By Gary Kirchherr
The last column of the year is a good time to wrap up loose ends from previous columns. And the timing couldn't be better; a lot of developments have surfaced in issues important to computer users in general, and Macintosh users in particular.
In my columns of June 27 and July 27, I vowed I wouldn't touch Mac OS 8 until the first bug fix came out. I was understandably reluctant to dive right into the first release of a major upgrade; my unpleasant experiences with the bug-infested initial releases of System 6 and 7 still were on my mind.
I would have stuck to my guns but for two things. One, the first bug fix has been so slow in coming - maybe because it isn't needed. After half a year, no major problems have surfaced. Kudos to Apple to getting an OS right the first time for once. Two, modem manufacturer Global Village Communications offered a deal too good to pass up - a 56K modem and Mac OS 8 for a street price of about $180. That's real close to the price of a 56K modem itself. Further, Global Village is the only company I know of that offers both 56K standards, K56flex and x2. The former is the Rockwell/Lucent technology that virtually every modem maker uses; x2 is 3Com's version, developed by the then-independent U.S. Robotics.
I haven't been disappointed in my purchase. The Internet connection was noticeably quicker with just Mac OS 8; the new modem made it even better. And the cosmetic improvements I alluded to July 27 are more pleasing and make a bigger difference than I expected them to be. I hadn't realized how tired the 13-year-old Chicago system font and 2-D windows and icons were until I worked awhile with the Charcoal font and platinum, 3-D interface. And I especially appreciate the Windows-like pull-down menus that stay down when you click on them. I was able to program my Kensington Turbo Mouse to click-and-hold menus previously anyway, but having it as a part of the OS is nice.
If you've put off buying Mac OS 8 and a 56K modem, congratulate yourself on having the patience to wait for a worthwhile deal and take advantage of it. I recommend checking it out on the MacMall and CDW Web sites for the best prices.
Readers of my previous column may recall my anecdotes on Micro$oft's blackmailing computer makers to include an Internet Explorer icon on the preinstalled Windows desktop. I didn't believe that M$ could top its own tale of monopolistic arrogance, but it has.
The Anchorage Daily News' business section on Nov. 30 had an article by Wall Street Journal reporters Don Clark and David Bank that reports how M$ officials use the telephone to harass and intimidate corporate customers who dare purchase a non-Micro$oft product.
According to the story, Pacific Bell's then-CEO David Dorman got a call from Steve Ballmer, M$ executive vice president of sales and services, when PacBell selected Netscape Navigator for use with the company's Internet service. Dorman quotes Ballmer as saying: "You're either a friend or a foe, and you're an enemy now." Dorman's angry response: "We have 34,000 desktops running Windows and spend millions of dollars a year with you. How could you call a corporate customer an enemy?"
How indeed. The PacBell call was not an isolated incident, and sadly, the bullying works. Because so many companies and individual careers are so dependent on Micro$oft and its technology, industry executives are afraid to criticize M$, the article says. The article quotes one executive - anonymously, of course - as saying: "This subtle amount of fear is spread out everywhere in the world."
Does anyone still scoff at my assertion that M$ needs to be broken up? M$ can moan and groan all it wants on how the U.S. Justice Department is picking on it, but the facts continue to show the complaints about the software behemoth are true. If any company in the history of capitalism ever was ripe for some good, old-fashioned trust-busting, Micro$oft is it.
As this column hits the Net, the third issue of the new, combined Macworld and MacUser had just hit my mailbox. The "new" magazine still is called Macworld, and on first glance it looks like the old Macworld, but a few subtle changes become obvious on closer inspection.
Fortunately, my prediction in my Aug. 31 column that the new publication would combine the best features and columnists from both magazines is holding true. But content that would have been in MacUser is segregated near the end of the magazine while the staff scrambles to come up with a consistent design. The MacUser stuff is easy to find - it still has the same old MacUser design, including fonts and layout. Worst of all, the "MacUser" pages also still have that hideous faux "menu bar" running on the top of each page. I don't expect that artsy-fartsy eyesore to survive the magazinewide redesign.
One surprise was the departure of both MacUser's and the old Macworld's respective editors-in-chief. I was especially disappointed to see Macworld's Adrian Mello walk. Mello had been with the magazine for five years, consistently kicking out a quality product, while MacUser floundered through a revolving door of hapless top editors. Macworld's own account of Mello's departure makes it plain that Mello left because he was less than thrilled with the magazines' shotgun wedding. Too bad; he will be missed. His MacUser counterpart, Pamela Pfiffner, disappeared without any explanation at all. Taking the reins of the new Macworld was MacUser Editor Andrew Gore, who sounded as surprised by this turn of events as readers must have been. As he says in his premier column as Macworld editor-in-chief: "If someone had told me a month ago that I'd be writing the editor in chief's column for Macworld, I would have nodded and asked, as nonthreateningly as I could, how long they'd been off their medication."
Regardless, Gore is a well-known and, I daresay, respected commodity among those familiar with Macintosh-related publishing. I'm optimistic about the new Macworld under his tutelage.
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