice: Sharing USB printers on a network, Matthew Glidden, ATPM, 12.25. Step-by-step instructions for sharing a USB printer among two or more Macs.
Analysis: 20 factors that will change PCs in 2002, Daniel Tynan, CNN.com, 12.25. Pixie dust, OLEDS, 802.11, XML, PCI's replacement, and lots more.
Opinion: 2001 a vintage year for Apple portables, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.24. With the TiBook and iBook, what more is there to say?
Opinion: User payments: Predictions for 2001 revisited, Jakob Nielsen, 12.23. Micropayments, not ads or subscription fees, are the future of the Web.
OS X: It's official: Apple remains committed to sub-standard ATI graphics performance in OS X, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 12.22. Apple now states it does not plan to support acceleration with ATI Rage II+, IIc, Pro, Pro Turbo, LT Pro, or Mobility chipsets, leaving WallStreet and Lombard PowerBooks, iMac Rev. A-D, beige G3s, and original iBook and iBook SE users behind.
Opinion: Who needs hackers when we've got Microsoft?, Richard Forno, The Register, 12.21. "...Windows XP doesn't protect you from Microsoft, an entity some argue is more dangerous than any cyber terrorist or hacker gang."
OS X: Getting to the source of Mac OS X, Chris Coleman, O'Reilly, 12.21. "...what many people don't know is that the source code for much of Mac OS X is available to the public."
Tech: Apple's FireWire to go wireless at 5 GHz, Kelly McNeill, osOpinion, 12.21. Looks like GigaWireô will use a 5 GHz carrier. Based on the name, this could also means data transfer in the 1 Gb/sec. range or better - even faster than current FireWire.
OS X: Mac OS 10.1.2: Still no support for Rage Pro Macs, Go2Mac.com, 12.21. Several improvements, but OS X still doesn't support ATI Rage graphics acceleration.
Opinion: Is OS X the real user friendly Linux?, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.21. "...with the ascendancy of Mac OS X, prospects for a desktop Linux breakthrough look bleaker than ever."
News: Microsoft seen winning in AT&T-Comcast deal, Yahoo/Reuters, 12.20. Turns out MS has a $5 billion investment in AT&T Broadband, which means it can help shape the new 22 million user AT&T Comcast service.
Linux on the desktop: 0.24 percent?, Slashdot, 12.20. Cool, Anne got us linked on Slashdot.
Stats: Google shows 91% Windows, 4% Mac, 1% Linux, 4% other traffic in November.
Analysis: Why is Virtual PC 5 slower on Mac OS X?, Eric Traut, Connectix forum. "...the quantitative difference between VPC 5 on Mac OS 9 and X is typically in the 20-35% range."
Connectivity: Comcast wins battle for AT&T Broadband, Yahoo/Reuters, 12.19. Let's hope the new owners know how to run a server that won't be constantly blacklisted for relaying spam.
Analysis: Apple Computer, Catherine Aman, law.com, 12.19. A look at Apple legal and intellectual property issues.
Virus: Computer virus could render a very unhappy new year, Ilaina Jonas, Yahoo/Reuters, 11.19. Worm disables keys, removes all files in Windows System Directory, forwards itself via email.
Software: Internet Explorer 5.1 for Classic OS, Microsoft Mactopia, 12.18. Now that IE for Windows is at 6.0, Microsoft throws Mac users a bone.
Advice: Booting an SE/30 from CD-ROM, AppleTechs, 12.18. Holding down the C key doesn't work, but this does.
Opinion: Mac OS X is the death of Linux on the desktop, Kimbro Staken, XML Databases, 12.17. "I think Apple has hit the right balance of open and closed source development and the tide is turning with Mac OS X stealing from the Linux community."
Software: Opera 5 Beta 5 available, Opera Software. Beta 5 for classic Mac OS, Beta 3 for OS X.
Opinion: Tales of a BeOS refugee, Scot Hacker, OSNews, 12.17. "I hereby publicly apologize for my past life as a Mac-hater. Not only that, but thanks to OS X, I'm now a bona fide Mac OS lover."
Review: Drive 10, Gary Coyne, Applelinks. Micromat's new utility excels at solving OS X drive problems, not as useful with OS 9.
News: Apple updates PowerBook with combo drive, Jim Dairymple, MacCentral, 12.17. Now my 400 MHz TiBook feels double outdated.
Opinion: All about compromise, Code Bitch, MacEdtion, 12.17. You can't please all of the browsers all of the time, so you make due.
Low end: Macintosh Crash Tips. All about dealing with bombs and other crashes in System 7.
The Geek Syndrome, Steve Silberman, Wired [ /.]. An examination of autism and Asperger's syndrome in Silicon Valley. "A WYSIWYG world, where respect and rewards are based strictly on merit, is an Asperger's dream."
Web: Family-Mac's December ezine is out.
Web: macgo.net, an online Mac community.
Opinion: Microsoft is an unrepentant criminal and must be treated as such, Bill Fox, Macs Only!, 12.17. "A penalty is required and none is provided by the settlement."
Hands on: Worth every penny: The Sony G420 19" CRT, Joel Hruska, Van's Hardware. The benefits of a larger monitor at 1024 x 768 and above.
OS X: Apple updates DVD player for OS X, including new support for G3s/G4s, Mac Observer, 12.14. Now supports G3 (blue & white) and G4 systems with PCI graphics.
Humor: "Macs suck" websites provide irrefutable evidence that Macs do, indeed, suck, Crazy Apple Rumors Site, 12.14.
Opinion: Checking out OmniWeb, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.14. Pretty, acceptably fast, a breeze to install, fully OS X native.
Security: MS releases mother of all IE security patches, John Leyden, The Register, 12.14. Patch "eliminates all previously discussed security vulnerabilities affecting IE 5.5 and IE 6." (Windows only, of course.)
Rights: Experts say decision could undermine online journalists, Carl S. Kaplan, New York Times, 12.14 (free registration required). Courts try to determine when a hyperlink is illegal.
News: Transitive demo's ARM, MIPS, PPC, x86 binary translation, Linux Devices. "Dynamite" technology enables code written for one type of CPU to run on another type of CPU without being recompiled. Demo included 1.4 GHz Athlon emulating 1+ GHz PowerPC. Discuss on MacSlash.
Analysis: Is your G3 obsolete already?, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 12.14. What, Norton Utilties 7.0 won't support beige G3s or WallStreets? Say it isn't so!
Opinion: Charles the Right? Says it ain't so!, Matthew Ruben, Mac Curmudgeon, Mac Opinion, 12.14. Provocative discussion of "liberal" and "conservative" labels on the Mac Web and elsewhere.
Dark Side: Dell to discontinue Itanium workstation, eWeek, 12.13. Total Itanium sales industry-wide estimated at 4,300 units - and you though Apple had a small market?
Opinion: Apple natives restless - and fighting mad!, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 12.13. "Steve Jobs better have one heck of a good reason for making sure that hundreds (if not thousands) of you will miss the speech."
Opinion: The holes in Apple's marketing lineup, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.13. "I would like to see Apple release a low-priced, entry level, modular CPU...."
Analysis: Riding into the sunset, Ed Foster, The Gripe Line, Infoworld [ /.]. Support expiring after a year, antivirus software expiring, required annual updates, and other software nightmares.
News: Wham, bam, thank you spam, Jeffrey Benner, Wired News, 12.12. Receive spam, sue the spammer, win in court - but only in certain jurisdictions.
News: Steve Jobs Macworld SF keynote moved up 1 day to start before the exhibits open, Mac Observer, 12.12. "Stevenote" moved to Monday, January 7. Why?
News: G4 upgrade for Lombard, WallStreet coming soon, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.12. PowerLogix BlueChip upgrades expected in January.
Opinion: Mac users ragin' mad about lack of ATI support in older Macs, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 12.10. OS X users "getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of driver support for older ATI cards in Macs built between 1997 and 1999."
News: Digital cash payoff, Evan I. Schwartz, Technology Review. A look at PayPal.
Advice: Number crunching for webmasters, Dan Knight, The Knight Line, Low End PC, 12.07. How to get the most out of your website's logs.
Dark Side: Win95 lifecycle draws to a close, Slashdot, 12.07. Windows 95 officially unsupported by Microsoft.
Rights: Big stink over a simple link, Farhad Manjoo, Wired News, 12.06 [ Slashdot]. Don't link to KPMG without permission - any link violates their link policy. Weird!
Advice: Surfing with Sega, Michelle Klein-Häss (a.k.a. Ms. Geek), Geek Speak. Low End PC, 12.05. Low end? How about using a $50 Sega Dreamcast to surf the Web, do email, and IRC?
Opinion: You can go back after all, at least sometimes, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 12.04. Going back to WallStreet not bad, although the screen seems a bit cramped.
News: Cable modem users can't turn to FCC, Jonathan Krim, Washington Post, 12.04. "...the FCC has had ample time to make a simple classification of cable-modem services that would not leave customers so exposed."
Web: ATPM's December issue is out.
News: Now we are 06. "other" browser Opera reaches milestone, John Lettice, The Register, 12.04. Darn, Mac version is still at 5. Give 'em time.

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