Apple Archive

Q&A with Steve Wozniak at MacWorld

Submitted by Sebastian Alvarez 2002-09-05 Apple 22 Comments

Mention the name "Woz," and most Mac users will know exactly who you're talking about. After all, they've been enjoying the fruits of Steve Wozniak's labors for years. Wozniak spends spends most of his time these days focusing on Wheels of Zeus, a company he helped form to develop wireless consumer electronic products, but he still pays attention to that other company he helped establish with Steve Jobs 26 years ago. "I love OS X from a feeling point of view. But from capability and readiness, I still don't rate it ready for me, I'm sorry to say." Woz says.

Apple Keeps Options Open with MacOSX Marklar

Submitted by Ben, Todd, Nick 2002-09-01 Apple 137 Comments

eWeek and ThinkSecret claim that Apple (since the begining of OSX) is developing in parallel to the PPC version of MacOSX, an x86 version called 'Marklar' as a fallback option, in case the Motorola CPUs could not deliver. The article also claims that this version is assigned only to a few dozen engineers so far, for maintanance purposes-only, and Apple most probably would switch to the desktop Power4 CPU that IBM is preparing instead. We recently wrote an editorial about the probable switch of Apple to x86.

Apple Updates 10.2 Development Tools

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-30 Apple 9 Comments

The August 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools Update addresses issues with the July 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools originally released with Mac OS X version 10.2 (Jaguar build 6C115 or later)." The download can be found at Apple Developer Connection (ADC login required). On other news, Apple says it's not just opening up the source code for its Rendezvous networking tool--it's actively courting open-source developers to work with the technology. Also, Apple now sells PowerMacs with MacOSX 10.2-Server pre-installed. Prices start at $3,000 USD for a dual 1 GHz G4 machine.

Apple: Burn DVDs–and We’ll Burn You

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-29 Apple 50 Comments

Apple Computer has invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent its customers from burning DVDs on external drives. At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form, it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured by third parties. That means Macintosh owners with older computers or laptop computers, or people who opted not to buy the "Superdrive"-equipped Macs, could not use iDVD to save movies.

MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar is Out; Festivity in Palo Alto a Success

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-24 Apple 118 Comments

I just came back from the festivities taking place in the Apple Store at Palo Alto, California, regarding the launch of MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar, and I got some exclusive pictures (well, almost...). There was a huge line of people waiting to get in the store. They were probably there for many-many hours. Just a few minutes before they open the doors to people, Steve Jobs enters the building (passing next to me by just one meter from where I was standing), and people around started getting really excited!

New Dual Macs Slower than Their Predecessors

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-15 Apple 121 Comments

BareFeats has a benchmark, testing the SDRAM-based dual G4 at 1Ghz with the new DDR PC2100 ones. The new PowerMacs are the same or slower than their previous models, the test reveals. The Mac community got a bit dissapointed (judging from the forums). The author says that the slowdown is because the two processors share a 1GB/s pipe to Apple's custom AGP/Memory controller. While the shared bandwidth is a factor, it is not the reason that makes the new Macs slower. Having a better look at the specs, show that the author have forgot a very important detail:

Apple Refreshes Power Mac Line with Dual CPU Configurations

Submitted by aleksandr 2002-08-13 Apple 127 Comments

Apple Computer on Tuesday unveiled souped-up Power Macs, in the first major upgrade to the professional system in about a year and half. The low-end model retains the 133Mhz bus, while on the mid- and high-end models it's cranked up to 167Mhz; the high-end model boasts 2MB of L3 cache. The creaking ATA-66 IDE controller is retained, but all models also have an additional ATA-100 bus. The Apple store lists the 2x867Mhz model (256MB RAM/60GB HD/DVD-CDRW) at $1,699; the 2x1Ghz model 256/80/Superdrive) at $2,499 - and both available for delivery right away. Read the reports at C|Net News.com and TheRegister. You can check the new Macs here or order them.

Macs with Intel Inside? You Bet! Here’s How

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 Apple 81 Comments

"I've considered--and rejected--this idea in the past. My feeling has been that, unless Apple were ready to cut the cord with Microsoft, it wouldn't attempt this kind of head-to-head platform competition. Well, guess what? With Apple ads encouraging Windows users to switch platforms, and Microsoft whining about supposedly slow sales of Office for OS X, it's clear that the relationship is in trouble. As the two drift apart, Apple has little reason not to make a processor change." AnchorDesk's David Coursey on the Mac/Intel issue.

Analysts Says Apple to Lie Down with x86

Submitted by yc 2002-08-02 Apple 151 Comments

Apple Computer will likely shift to using Intel chips, while circumstances exist that could well push Dell Computer and Sun Microsystems into a friendly embrace, predicted Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff. More and more analysts, editors and even users are getting smoother to the idea that Apple might have to make the jump to x86, simply because IBM/Motorola are not interested anymore in fullfilling Apple's CPU needs. I wrote an editorial about it two weeks ago (a pretty successful article I might add, judging from the outrageous number of hits received). That article seemed to have re-ignite a number of similar articles on the web since then to several tech news sites.

Why you Should Take a Mac User to Lunch

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-25 Apple 25 Comments

"Apple's new rackmount server is just another Unix box -- with big implications for the Linux community. Four million new Unix users a year, that's the MacOS X promise and it's a market full of friends with whom we should be working." Read the article at LinuxWorld.

Apple To Consider x86 After MacOSX Transition Done

Submitted by claudio 2002-07-20 Apple 142 Comments

"Apple CEO Steve Jobs said this week that his company would consider moving to Intel chips, but that he would wait until at least 2003 because the transition to Mac OS X was more important. But with the speed of Power PC hardware increasingly falling behind Intel's chips--The Pentium 4 will hit 3 GHz this year--Apple would be wise to do a bit of research. I recommend AMD's upcoming 64-bit Opteron, which will give Apple a technological leg up on Windows and, perhaps, offer them Windows compatibility through the Opteron's full compatibility with 32-bit x86 code. Come on, Apple: Do the right thing." Read the blurb on WinInformant. Read more for a short commentary. Appendix 21/July/2002: Please read for a small update and more explanations at the end of the article.

Microsoft-Apple: Can This Marriage be Saved?

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-19 Apple 14 Comments

"Put all these threads together, and it appears that Apple is shifting strategy towards becoming a software company--admittedly, a software company that depends upon its own hardware. In the future, I expect to see more software from Apple, and for more of it to be sold as an upgrade to what users already own, or delivered as a paid service of some sort." Editorial and MacWorld roundup at ZDNews.

On Rendezvous, TiVo, and Parliamentary Titles

Submitted by Jared White 2002-07-19 Apple 6 Comments

The Idea Basket holds an interesting interview with Stuart Cheshire, Apple Computer employee and also Chairman of the IETF ZeroConf, regarding Rendezvous and more.

Mac Users Outraged at iTools, Upgrade Taxes

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-18 Apple 127 Comments

"$100 per year is too much for many Mac users to hold on to their mac.com email addresses, and Apple sysadmins have been furiously busy deleting the complaints that flooded Apple's own technical forums. Users are also unhappy that the upgrade to 10.2 costs a full $129, with no discount for existing Mac OS X users." Read the report at TheRegister. Update: And now Apple masked the thread linked from above and TheRegister's article, and it is no longer available for viewing. This is one of the many such threads Apple censored since yesterday in their discussion board. So much for "feedback from the userbase."

MacWorld: New iPod, Focus on Jaguar, Larger LCD for iMacs

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-17 Apple 96 Comments

Apple CEO Steve Jobs touts new features for OS X, unveils new lower-cost iPods--including one for Windows, and a 17-inch flat panel iMac. Read more in a ZDNet News Focus. Our Take: So, no G4 speed bumps? And no word for the G5s, still? BTW, that new Sherlock 3 looks like a Watson replica.

Flat Panel iMac Gets Super-Sized

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-10 Apple 80 Comments

"Apple Computer plans to serve up a new iMac model with a larger flat-panel display during next week's Macworld Expo trade show, according to sources. The upgrade to a 17-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) comes as sales have all but stalled on existing 15-inch flat-panel iMacs." Read the report at ZDNews.

Apple Drops Emagic Bombshell

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-01 Apple 52 Comments

"Apple dropped a bombshell on music makers today by acquiring Emagic which, with Steinberg, dominates the market for sequencing software. Apple said it will axe the Windows version of Emagic's Logic sequencer come September." Read the report at TheRegister.

Apple Purchases Prismo Graphics

Eugenia Loli 2002-06-21 Apple 19 Comments

Apple (silently again) purchased the third video-related company in less than two months. This time, is Prismo Graphics and it comes after the purchase of Nothing Real and Silicon Grail. Our Take: Now that SGI is no longer as "big" as it used to be regarding video software, and no important or many commercial packages have been ported to Linux, MacOSX has a real chance to further strengthen in this niche market about professional video editing. Only problem to solve will be Windows and the faster/cheaper Xeon/P4 PCs. With Steve Jobs being also an exec at Pixar, it should be obvious where he tries to head Apple and why Quartz Extreme is being developed for.

Scandinavia’s Largest Dedicated Mac Cluster Revealed

Submitted by Palle B. Nielsen 2002-06-21 Apple 21 Comments

The Danish Technical University (DTU) has developed Scandinavia's largest dedicated Mac cluster, consisting of 32 dedicated Power Mac G4 Dual 800 MHz workstations which is equal to 200 Gigaflop or 6 million instructions per second.

E-Mac, i-Mac, No Mac

Eugenia Loli 2002-06-20 Apple 94 Comments

"Isn't it about time the Macintosh was simply discontinued—put down like an old dog? Why, exactly, does Apple maintain this line of machines instead of starting fresh or at least introducing something new with fresh legs. The Mac has become the AS/400 of desktop computing, except for the fact that it's prettier. Of course, if Apple never moves forward, what happens to the copycat Windows platform?" Another one of Dvorak's well-known editorials.