Fourth Quarter, 1998

The End ... of the Dark Ages?

One year ago, this newsletter was titled "The End?"

What a difference a year makes. I recall challenging someone a day's salary that Apple won't go out of business during the Dark Ages of Windows95. I should have bet a week's salary, but I wouldn't have bet my Apple stock!

Unfortunately, many large companies that have the resources and ability to distinguish themseleves from each other, have failed to do so. Many IS departments remain very hostile to non-Windows platforms and continue to drive productivty and users' morale down by standardizing on inefficient methods and policies.

However, many corporate users, both IS and non-IS staff, have begun to "Think Different", not only by looking at the MacOS, but towards the concept of Open Source, embodied by the rise of the Linux operating system and powerful software like Apache, Mozilla, and GNU egcs. I believe that Open Source is a way of computing that will eventually free us from the overreaching control of IS administrators whose quest for the their bottom line means taking from others' bottom line. If properly developed, Open Source software and commercial software can co-exist in a computing world whose purpose is to let users do their job in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible, without suffering from the control of any single company or department, whether it be Microsoft, AOL, and yes, even Apple.

Despite still-gloomy news from the depths of the Fortune 500, 1998 has been a good year for Apple. MacOS 8.1 was released early this year, as Apple continued to cut costs and make money following its surprise $44 million profit. During the last Developer's Conference, Apple announced MacOS X - an operating system that helps transition the MacOS into a powerful, stable, and sophisticated operating system. Based on NeXT technology, X promises to leapfrog all other operating systems when it is released sometime next year.

The big event came in mid-May, when the iMac was announced. Althought not the most powerful computer at the time it was introduced, it nevertheless captured peoples' imagination.

Finally, those outside the MacOS world began to realize that computing was more than just megahertz, gigabytes, and T1 connectivity. Computing is an integral part of daily life, filled with intangibles like soul, passion, and just plain fun. Of all the computers out there, the iMac comes closest to the concept of an "organic" computer - a computer that does not look different from all the other things we have around the house, and something we see as a natural part of our everyday activities. Windows doesn't even come close.

As the year wound down, Apple introduced speed-bumped versions of it's desktop Power Macintosh G3 series, much improved PowerBook G3 computers (all with 14-inch active matrix displays), MacOS 8.5 with Sherlock user-based search engine, and the impending releases of MacOS X Server and WebObjects, possibly the best custom development environments bar none.

So here we are, on the eve of another Macworld. Apple is not out of the woods yet, but 1999 promises to be even better than 1998. With continued profitability, Apple is poised to increase their investment in upcoming technologies, supporting the development of consumer portables, set-top boxes, licensing (gasp) software from/to third parties, and selling even more innovative products.

Let's hope that a Renaissance awaits our favorite computer company.

Alex Morando
Newsletter Editor

The Meeting

Here is an ASCII rendition of the meeting place for MacWorld Expo. We will meet at the lobby of the South Hall of Moscone Center.

The meeting times are

  • January 5, 1999 between 1:00-1:15 pm
  • January 6, 1999 between 12:00-12:15pm

 

             *   North to                      
            ***  Market St.                    
           * * *                               
     +----*--*--*-----------------------------+
     |  **   *   **                           |
     |       *                                |
     |       *                                |
     |       *      North Moscone             |
     |                                        |
     +----||---||---||---||---||----||---||---+
                                               
      meet here!!                              
         *                                     
     +---*||---||---||---||---||----||---||---+
     | * * *                                  |
     | *****       South Moscone              |
     |   *                                    |
     |  +--||----------||-||-----------||--+  |
     |--|  ||          || ||           ||  |--|
     |--|  ||          || ||           ||  |--|
     |--|  ||          || ||Escalators ||  |--|
     |--|  ||          || ||to show    ||  |--|
     |--|  ||          || ||floor      ||  |--|
     |--|  ||          || ||           ||  |--|
     |                                        |
     |                                        |
     |                                        |
     +----------------------------------------+