Apple Archive

Various rumours from all around the web are saying that Apple will release the successor to its highly successful iBook product line coming Tuesday. Named the MacBook, it will be slightly thinner than current iBooks, available in both black and white, and slightly more expensive than the current iBooks. In the meantime, in a rare reply to rumours, Apple has denied that it will be ditching Aperture.

"Don't get too excited about the whole Mac/Windows dual-boot thing. Although a wide range of starry-eyed experts have lauded Boot Camp in tones not heard since the days of OS/2, it's really nothing to get excited about. Here are my top reasons why - at least to real computer users - 'Boot Chump' is a snore."

As a Macbook Pro owner myself, I'm somewhat reluctant to admit that the first generation of Macbooks suffer from an annoying and constant whine and an unaccpetable amount of heat output. Therefore, I will be one of the many calling Apple Support on May 20. May 20th, it's been reported, is "the day the whining ends." OSX86Project has more.

"Daines was browsing the Web when he clicked on a series of links that promised pictures of an unreleased update to his computer’s operating system. Instead, a window opened on the screen and strange commands ran as if the machine was under the control of someone - or something - else. Daines was the victim of a computer virus. Such headaches are hardly unusual on PCs running Windows. Daines, however, was using a Mac - a machine often touted as being immune to such risks." Remember boys and girls, this story is published on MSNBC.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the company's forthcoming products as "the best I've ever seen in my life", and told Apple shareholders that the Mac's transition to Intel processors will pay off in the long run. Jobs, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller answered investors' questions Thursday during Apple's annual shareholder meeting at its Cupertino campus.

Apple Computer is guarding its server plans closely, leaving observers to wonder what will come of the product line. The Mac manufacturer said on April 5 that it will preview its new Mac OS X 10.5, dubbed Leopard, at its Worldwide Developers Conference in August. But the company has yet to reference a Leopard server edition. Nor has it hinted about any plans it might have to move its Xserve server line to Intel processors from the PowerPC under its June 2005 decree to move from PowerPC chips to Intel processors by June 2007. On a related note, another Apple product's future is uncertain. Apple has asked the development team behind Aperture to leave-- probably related to the fact that Aperture got some pretty harsh reviews after its release.

"The 17" iMac has almost everything a silencer could want. It's quiet, efficient, good value, and can even run Windows. the iMac is a computer for the connoisseur, just as Apple intended. Power users, enthusiasts, anyone who wants to tweak the hell out of everything should probably stick to building their own systems - they'll be happier molding the computer to their own personal quirks. However, for someone who wants to use a computer, not take up computer building as a hobby, the iMac is among the best there is."

The Mac Observer has six different articles on Apple's Q2 financial results. First time buyers are up 50%, while Apple says the interest in Boot Camp is high. Apple reported a revenue of $4.3 billion, strong iPod sales, and 40 new Apple Stores in 2006. However, pro users are hesitating on buying new Macs because they are waiting for Microsoft's and Adobe's universal binaries.

A new report out by market research firm Forrester suggests that Apple could double its market share through defections from the Windows platform alone. The firm said that much of this has to do with customers' deep distrust of Microsoft. Apple, along with TiVo, was the only company whose brand trust increased in the last two years. Consumers trust technology brands like Bose, Dell, Sony, Panasonic, and Hewlett-Packard the most, while Toshiba, Hitachi, Gateway, and LG joined Microsoft at the bottom.

"Steve Wozniak says he never intended to change the world. That was the other Steve, Steve Jobs. He just wanted to build computers. Oh, and he really - really - wanted to spend his career as an HP engineer, a position he reluctantly left. Life turned out differently for the self-trained electrical engineer. In 1976, he and Jobs started Apple Computer, which would help launch the personal-computer revolution. Wozniak recently sat down with the San Jose Mercury News to talk about Apple's 30th anniversary in his home perched in the Los Gatos hills. Here is an edited version of that interview."

I'm from the Netherlands. That may sound like a weird statement to start a column with-- don't worry, at the end of this week's Sunday Eve Column you'll understand why I put my nationality so bluntly up front.

In case you did not get tired of it yet, here are some more articles on Apple's Boot Camp. Firstly, everybody's favourite Microsoft zealot Microsoft user Paul Thurrot has reviewed Boot Camp: "While Boot Camp isn't perfect, it's still a semi-miraculous solution that lets you dual boot between Mac OS X and Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. That, folks, is what's known as the best of both worlds in these parts, and I'm personally very excited at the prospect of, or at the opportunity to, purchase Apple notebooks and desktops in the future." Secondly, "while the lower barrier for Apple users to run Windows applications will lead to growth in the share of users running Apple hardware, overall the effect on Mac developers will probably be negative. The reason? In a word: competition."

"We finally benchmarked the Apple PC in Windows successfully, thanks to the latest video driver release. It seems to struggle a bit in games with the level of detail increased, but it's certainly not terrible, it's about as good as a mid range notebook system." Read on for detailed results. Cnet has special coverage of Boot Camp. And on a related note... This is just freaky.

Michael Spindler was supposed to be the savior of Apple. After four years at Apple, he was an executive vice president and had built Apple Europe to the point where it was providing 25% of Apple's revenues. Unfortunately, Spindler could not deal with stress and could not exercise control of his organization. Read on for the whole story.