Winds of Change

written by Charles DeVore

from Mouse Tracks November/December 2001

It looks like Apple is competing with the Windows machines on price point. This week marks the return of the $799 iMac, however it does not have a CD-RW (CD writing) drive. I'm not sure just what market Apple is shooting at, but offering this low-end machine with no CD-RW most likely will not spur sales. I can just see the returns coming back now. Customer: "It won't burn CDs." Sales guy: "Well DUH." Apple has been pushing the fact of how one machine has it all "rip, mix, burn"; then they start to sell machines with no CD-RW. Business lesson 101–Apple, you know what the customer wants and you try the bait-and-switch sales pitch. Oh, you want the one that burns CDs–that's $200 more.

New models must be about to come out from Apple. They have started their free RAM sales promo again. You can almost bet on new machines or faster speeds coming out shortly. The only time Apple ever offers price discounts or free memory is to clear out inventory before the new models hit the stores. I mean, after all, who would want to buy that slow 700 Mhz model when the 800 Mhz will be out tomorrow? Every year I hear from angry Macintosh buyers who would have waited if they had only known about the new model coming out. Seeing how Apple telegraphs this with the sales and RAM giveaways you have only yourself to blame.

Many times I have purchased an older model due to some feature it has that the new one does not. As an example, I'm not thrilled with the drive bay doors on the Quicksilver models so I would have bought the older G4 rather than the new one. The older one has standard size openings so that you could put any IDE equipped CD-ROM/RW/DVD drive in. You will have to do research on the new G4 tower to find what drive may fit in the opening. In fact, many of the owners of the older G4 have removed the doors altogether due to problems with the CD-ROM door jamming when the tray comes out. The new machines do not have any way of allowing you to do this. Apple seems to be trying to push out third party replacement drives. That pushes the cost up for Mac users who are out of warranty and need their machine repaired.

System 10.1 is out and many users of that System are happy about the speed increases. Many of the problems have been fixed but only if you're willing to give up on old SCSI and serial add-ons. Networking is not fun to figure out (we were really spoiled with AppleTalk). Of course the faster the machine and the more RAM, the better your experience is. My reminder to you is that you do not have to run System 10.x. Nothing is going to happen to your machine if you stay with the current System you are using. It is true that new software may come out that you won't be able to run. However, you can at that time choose to upgrade your machine or your System. I waited until System 9.1 came out before I upgraded to System 9. Most likely it will be awhile before I get crazy enough to move my work machine to System 10.x.

It was about 11:00am when we got to the Computer Store in Tigard on Saturday September 29. Janet and I filled out the required forms for the System 10.1 upgrade. After we were handed our copies, we asked how many they had left. At that time, the answer was four copies out of 100 the store had been issued. It seems lots of people had been in to pick up the update. The store had for sale copies of the full version 10.1 on the shelves. These now include System 9.2.1. Now comes the question–do I upgrade the firmware in the G4 and install the update? Or wait and see how everyone else is doing before making the move? Apple answers my question by pulling the firmware update from their web site. I'm not sure when it will return but when it does we'll do the updates and let you know what we think. Do keep in mind that our G4 has two 40 Gig drives and several different Operating Systems. In case the one we are working on has problems, we can always go back to a version of 9.1.

Speaking of System 10, Epson has announced that they will be releasing several print drivers for their printers for compatibility with that system. Their press release says Oct. 22 is the date they are shooting for. It seems they were waiting for Apple to Golden Master System 10.1 before they could finish their project. For those who wonder why they have waited for the golden master, the answer is simple. Apple has this nasty habit of changing just the right bit of code at the last minute that breaks third party programs. So better be safe than have your customers angry with you for something Apple did.

Sony must have really liked what they saw in the Apple iBook. They seem to have copied it for their next version of the Sony Vaio. At least they could have changed the color. Does Apple really have the only design team who thinks differently?

Then again, there are those not so good stories about things that should work and have failed. Case in point: the Oxford English Dictionary second edition on CD version 2. Not Mac compatible, but perhaps Virtual PC can read the program. We load up VPC and install the program then restart and insert the data CD ROM. It can't find the data CD ROM so we eject and try again with no success. Janet then goes on the net and downloads new drivers to patch something in Windows, still no go. After reading the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Janet finds a list of programs that currently do not work with VPC. On the list is the Dictionary. As far as I can tell, the copy protection on the CD is what is preventing the data from being read. So if you're looking to use this software, you may have to end up with a PC to use it on. Their web site states that they may or may not support Mac in the next version. If you're interested you may want to contact them at www.oed.com.

Expect to see Microsoft ads about Office X just about everywhere. They are spending 6 million bucks to make sure you believe it is the best product in the land. At $299 for an upgrade and $499 for the full version, it most likely won't be long before the money starts rolling in from all those System X users. I think that at that price and this economy, it may surprise Microsoft that the product is a little overpriced at this time. Do keep in mind the fact that I have heard good things about the product such as it is better than the Windows' version. This is a major revision which means bugs will happen. Combined with a very young System 10.1, you may have a little trouble sorting out what's gone wrong.

I have my usual list of web sites to check on a daily basis for Macintosh news–MacSurfer, Macintouch, VersionTracker and such. But it seems there is another site about to be launched with the topic of "Resources That Welcome Mac Users". Perhaps it will be open by the time you read this.

Please keep in mind that PMUG has a membership drive going on right now and could sure use your help in recruiting new members. We are one of the few clubs in the U.S. with our own classroom that has Macs in it. That combined with Mouse Tracks, the PMUG store, guru Tuesdays, MacCamp, and the Electric Sheep pretty much make PMUG stand out in the User Group world. But we are really here to help the local members.

You can reach me at charles@cdevsol.com.

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