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The Low End Mac Link Archive, May 1999
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.
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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.
Opinion: Mac OS
X Server no easier than NT, so why bother?, Computerworld,
5/31. "...it was a shock to use an operating system that spread
related functions across four very different interfaces in a
seemingly random way."
Opinion: iMac:
Easiest PC to use?, Don Crabb, ZDNN, 5/28. "But what happens
when Apple begins shipping Mac OS X early next year?"
News: Australians demonstrate against net censorship, MacTimes,
5/28.
News: CompUSA starts training all sales reps about Macs, The
iMac, 5/28.
Opinion: Here's to
the crazy ones, Macville. "You see, we are not trying to change
the world as much as we are trying to show the world, through our
eyes, what it can become."
Review: Removable
media drives, PC World. New ORB drive beats Jaz with over 20%
faster performance, lower cost; rated best value.
Privacy: Massive internet
tapping revealed, Mac OS Rumors, 5/27. "...a large majority of
Internet traffic, including personal/business communication such as
email, is being passively tapped...."
Opinion:
The $600 Apple, osOpinion. "If Apple can drop the price of
iMacs to $999 and introduce the consumer laptop for $1,200, Apple
will probably be number one in retail sales."
Opinion: Dirty little secret about Macs: They're hard to use,
The iMac, 5/27. "What the Mac needs is a massive leap forward in
user interface, akin to the leap that the original Mac
made...."
News: Apple frees
AppleShare IP 6.2 updates, Apple Computer, 5/27. Citing "strong
feedback" from customers, ASIP 6.2 is now a free update to ASIP 6.0
and 6.1 users.
You can now support Low End Mac by purchasing through
Outpost.com
Issues: Australian
Broadcasting Authority given power to censor Internet,
Australian Broadcasting Corp., 5/26 [Slashdot]
"The broadcasting authority will be given responsibility for
ordering the removal or blocking of pornographic, violent or
otherwise offensive websites, newsgroups and databases."
A bit more information on
Yahoo.
Opinion: Email
built into the Mac OS? It's about time!, MacSoldiers,
5/26
"One of the major flaws I've begun to notice about the Mac OS is
that there are no standard Internet tools built into the
system."
Issues: Amazon
reverses decision on book ban, ZDNet, 5/20
"The book (A
Piece of Blue Sky), a critical examination of Scientology and
its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, was pulled by Amazon in February after
an injunction against its distribution in the United Kingdom." (I
waited to post this until Amazon listed the book. dk 5/26)
Software: NetCD,
Toby W. Rush Software
Automatically finds track names on the internet.
Connectivity: The dirty
secret about web filters, ZDNet, 5/26
"A survey of parents of minors with Net access at home . . . showed
only 31% use filtering devices."
USB: New Ariston USB
products (with pictures), iMac2Day, 5/26
Includes floppy drive, video capture unit, and digital camera plus
add-on lenses.
Opinion: Is under $1,000 iMac needed now?, The iMac, 5/25
"Is the under $1000 iMac needed now? Well, yeah!"
Opinion: Mac OS
advantages, About.com, 5/25
"I continue to notice a trend: users who believe that Windows is
'close enough' to the Mac OS. Is there a difference? Of
course!"
Opinion:
Mentality of the OS upgrade, osOpinion
"If you greet crashes with resignation, then Windows is most suited
to your temperament."
Opinion: Mac OS and Windows
Evolution, MacKiDo, 5/25
"People noticed Microsoft changes because they were inconsistent
and dramatic - but the goal of good interface is consistency and
nice smooth (subtle) evolution."
Review: VirtualPC crosses Mac divide, Newhouse News Service,
5/25
"...there's no way to tell (without looking at the Apple logo on
the computer) that you're not working with a real PC."
Review: Promax
TurboMax IDE controller, Accelerate Your Mac!, 5/25
"Based on what I've seen finder level tests will show little
difference between the fastest IDE drives and a fast U2 SCSI drive.
Again value is what we're after (bang for the buck) and the
combination tested here delivers it in spades."
Review: Imation USB 2x SuperDisk drive, The iMac,
"...it might now be the Zip killer I thought this product always
could be."
Connectivity: Modems' last
stand, Macworld
"...today's fastest modems can't compete with digital technologies
such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), DSL (Digital
Subscriber Line), and cable modems...."
Opinion:
Divide & conquer: April numbers read awry, The Apple
Trader, 5/24
"Apple can be insanely great while being the computer company for
the rest of us because they thought different and are developing
information appliances while the rest of the PC universe rests
stagnantly on their decaying laurels."
Opinion: Is it
time for a cheaper Mac?, MacBC, 5/24
"It should be a machine that can bring OS X to everyone, including
the old Mac users still running their Quadras as their main
machine...."
OS: Is it time for
Linux?, Network Computing
Pretty balanced comparison of Linux and Windows.
Opinion: More on censorship and school violence, MacTimes,
5/24
Analysis: Where
the truth lies, The iMac NewsPage, 5/23
"Statistics can paint all sorts of different, contradictory
scenarios if you only just look at one tiny corner of the whole
canvas."
News: Apple's
comeback impressive, but not over yet, San Jose Mercury Center,
5/22
"Over the past couple of years, the principal reason for buying a
personal computer has changed."
Opinion: Lies, damn lies, and statistics, AAPL Investors,
5/21
"I received quite a few emails regarding the conflicting reports of
Apple's April retail sales."
Opinion: Don't put all
your bytes in one basket, MacWeek, 5/21
"Now is the perfect time for system builders to take a more
distributed approach to computer design"
Privacy: U.S. uses key
escrow to steal secrets, TechWeb, 5/18. "European plans for
controlling encryption software are nothing to do with law
enforcement and everything to do with U.S. industrial
espionage...."
Opinion: Have we grown
deaf to the plight of alienated teens?, USA Today, 5/21
"School districts that have enacted strict rules against bullying
have taken a key step toward imposing the discipline of civility on
their students. But more is required."
Hardware: Installing iMac hard drive in an external USB case,
The iMac, 5/21
"...plug in the drive cable and power cord, screw the drive into
place, put the case back together and away you go!"
Opinion: Apple missing
out on IS market, Don Crabb, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/20
"...Apple Computer Inc. proved it still does not believe selling to
corporate information systems accounts is important to its
future."
Review: Startup Doubler
2, The Mac Junkie, 5/20
Tests on a Quadra show 12-20 second improvement.
Opinion: The Macintosh's secret
weapon, The Menagerie of Macs
"...the greatest strength of the Macintosh is its international
capability."
Opinion:
Whither Mac OS elegance and simplicity?, osOpinion
"...I fear that by adding complexity and slowly remaking the Mac OS
interface ..., Apple will be alienating the new computer
users...."
OS: Linux on Mac, Chris Rogers, iTeen Online, 5/19
Opinion: Internet censorship column catalyzes debate, MacTimes,
5/18
Charles W. Moore responds to It
Isn't Censorship on Mac Musings.
Opinion: Shopping
for PC? Consider Mac, Dallas Morning News, 5/18
"None of the computers we use now will be what our children will
have when they grow up. So learning a particular model doesn't
matter."
Review: Hands
on SpeedStartup, MacCentral, 5/18
"I personally don't find 9-14 seconds enough of a time savings to
be concerned with."
Connectivity:
DSL speeds can smoke cable, c|net, 5/17
"...even low-grade DSL is as much as 12 percent faster than cable -
at least during consumers' prime-time evening hours...."
Opinion: Thin Edge Of The Wedge: Why Internet Censorship Is A
Bad Idea, MacTimes, 5/17
"It is unacceptable for governments, or parents, to demand that
ISPs act as surrogate nannies...."
Hardware: External USB vs. internal IDE drives, The iMac,
5/17
Very helpful, detailed comparison including benchmarks.
News:
iKids? Generation Y eyes iMac, ZDNet/Yahoo, 5/17
"...Apple is hoping these children of the baby boomer generation
will replace PCs with the Mac."
News:
Pentium III hits 550 MHz, c|net, 5/14
Of course, a 400 MHz G3 will easily beat that, as will the 333 MHz
iMac and PowerBook.
OS: Major
tech firms embrace Linux, ZDNet, 5/14 [Slashdot]
"Silicon Graphics Inc. is expected to announce next week that it
will make Linux a primary offering...."
Opinion: Microsoft
Mactopia, thumbs up or down?, The Mac Junkie, 5/14
"It's a good resource for finding Mac news, software, and general
Mac sites, but I didn't happen to notice any 'Mac advocacy'
links...."
Opinion: All not well in Webzter Jr. land?, MacTimes,
5/14
"...some have suggested that the day of the disposable computer has
arrived. However, in order to dispose of it you first have to get
it...."
Review: World's fastest
CD-ROM, 52x Hi-Val True-X drive, Accelerate Your Mac!,
5/13
"By reading 7 tracks in parallel extremely high RPMs are not needed
and performance easily exceeds anything possible with a
conventional design CD-ROMs."
OS: OS
8.6 Hands-on Report: Mayhem and horror, Daily Mac, 5/13
"Well, I will leave the objective reports to the other
guys&emdash;I personally had a very bad experience with the OS
8.6 update...."
Review: Railroad Tycoon 2, iTeen Online, 5/13
Updated classic - I used to play the original on my Mac Plus and a
IIci at work. dk
News: Senate
unanimously passes filtering bill, c|net, 5/13
ISPs with over 50,000 users will be required to provide a content
filtering option so parents can block access to objectionable sites
by minors.
Rumor: Sonata in-depth,
Mac OS Rumors, 5/13
"A multi-user operating system with rapidly evolving navigation,
interface, and efficiency technologies. Industry-leading security
features and user permissions down to the single-file level.
Bundled strong encryption for files, folders, even whole drives.
Superior performance and multiprocessor support. And it's even nice
to look at."
News: G4 upgrade
development heats up, cards coming soon, MacCentral, 5/13
"A company spokes person tells MacCentral that PowerLogix already
has a design completed for a G4 upgrade card, and is merely waiting
for prototype chips from Motorola to begin production."
Lunchbox is Apple's code name for a new compact laptop.
Opinion:
Bloatware proliferating despite Web, PC Week/Yahoo, 5/13
"Wirth's Law ... says that software gets slower faster than
hardware gets faster."
Opinion: Wherefore
art thou, AppleWorks?, MacCentral, 5/12
"AppleWorks should be updated along with every major update of the
Mac OS. When possible it should incorporate and spotlight new
features of the Mac OS."
Opinion: Paradigms
of personal computing, part 2, Dr. Barney Hadden, MacOS Planet,
5/12
"But the internet is the great second paradigm. It takes the
personal computer and makes it part of a network again."
OS: Eight.Six
Plus!, Mac Tips
Mac OS updates more recent than Mac OS 8.6.
OS: Accelerate Your
Mac! reader recommends setting Speed Doubler to not always
active with 8.6
OS: Linux approaches
the enterprise, Intel
"Linux may be a hit in the Web server arena, but signs point to the
operating system becoming a powerful force in business-critical
enterprise applications...."
OS: OpenGL 1.0 released, MacTimes, 5/12
"OpenGL is a piece of software that enables your computer to
display accelerated three dimensional graphics using applications
designed to take advantage of it."
OS:
Apple sets stage for e-commerce, CBS MarketWatch, 5/11
Sonata (OS 8.7?) to provide "desktop portal" as customized
e-commerce machine.
Opinion: Access for
Microsoft, Steve Wood, Busman's Holiday, 5/11
"...while Office 98 is truly a great tool, it is incomplete without
a Mac version of Access."
Opinion: What's in a
name?, Jason D. O'Grady, MacWeek, 5/11
"That name was OK the first time Apple used it back in 1997, when
the PowerBook G3 was first announced, but giving three consecutive
models the same name is crazy."
OS:
Linux for dummies?, Salon, 5/11
"With every new release of a Linux distribution, the operating
system takes another giant hopscotch forward in addressing one of
its most frequently criticized aspects: ease of use."
Opinion: I Mac,
therefore I am, Macville, 5/11
"...I'm thrilled that my 71 year old parents, neither of whom have
ever used a computer, are purchasing an iMac."
Analysis: Tech
workers in demand, but field has dark side, LA Times,
5/10
"Long hours, intense competitive pressures, disappointments and
regrets, loneliness and boredom all take their toll on computer
workers." Amen.
First Look: Mac
OS 8.6, The Mac Observer, 5/10
"Mac OS 8.6 is a solid upgrade and in our view, a 'must-have' for
Mac users with PowerMacs."
OS: New
PlainTalk works with iMac, Blue G3, MacCentral, 5/10
"PlainTalk is a collection of software programs that let your
Macintosh speak written text and respond to spoken commands."
Hardware: Canon multifunction peripheral first for Macs,
Mactimes, 5/10
Low End Mac has long advocated (11/13/98, 8/9/98) bringing MFPs (printer, scanner, fax,
and copy peripherals) to the Mac. Canon is the first to do so, with
a new USB device.
Education: Backward migration underway at Pitzer College?,
MacCentral, 5/10
Moving from Unix to NT or OS X?
First Look: Castlewood's
ORB drive, The MacNN Review
"Although we were unable to obtain benchmarks, performance of the
ORB drive was phenomenal."
Opinion: Then I
got a Mac..., Macville
"Work gave me a Mac IIcx. Really they
just gave it to me to shut me up, I think. Anyway, I love it. It
runs system 7.5.5 and does everything that I need it to do and
more, plus it's cool!"
Opinion: Transparent Macs, Macville
"The transparent nature of the Macintosh platform is one of the
primary reasons that it produces such dedicated users."
Opinion: Pet peeves,
Mac OS World, 5/10
"I hate it when...."
Opinion:
One more Windows 98, Jerry Pournelle, Byte.com, 5/10
"You will recall a few years ago, Microsoft announced Win 2000
would take the place of both Win NT for offices and servers, and of
Win 98 for consumers."
OS: Linux
makes it easy to build your own internet server, Byte.com,
5/10
"I could do it all with my one cable modem and my old 486 machine.
In addition, the Linux OS functioned as a firewall gateway, letting
all the computers on my home network access and browse the Internet
simultaneously."
Review:
Speed Startup, The MacNN Review, 5/10
"...the savings will vary considerably between different Mac
models, processor speeds, and System Folder configurations."
Review:
Speed Startup 1.0, The MacOS Page
"...I am very pleased with the Speed Startup's performance on both
my G3 and 6400."
Review: Mac OS
8.6, Macs Only!, 5/9
"I have only had a short time to use the final public version. It
is extremely stable."
Advice: Data
recovery & backup with your iMac, Daily Mac, 5/9
"There are a thousand reasons you don't need floppies, but you do
need a data back-up system in place...."
News:
Brokerage fires 25 for email abuse, Post-dispatch, 5/7
"Several employees who spoke anonymously said they understood that
some of the infractions involved off-color jokes."
OS: Mac Linux email lists, 5/8
Want to dig into Linux but need help? Try these lists.
Opinion: Happy birthday, iMac! What a ride, the iMac, 5/7
News: Memory
chip prices plunge, c|net, 5/7
It's been a long time coming: "Memory chip prices are once again in
a downward spiral."
Opinion:
Net censorship and Apple, Don Crabb, ZDNet, 5/7
"The Internet, in fact, did nothing, except provide an inexpensive
and readily available information conduit that may have allowed
those kids to proclaim their own violent alienation from our
society in the form of a Web site and postings on AOL."
Opinion: Colors blooming everywhere in the Mac market, the
iMac, 5/7
Mice, speakers, printers, scanners, and more.
News: Major
PC makers plan Y2K alliance, ZDNet, 5/7
"Analyst's aren't convinced that the effort will have a significant
impact on Y2K understanding or readiness."
News: Your
spreadsheet is almost right!, MSNBC
"Every major Windows spreadsheet on the market today routinely
returns mathematically incorrect answers when the sums soar beyond
the trillions."
OS: File naming,
MacKiDo, 5/7
Long file names, spaces, special characters, accent, and smart
searching set Mac OS apart.
Opinion: iCab browser gets better with each release, MacTimes,
5/7
Opinion: Paradigms of personal computing, Barney Hadden, Mac OS
Planet, 5/7
"In the begining was the Apple. It began something no one had ever
anticipated: personal computing."
Opinion: Name
your poison, Mac Opinion, 5/7
Fascinating (albeit lengthy) article about human folly past and
present, including Microsoft and Apple.
Opinion:
Linux Inside!, Daily Mac, 5/7
"The authors all agreed that Linux was the best thing since sex.
So, liking sex, I decided to find out what this Linux was all
about." (also see Linux Links for Mac
Users)
Opinion: Compact Mac:
Uno, Macville, 5/7
"Apple's compact Macs are pretty much the 'apple-of-the-eye' of
their product lines...."
Software: SpeedStartup, Casady &
Greene
$20 startup accelerator is first competition for Startup Doubler, a $20 shareware
program.
OS: Quad Xeon processors running NT are a weak value
proposition, Linux Today, 5/6
"...poor options for upgrades make it a dead end system."
Happy birthday, iMac - unveiled by Steve Jobs on May 6,
1998.
(Click here to see the Top 25
iMac Sites.)
Rumor: The Star
Wars sick-out, Wired News, 5/6
May 19 expected to be "National Geek's Day Out" for Phantom Menace
premier.
Opinion: Teaching an old
Mac new tricks, MacTeens
"Today we'll take a look at just the effort it takes to bring a
Macintosh SE back from negligence and into a great world of
productivity once again."
Opinion: A Mac by any
other name is not the same!, Macville, 5/6
"There's a certain synergy that exists between the hardware and the
operating system when they're designed in tight unison, all under
one roof."
Rumor: Mac OS X to run PC
software?, Think Secret, 5/6
"Apple is probably going to outright buy Insignia and Connectix
once it has Mac OS X far along enough that it can focus on
integrating PC software support and making that support as
transparent as possible."
Opinion: Why
people hate Macs, Macville, 5/6
"...their computer is a cheap knock-off of the computer they hate
so much."
Opinion: What's
in a number?, Applelinks, 5/5
"Why should I pay over a thousand dollars for a 266 speed [iMac]
when I can get a PC at 350 for less?"
Rumor: Apple developing new
font technology, Mac OS Rumors, 5/5
"...designed to replace the existing Mac OS font control system as
well as the many third-party solutions...."
News: Motorola, IBM
have big PowerPC plans, Jim Davis, c|net, 5/5
"...the new design allows for the easy addition of what he calls
'application-specific processing units.'"
First Look: VST FireWire hard
drive, MacNN, 5/5
"The drive performance is pretty snappy. Not like a high-end SCSI
drive, but nothing to complain about."
First Look: Mac OS X
Server, MacWeek, 5/5
"One of the differences between Mac OS X Server and the current
desktop Mac OS is the versatile multiuser environment."
Opinion: PowerBook Duo
2.0?, Jason D. O'Grady, MacWeek, 5/5
"...there is a reasonable compromise between the bloat of the
PowerBook G3 Series and the tiny footprint of the PowerBook 2400.
The solution is a dockable PowerBook...."
Dark Side: Windows 98 SE
(second edition) released to PC makers, c|net, 5/5
"Microsoft has been criticized in some circles for charging users
for what is essentially an OS update, especially as it is a
departure from past practices."
Call to arms:
School computer purchases urged, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
5/4
Plan includes replacing Macs in high schools with Windows
machines.
See MacInSchool for
amunition.
Web: Fast Search,
lightning fast new search engine.
OS: Open
benchmark invitation, Mindcraft [Slashdot]
Mindcraft works to regain credibility from the Linux crowd with a
third Windows NT vs. Linux test, this time involving Linux experts
to tune the OS.
News: Maine courts Mac-based
since mid-80s, Macs Only!, 5/5
"The Maine court system continues today as essentially Mac-based,
with most of its original Mac equipment still functioning."
Rumor: MacMate to run
full OS 8.6, not lite version, Think Secret, 5/5
"Back when Apple discontinued the Newton ... and grudgingly
announced that Apple would ... market PDAs running the Mac OS,
Apple publically stated that it was 'not interested in splitting
the Mac OS code base.'"
OS:
Keeping Linux in tune, Salon, 5/5
"...a bevy of wannabe 'ultimate' central locations for tuning
information have sprung up."
Opinion: iMacs aren't
the only tasty computers, Macinsite, 5/4
"Every attempt to mimick the iMac is a vain attempt by the Wintel
community to overcome their own unimaginative platform."
Opinion:
How much longer before the iPC?, The Mac Observer, 5/4
"It is simply a matter of time before PC clone makers start
shipping curvy cases with translucent plastics in different
colors."
Opinion: Bland
PCs for a bland world, John C. Dvorak, ZDNet, 5/4
"I would argue that the beige computer is a universal thing and the
sign of a deeply rooted sociology - the sociology of tedium."
OS: Cool
your jets, penguin, Mac Opinion
"The point here is that I don't want to be a UNIX expert, I just
want to use my Mac to get my work done."
Overview: Mac,
WindowsNT servers compared, Macworld
"For general file serving in a Mac environment, don't let anyone
force you to abandon the Mac OS."
OS:
Practical manager's guide to Linux, osOpinion
"This document on Linux is unique in that it speaks the language of
business, from the viewpoint of a corporate user."
Review:
Mac OS X Server delivers, Infoworld, 5/3
"Mac OS X Server is essentially a Unix box running a GUI that looks
like Finder and acts like a combination of Finder and
NextStep...."
Dark Side: Springtime
is here, and so are all the bugs, Internet Week, 5/3
"Considering that lack of stability is one of NT's most notorious
problems as a serious enterprise server platform, you'd think
Redmond would be putting more effort into changing that
perception."
Opinion: What
life with a cable modem is really like, CNN interactive
"...after six months of use, I can say cable was worth the wait. At
least, that's what I tell myself on the good days. "
OS: Linux
gushes savings for oil giant, Computerworld, 5/3 [Slashdot]
"Saddled with low oil prices and a need to cut costs, ... Amerada
Hess Corp. is saving millions of dollars by replacing a costly IBM
supercomputer with high-end parallel clusters running
Linux...."
News: Apple stock reaches 52-week high, AAPL Investors,
5/3
Hardware: Apple discontinues PowerBook G3 Series floppy drive,
PowerBook Source, 5/3
Advice: When
to buy a PC, MacKiDo, 5/3
"If you don't touch anything, and just use the machine as a turnkey
solution, they work fine. "
Dark Side: Windows 95
Y2K fix kept from users, Computerworld, 5/3 (thanks, Slashdot)
"For almost a year, Microsoft Corp. withheld from its 125 million
corporate users of Windows 95 the information that a software patch
was in the works to make the desktop operating system fully year
2000-compliant...."
Advice: My iMac
rashed big time!, iMac Tips & Techniques, 5/1
"When crashes are a recurring problem, one of two situations
exists: Either data on your iMac's hard drive is corrupt, or there
is a conflict between two or more system extensions."
