Apple is pushing too hard It is one thing for Apple to promote OSX, and to encourage people to use it, it is another to leave OS9 slowly twisting in the wind with no support. Luckily others feel the same way I do, and I just discovered a great web site for the rest of us. http://www.os9forever.com/

ANOTHER new version of Microsoft Office Its reported here that a new version of Microsoft Office (version 11) will see the light of day soon. The current version: Office XP SR-2, aka Office 10, aka Office 2002, is a big yawn as far as having any significant improvements productivity wize. Years ago (1996?) Microsoft asked for suggestions for additional features. 80% of features asked to be added were already included. Of course with the "Typical" install leaving out many features, but installing many extra dlls to run at bootup to make Office Applications seem to load "fast" you have to wonder about Microsoft. Then again every new version has promotional material about the great new wizard (actually there since before Office 95) for doing a Mail Merge. Apparently so few people use it, Microsoft can always pretend it's a great new feature.

Windtunnel Macintosh Replacing fans in the power supply, contrary to published reports has no appreciable affect on the Windtunnel noise on System 9 reboots of the DDR G-4 Macintosh. That Windtunnel noise is caused by intake of air for the larger fan blowing on the Heat sink on the dual Processors.

A true Switcher story Read This !

Apple's Rebates and Promotions While some are reporting horror stories with Apple rebates, I apparently am having good fortune. I sent in get get a free copy of Adobe InDesign and in less than 4 weeks, it's being shipped to me. Apple has a web site one can use on checking on rebates.
Then Apple has a promotion where K-12 teachers can get a free copy of "Jaguar" OSX, so naturally I had my wife apply.

A Quieter G4 DDR Macintosh - Tonight I went to Fry's here in Houston to pick up the parts I need to make my Macintosh quieter. Apparently Apple cut corners in 2 places on these new models. First cheaper noisy cooling fans in the power supply, secondly, OS 9.2.2 does not have the firmware/software to control the fan speed, so they rev up to max for no apparent reason. These Macs have therefore deservedly been nicknamed the Windtunnel Macs.

Microsoft Lies and gets Caught - Microsoft put up a web page that was a blatant lie about someone switching from a Mac to a PC. Now it's all been documented. Whats even more amazing is the lengths Microsoft went to to cover it up. When my workplace had a confidential web page not properly secured we took it down, only to find out it had been cached by Google. It took us 3 weeks of effort to get Google to uncache it. Microsoft, it took them 12 hours.

DUDE - You're getting a Dell : That Dell campaign has been so successful that Dell has a web site for Steven. Of course when HP says its sales are down because of the economy, one wonders then why Dell's sales are up?

Yellow Meteorology I live in Texas and the local weather stations always want to scare you with how bad a hurricane is (or could become) and likely it is (or might possibly be) that it will hit where you live. No matter the National Weather Service is forcasting it 300 miles away. Reminds me of the 1974 Xenia tornado I narrowly escaped. Next year everytime sky turned gray, TV stations were scaring folks with how likely it was more tornadoes were on their way.
They have all lost their credibility with me.

Apple Promotions As part selling new Macintoshs Apple has a new promotion. If one has bought a new Power Macintosh since September 10, and they mail in the UPC and a copy of their Invoice, they get a free copy of Adobe's InDesign. Sofar, so good. Now the gotcha's. Apple has apparently been scammed before and has draconian measures in place to make sure only legimate requests get filled. You must have the Original UPC and all layers of cardboard its attached to. Makes for fun if you also bought an Apple Monitor and want the $200 rebate on that and have to mail one UPC to two places. My dealer sent me a packing slip, not an Invoice, and I needed an Invoice with the Serial Number on it for the terms of the promotion. I called up, and they said "All our computers come with Invoices" - "Mine Didn't" I replied, "Sure we'll send out an invoice" they agreed. Over a week later no Invoice. "We have no record of such a request, we'll send it out". Finally I agree to let them FAX me an Invoice, and sure enough they get the serial number wrong. One more nastygram email, and finally a proper Invoice. Now, we'll see how long six to eight weeks takes. I never did figure out why such promotions took 8 weeks.

Apple Store in Houston Galleria Apple Computer opened a store in the Houston Galleria at 10 AM today. Promo said next to Saks 5th Avenue. NOT. Around the corner in a low traffic area, actually. By getting there at 6:20 AM I was first online. I wouldn't do that again. They had zero opening day specials. You'd think maybe free ingraving with iPod purchase. Maybe instant rebates for monitor and computer purchase. NOPE: none of that. T-Shirts for first 1000 customers, with about 150 online when store opened. What did I get for being first? I got to shake the store manager's hand, the same store manager that later wouldn't come to telephone. I got to high-five all the employees as store opened. Was anybody in a position to sell anything? NOPE. Did the Genius come to talk to me as I sat down first on the middle chair? NOPE. I wanted to ask why DVD's burned on a SuperDrive can't be read on DVD drive in my Pismo. I gave up inside 10 minutes and left the store. No one asked to help me, no one asked if I wanted to buy anything, just one lady to give me my T-Shirt as I left. 20 + employees, zero salespeople. I had gone planning to buy an iPod, but I didn't. I did get to surf the Internet while waiting inline, as they had a basestation with Public name of "AppleStore" live at 6:20 AM. Very secure that. Also a printer online with the name of "Genius Bar". Sure saves energy, to leave a printer on all night. NOT.
All-In-All very underwhelming. Reminded me too much of a 1983 IBM store.

OS X 10.2.1 I just upgraded to this puppy yesterday. No problems or other observations yet. I did Install Netscape 7 for OS X, and had a minor problem, it was default configured to go through an AOL proxy server (perhaps because it saw AOL installed on my Mac). I connect to the Internet through a Netgear Router that connects to an Earthlink dsl modem, so after I deleted the proxy setting, all was well. I downloaded and installed iCal, and it asked to be registered as if I had bought it. No problem, I did that. Apple sends me an email thanking me, and giving me a link to a free 1 year subscription to MacWorld; which I quickly signed up for. Strange they don't offer this anymore for when you spend thousands on a new Macintosh, but do for a free download.

Microsoft Hardware - So I hit my local CompUSA last night and buy a Microsoft Optical Mouse and a Microsoft Business Keyboard for my new Macintosh, already added to with extra memory, hard drive, TV Card and SCSI card, and connected to a Dell P991 monitor. I ask CompUSA what their reaction is to Apple opening a store in Houston (literally across the street) and they profess no concern. "We have our great technicians here". I comment in passing: "They have more turnover than a mixmaster".

New Mac for the TeraBlogger Knowing that Apple will configure new Macintoshs to not be able to boot into OS9 starting January 1, 2003; I figured I better bite the bullet and buy one of these new mirrored door Macintoshs. I couldn't buy the 1.25 Gig Hz model, they're still vaporware, so I bought a dual 1 Ghz model. With ATA 100 support, it does feel faster. I bought it over the Internet from ClubMac to save sales tax. Then I bought a 120 Gig HD for $150 at MicroCenter to drop into it; and an extra 256 Meg of DDR PC2700 SDRAM from DataMem.
So far its woking like a dream, until the cooling fan kicks in. NOISY !!

Whither Sprint Vision A USA Today review of Sprint Vision,
basically pans it; as I have done.

PowerMacs still vaporware A call to various authorized Macintosh dealers indicates they don't expect to have any dual 1.25 GHz Power Macintosh computers available for at least another month yet. Even the Apple Store optimistically says 3 to 4 weeks.

TSA Charade I got to fly across the country and back this past week, and got to see the Transportation Safety Administration rookies in action. Randomly choosing folks to hand search carry ons and take off shoes and socks. You know how they chose someone? A first boarding frequent flyer gets grabbed first, usually; some 70 year old man. The next one is just who is presenting their ticket 7 minutes later when TSA agent finishes the first poor flyer. A 27 year old 8 month pregnant 200 pound lady in a couple of cases, another a clean cut 120 pound high school senior. Such a total waste of time and money.
The right way to do it. The way it was done at Heathrow in 1989 a year after Lockerbie made more sense. All folks transfering planes had to pick up their luggage on the tarmac and recheck it. One carry on bag strictly enforced. Every carry on bag hand searched. Either you check all, or you don't play games grabbing random folks on the line at the wrong time. FAA stopped asking if you packed your bag. El Al still asks it. In 1985 Switzerland was already checking every Passport of every entering person against a computer database. It took the United States 14 more years to catch up. INS still hasn't.
All in all a charade to make it look like something is being done when nothing is being done. Last week folks from the New York Daily News got contraband past screeners and onto flights 14 out of 14 tries.

An RMA for my Treo 300. I just got tired of having to push the reset button many times a day in order to make this thing decide to try to connect to Sprint. Makes me feel like an Alpha tester. I got a chargeback from my credit card and an RMA from Handspring. Then the battery won't last two full days, and is sealed internally so you cant carry a spare. The screen is illegible outdoors in daylight. All in All, a great idea, but not ready for Prime Time.

Whither OS X 10.2 - The same CompUSA with no PowerPC Macintoshs for sale, and a too small Treo case had a new pretty sign promoting "JAGUAR" today. and lots of copies of OS X 10.1 for sale at $129. No copies of 10.2 however; maybe they had sold the one copy they got in.

The case for a Treo Hard finding these. Handspring wants $25 for a $5 quality canvas padded case, that fits so tight it activates the buttons. Not wanting a discharged Treo every afternoon, I got a refund, 2 minutes after I bought it at CompUSA today. I found 2 that work. An $8 leather Targus case at Target, and a $15 Canvas and Leather case by Samsonite for Palm Pilots at MicroCenter. Same kind of issue with handsfree kits. The Treo comes with an ear bud, which always seem to fall out of my ear. I read on Usenet that Handspring uses a unique plug that only their handsfree kit works with. Not so. Any Nokia 8000 series handsfree kit works great. BestBuy wanted $29.99 for one, but I found one at Target for $5.90 on closeout, and it has a microphone and an over the ear hook.