Top Links: October 2001

Mac News Today

The Low End Mac Link Archive, October 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.

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.
Opinion: Itanium = Titanic, Philip Machanick, Macintelligence, Mac Opinion, 10.31. Don't miss our Itanium or Itanic? from October 1999.
Software: "Classic" Opera beta introduces Mac-exclusive features, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 10.31. Classic version supports Mac OS 7.5.3-9.2.
Web: Berners Lee: WWW royalties considered harmful, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 10.31. Web should be free of royalty-bearing standards.
Software: Netscape 6.2 available, Macs Only!, 10.31. Includes download links.
News: High court allows suit involving tough spam law, USA Today, 10.30. Key issue: May states regulate spam?
Opinion: Mac OS X: A system for the post-Windows world, Michael Reynolds, osOpinion, 10.30. "The maturation of Mac OS X couldn't have come at a more opportune time...."
Advice: How to install a CD-RW in a G3 All-in-One, ScienceMac, 10.30. Includes lots of helpful photos.
Opinion: Sleeping with the enemy, Jim Heid, modbee.com, 10.29. "The best computing platform is a Mac - running Microsoft software."
Software: Unsupported UtilityX v2.0, Ryan Rempel, OWC, 10.29. If you use it, consider joining our Unsupported OS X email list.
Opinion: Ten best PowerBooks ever - plus one, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion,10:30.
Humor: Anti-terror bill requires Americans to install Windows XP, SatireWire [WOSC]. "... the anti-terror act mandates that the F.B.I. become an official Microsoft partner."
Benchmarks: OS 9.2.1 freestanding vs. inside OS X, MacSpeedZone, 10.28. Freestanding 9.2.1 usually faster, but classic mode wins some tests.
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: Macintosh OS X: Apple is nifty, but Windows is more practical , Mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press, 10.26. "You can keep Windows as long as I can have a Macintosh running OS X...."
Benchmarks: Old TiBook 500 vs. new TiBook 550, Bare Feats, 10.29. Smaller fast, faster CPU, better graphics. Each wins.
Dark Side: Is Windows XP really a new operating system?, Adam Barr, osOpinion, 10.26. "Windows XP is based on the NT kernel used in Windows 2000...."
Dark Side: Waiting for Windows XP, P. J. Connolly, InfoWorld, 10.26 [MsGeek]. It's not just bigger; it's also slower than Windows 2000 under load.
Web: Webintosh is back, Webintosh.net. Dan Hughes is back, and so is the Webintosh name, but this time attached to a blog.
Humor: Apple listens to customers, adds new "low cost" iPod to lineup, dissimilation.com. Very low cost iPod LC includes full sized 500 MB hard drive."
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: Will Office v.X have secret activation registration?, Macs Only!, 10.26. Signs point to yes. :-(
Consumer: New promotion offers US$150 rebate or free digital camera with 600/700 MHz iMac purchase, MacMinute, 10.26.
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.
OS X: A few Mac OS X 10.1 secrets revealed, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.25. Classic MP-aware apps can now use multiple processors.
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...."
Dark Side: MSN.com shuts out non-Microsoft browsers, Yahoo/News.com, 10.25 [ /.]. Funny thing is, if you have iCab tell MSN that it's IE5, everything works just fine.
Web: Living Without Microsoft
Analysis: Apple gets a boost from Microsoft, Jim Heid, LA Times, 10.25. "Best Windows ever" makes MP3s second-class citizens - at best.
Dark Side: Big Brother Award nomination for WPA, Passport pains MS, John Lettice, The Register, 10.25. MS creates Orwellian activation and Passport, then balks when people recognize it for what it is.
Connectivity: PocketPCs on the Mac: It's finally a reality, Mac OS Planet, 10.25. Solution requires CompactFlash to install driver onto PocketPC.
Opinion: iPod - iFlop?, Philip Machanick, Mac Opinion, 10.25. It's a consistent refrain - Apple has priced the iPod too high.
Software: First ever IE 5.0 service release for Mac users, Mactopia, 10.24. Fixes problem with Windows Media Player, Microsoft Entourage 2001, Macromedia Flash, Apple QuickTime.
Myth: SubWallStreet, Dana Sibera, The Apple Collection. Great job in Photoshop showing what a subnotebook WallStreet might have looked like.
Opinion: Apple jumps into the MP3 game - and does it right, Stephan Somogyi, ZDNet, 10.24. "...Apple seems to be the first company to have gotten the portable MP3 genre right."
Opinion: Another Mac success story, Nancy Carroll Gravley, Mac Observer, 10.24. An iMac and eBay create a small business.
Opinion: The iPod: What would have made it right (for me), Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.24. "The name is stupid, and the price is too high."
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."
Opinion: "iPod. iYawn": Vacillating Reaction To The "Breakthrough Digital Device," Rodney O. Lain, Mac Observer, 10.24. "It's the price, stupid."
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.
Oops: Intel took iPOD name before Apple did, Tony Smith, The Register, 10.23. Intel announced iPOD (Phone Over Data) system just last week.
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.)
Discussion: Ten years of Apple PowerBooks, Slashdot, 10.23. Some good comments about reliability, ease of use.
Web: Slashdot updates, Rob Malda, Slashdot, 10.22.
Advice: Using aliases, Charles W. Moore, Mac Basics, Applelinks, 10.22. How to make the most from a tool we've had since System 7.0.
Analysis: Memo to companies: You are your Web site, Erika Morphy, osOpinion, 10.22. Some businesses get it, but too many don't.
Profiles: Fuji FinePix digital cameras, Digigraphica.com, 10.22.
Macinschool: School gives students laptops to integrate technology into life, Jennifer Barnett, Tennessean.com, 10.21. iBooks, of course.
History: Happy birthday, PowerBook!, PowerBook Zone, 10.22. A look back on the PowerBook's 10th anniversary.
Benchmarks: Macs Only! test 10.0.4 vs. 10.1 on a beige G3, 10.22. Finds latest version of OS X "perfectly usable" on 266 MHz G3.
Opinion: Apple looks to future - post-Motorola? - PowerPC world, Tony Smith, The Register, 10.22. "Apple is becoming increasingly irritated with its prime PowerPC provider, Motorola...."
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...."
Consumer: Week's best PowerBook, iBook deals, PowerBook Central, 10.19.
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!
Dark Side: What's MS' ultimate goal for XP? Hint: Way more than an OS, Patrick Houston, ZDNet, 10.18. Wants to turn XP into the heart of an AOL-like system - count on that meaning a monthly fee.
AAPL: Apple announces $66 million profit, $4.3 billion cash on hand, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.17. So why is AAPL stock usually in the crapper?
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."
Dark Side: MSN-Qwest alliance requires use of MS email client, Qwest.net [ /.]. POP3 email users must use MSN Explorer, Outlook, or Outlook Express. A great day for malware.
News: House resolution OKs public school displays of "God Bless America," Fox News, 10.17. "To threaten a public school for showing the same type of patriotism that we all showed on the Capitol steps is the opposite of what this country is all about."
News: Taliban stealing trucks from relief groups, Fox News, 10.17. Talk about morally bankrupt....
Consumer: Apple UK cuts iMac prices, Dominique Fidele, Macworld UK, 10.17. Prices reduced up to £100.
Web: Family Mac ezine.
Web: Operator Headgap Systems, refurbished Macs including some highly tweaked systems.
Opinion: Analysis of the new portables, Paul, iBook Zone, 10.16. "...how do these new products differ from the former products?"
Opinion: PowerBook and iBook repair costs are a scandal, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.16. LEM's advice - buy AppleCare.
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.
Dark Side: Intel profits tumble 77 percent, Yahoo/Reuters, 10.16.
News: IBM announces 1 GHz G3, MacCentral, 10.15. PowerPC 750FX will run at 700 MHz to 1 GHz speeds, include 512K L2 cache.
Profiles of Canon PowerShot S30, S40, G2, Digigraphica.
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.
Discussion: Apple shouldn't have killed the Cube, MacSlash, 10.14. Readers weigh in pro and con.
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."
OS X: Unsupported UtilityX 2.0b4 released, Ryan Rempel, 10.13. Allows OS X on a lot of unsupported hardware.
Web: Apple Computer's statement on the draft W3C patent policy, Apple, 10.13. "...it is essential to continued interoperability and development of the Web that fundamental W3C standards be available on a royalty-free basis."
Opinion: Geek toy no more - the look and feel of OS X as a real operating system, Andras Puiz, Applelust, 10.12. "[Aqua's] features may be similar, but nothing is exactly the same."
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...."
Dark Side: What the hell is Microsoft's new software licensing programme?, Kieren McCarthy, The Register, 10.12. "The great advantage - and coincidentally, people's great fear - about MS' .Net idea is that everything is run by Microsoft."
Analysis: Apple and oranges: The Cyrix PR debacle vs. the Athlon model number, Joel Hruska, Van's Hardware, 10.12. Model numbers may be imperfect, but they are more meaningful than MHz.
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.)
Benchmarks: Which is best for OS X: G4/867 or dual 800?, Bare Feats, 10.10. Comparison also includes dual G4/533.
Opinion: "Grim" PC sales in August, September, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.10. Sales down 30% vs. 2000, no word yet on Apple sales.
Advice: How to turn off HTML or RTF email, List Administrators, RootsWeb. Also see Instructions for turning off formatted email, Berner.org, and Configuring mail clients to send plain ASCII text, Pinehurst.net.
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."
News: ELS files suit against Apple for "Mac Manager," MacNN, 10.09. ELS has been using Mac Manager name for six years; now Apple is trying to coopt it.
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, Cnet, 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: In defense of AMD's model rating sytem, Van Smith, Van's Hardware, 10.06. AMD facing same "MHz myth" as Apple.
Advice: How to set ethernet ports to full duplex, Damien, AppleTechs, 10.05. "Full duplex is especially beneficial on servers...."
Consumer: Week's best PowerBook & iBook deals, PowerBook Central, 10.05.
Dark Side: Pandering to the masses: Does engineering still matter?, Joel Hrusk, Van's Hardware, 09.27. "From a marketing standpoint, the P4 is a brilliant product. It adeptly exploits the ignorance of the masses...."
Humor: Microsoft patents, ones, zeros, The Onion.
News: Apple says stores helping win back PC users, Yahoo/Reuters, 10.04.
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.
Advice: Is there a better way to reset my PRAM?, Damien, AppleTechs.com, 10.04. Yes, there are two alternatives to cmd-opt-p-r on restart.
History: Art print of clear SE, Raft Island Productions. You may have read about this transparent SE prototype on LEM, but you've got to see this image.
OS: Linux for die-hard Mac users, MacGuruTemple. An introduction to Linux for Mac users.
News: Intel to kill floppy drives, serial ports next year, Tony Smith, The Register, 10.04. "PC types seem to hang on to their outdated technologies with rather more passion than their Mac counterparts."
Law: Court asked to decide who's the real Yahoo, IT, 10.04 [ /.]. Comic Yahoo Serious suing Yahoo! over trademark.
Law: Copyright: your number's up, The Age, 10.04 [ /.]. A couple Australian composers have just copyrighted your phone number....
OS: Pipes in Linux, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, Dr. Edward G. Bradford, IBM [ Slashdot]. Which OS has faster pipes? Well, Windows XP is very disappointing.
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."
News: FBI lists 20 most dangerous Internet security holes, The Register, 10.03. Addresses lots of Windows flaws.
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: 80,000 Microsoft servers "disappear," vnunet.com, 10.02. About 2,000 running alternatives to IIS, others simply missing in action.
Dark Side: Expiring OSes? Check the Windows "best before" date, John Lettice, The Register, 10.02. See Microsoft's entire expiration cycle for Windows.
OS X: New in Mac OS X 10.1: Screenshots from the Finder, Mac Observer, 10.02. Yep, shift-command-3 is back.
Tech: Email celebrates its 30th birthday, Yahoo/Reuters, 10.01. "As great inventions go, e-mail had a rather ho-hum beginning back in 1971."
Web: The first email message, Todd Campbell, PreText, 3/98. Who sent it? What did it say?
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 Cnet.
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?
Virus: Nimda worms its way to top of September virus chart, The Register, 10.01. SirCam at #2 and still busy sending out random attachments.

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