Fourth Quarter, 1999
(Final Issue)
A New Millennium
The new century brings with it a resurgent Apple Computer. Our favorite computer company enters 2000 with a strong and impressive product line, over three billion dollars in cash, a high stock price, lots of new software, loyal customers, and a confidence that it will survive for a long time to come.
Nevertheless, Apple has still not recovered to the point that it can even begin to think about re-entering the business/Fortune 500 market. As a corporate user group, we are disappointed in this but realize that Apple has more important priorities. Maybe soon enough, the new Internet e-conomy will cause a fundamental shift. Tomorrow's Fortune 500 will be dominated by those companies that embrace human and computing diversity instead of standardization and dull homogeneity Hopefully, Apple will be one of them.
During 2000, Apple should be in a position this year to expand MacOS markets, whether themselves or through others. The rise of Linux, the recent decision against Microsoft, and the convergence of computing and entertainment makes it a very exciting time for those of us not in the Wintel orbit.
Apple's products next year include - finally - the release of MacOS X, cheaper G4s, hopefully pushing the 600-700 MHz range, better/faster/cheaper iBooks and iMacs, and a mobile and Internet strategy. Most importantly, Apple is one of few companies that keeps the computing world interesting and relevant. Apple's industrial design has spread from computers to other products - telephones, stationery, calculators, magazines, and even cartoon strips. The iMac is not just a computer, but the style for the next decade.
1999 ASACMUG highlights
- We had four off-site lunch meetings in April, July, October, and December with off-site ASACMUG members Roger, Ming, and Dick. A good time was had by all (it was a buffet - the grease you eat is the grease you choose!).
- Our Torrance Art Department finally got a G3 server, which is now the fastest FTP file server in the company. It beat a $7000 a dual-processor NT server and a $15,000 HP-UX workstation. No matter what the IS staff did to their NT box, it just couldn't beat the G3 in performance, reliability and cost.
- Tracy ordered his G4/500, was downgraded to a G4/450 by Apple, and as of mid-November, he hasn't gotten it yet.
- Alex ordered an iBook from Outpost, then cancelled it once he actually got a chance to play with one.
- Mike and Matt got DSL service, Julie has cable, and Alex is still waiting for his DSL line.
- Ron who has three 21-inch monitors at work, has looked at all what Apple has to offer and has decided to get a quad-processor G5.
ASACMUG In Transition
As usual, we will be having our regular lunch/dinner get-togethers at Macworld. This time, it will be during the first and second days of the show (Tuesday, January 5, and Wednesday, January 6). As a special event, the ASACMUG treasury will be officially depleted during this Macworld. Since we are not allowed to spend it at the Market Street Cinema, we will instead have some nice after-dinner mints.
Thereafter, ASACMUG will undergo a name change, as the company that we work for merges and takes on the name of the company being acquired. Our Mac Users' Group will continue to be a corporate and personal resource for all things Mac. Future activities and events will rely on the goodwill and support of its members and volunteers.
As part of this change, the ASACMUG web site will be redesigned next month. This is also a good time to cease publication of the ASACMUG Newsletter. It was a valuable resource before the Internet, but in recent years has become nothing more than a yearly Macworld reminder and wrap-up.Thanks for all the fish. See you online.
Alex Morando
Newsletter Editor (Emeritus)
If we claim that the Macintosh is a revolution, then our actions must translate into a force for change or else what good is a revolution?
Anyone who studies the peculiar community surrounding the Macintosh would have to admit that there is something astonishing going on. Our little family shares a unique history of individualism, a tradition of fighting for what we believe in and a bond than transcends almost all social boundaries. We have made the Macintosh a vehicle for such a cultural phenomenon that the computer itself has become less important than the principle we share. The Macintosh Way is more than a slogan, it is, in essence, a philosophy of life and a statement about quality that transcends computers. If we all lived The Macintosh Way, it might be a better world.Del Miller
Excerpted from
on AppleLinks
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, 2000 between 1:00-1:15 pm
- January 6, 2000 between 12:00-12:15pm
* North to *** Market St. * * * +----*--*--*-----------------------------+ | ** * ** | | * | | * | | * North Moscone | | | +----||---||---||---||---||----||---||---+ meet here!! * +---*||---||---||---||---||----||---||---+ | * * * | | ***** South Moscone | | * | | +--||----------||-||-----------||--+ | |--| || || || || |--| |--| || || || || |--| |--| || || ||Escalators || |--| |--| || || ||to show || |--| |--| || || ||floor || |--| |--| || || || || |--| | | | | | | +----------------------------------------+
