Truth In Advertising
Are you one of those Mac people who look for evidence of Macintosh existence in television shows? How about print advertising? I admit it, I've become a spotter junkie of anything Mac or Mac made. Just last night I spotted an iMac on Melrose Place, in a hospital setting no less! Spin City has had Macs in the mayor's office since the first episode. I'm waiting for the new Yosemite machines to replace the 6100s on the set. An iMac was recently spotted in an apartment scene on the show. Sports Night, (the best new show) has several G3 PowerBooks displayed. Home Improvement has always had a Mac visible, the latest being Jill's G3 PowerBook. Apple has been quietly very aggressive in placing its machines on winning shows. The one-color Apple, derided by many of us Mac enthusiasts does attract attention. My students report in to me when they have seen an iMac now that there are four Bondi-Blues sitting in my classroom.

Where my eyes are now looking is the print media. The Oregonian Newspaper here in Portland advertises itself using the Mac window box for framing its ads. Looking for the Chicago font is always a dead giveaway of Macintosh usage. Do I sound like a flake? My students seem to think so. But the truth is, Mac users should be proud anytime the wares of our passion are shown.

However, my ultimate source of smugness lies in perusing the pages of Windows magazines and spotting Mac workmanship. The humorous irony of it all brings a satisfying smirk to my jowls. My latest favorite comes from the November 1998 issue of PC World Magazine. On page 54, there is an advertisement for PC World Info-Net service. If you look at the monitor, lo-and-behold it's a Macintosh screen with all the trimmings. In a size 20 (approx) font using white letters with a red backdrop is the PC World moniker. I've got to believe that the layout artist is rolling on the floor, with tears running down his/her cheeks over having subtly knifed PC World. If you're at the library sometime, check it out, it'll make your day.

Bondi-Blue Students
The iMacs arrived in my classroom in mid-November. They really are a great school machine. Set up is even easier than Apple brags about in their Jeff Goldblum ads. The students love to work on them, partly due, I believe, to the notion that it fits their generation. Rarely is there a time when the machines are in use that the crowd is not two deep. The monitor's screen resolution lives up to its hype. Regrets, only two. First, revision A machines lack a restart key. Second, at least one more USB port. Trivial complaints, to be sure.

Recently I was asked to give a demonstration of the iMac's capabilities as a dual platform machine. After some serious research and some testing, I settled on Virtual PC 2.1 (WIN95). The program loaded up without a problem on one CD-ROM. I had heard and read that when VPC runs on a G3, its speed is similar to a 166MHz Pentium. Whoever said that was wrong--I'll bet it's closer to 200-233MHz! I should mention that the iMac had 96 megs of RAM under the hood. I loaded up an extra copy of Word into the program, and typed a few lines of greetings. Finally, to test the video streaming capability, I inserted an educational CD-ROM dealing with the Old West. Video was instantaneous, smooth and clear. Hats off the engineers at Connectix.

That night, I was all set to give the presentation right off the bat, but then I was bumped down to the last item. When it finally came my turn, I inadvertently stuck a floppy into the SuperDrive during the VPC startup and it crashed. Here I was tongue-tied. Luckily, one parent spoke up, reminding me and everyone else that Windows 98 crashed on Bill Gates at it's release party. Everyone chuckled, I quickly restarted, and once VPC got loaded everything was a-ok.

The parents felt relieved at the selection of iMacs, with the exception of one die-hard Windows fanatic who questioned the ability of Macs and Wintel machines running together on a network. I responded that US West among others have been doing this for years. Not to mention that it had built-in Ethernet for easy networking. That ended that line of questioning, the iMac answered the rest on its own. All in all, a very successful evening.

What Happened to the Commercials?
To tell the truth, I'm having writer's block. Partially, I think it's due to Apple's success. It's hard to outdo a winner, and no question Apple is a winner right now. Reasons... well how about 152 million of them? Cupertino seems to be beating the analysts best guesses by a 25 percent margin every quarter. Gotta love it when the "experts" get their clocks cleaned.

Until next month, enjoy the prosperity.