Every month, My Mac presents the best from As the Apple Turns, one of the very best Mac web sites on the Internet today. Culling the best is no easy task, as Jack Miller writes such fantastic stuff. We want to reprint it all! But, alas, we choose a small sampling of his work and present it here as it originally appeared on the AtAT web site. Enjoy, and when your done, be sure to check out his web site for the up-to-the-minute latest and greatest! http://www.infoxczar.com/atat

Leaning On The Man (5/27/99)

Who says Apple never listens to its customers? Okay, sure, sometimes things have to get ugly before they start paying attention, but when they make a particularly boneheaded move, it seems like these days they're much more likely to admit the mistake and make amends. Remember last year's fracas when they revamped the QuickTime 3 licensing terms? They eventually changed things around after massive developer protest. And more recently, they modified their public source license in response to feedback from the Open Source community. If you want to look larger, you could even consider the whole Carbon API thingy to be a response to developer reluctance to port to Yellow Box. Apple does listen-- at least, better than they once did.

The latest case in point? AppleShare IP. By now you're probably privy to the outrage following Apple's announcement that version 6.2 of the excellent cross-platform file-, web-, email-, and print-serving software suite would cost people $499-- even though it was primarily a bug-fix upgrade. What ensued was basically the online equivalent of the villagers grabbing lots of torches, pitchforks, and those rake-things from the old Frankenstein movies and storming the castle. It was not a pretty sight.

So we were happy to see that last night, Apple officially posted the ASIP 6.2 updater as a free, 20 MB download for owners of any previous ASIP 6.x version. They "done right" by the user community, and faithful viewer Todd Wheeler forwarded us an excerpt from the email sent by Apple's marketing veep Phil Schiller to the ASIP mailing list: "...We have received strong feedback from a number of our loyal AppleShare IP 6 customers about the need to provide this latest release of AppleShare IP to them at a more affordable price than the $499 upgrade that has been announced. They are absolutely right... Apple's customers are considered by many to be the most loyal and passionate in the industry. We love to listen to them, learn from them, and respond quickly when they provide advice..." So there you have it: another victory for everyone involved. Aren't happy endings great?

Ghost In The Machine (5/27/99)

As much as we love following the day-to-day drama of Apple Computer, we can't help but feel that recently things just haven't been nearly as surreal as we'd like. There haven't been as many bizarre occurrences to stop us in our tracks and make us go, "Huh." That's good for the stockholders and for the continued financial health of the company, sure, but still, we miss the weird stuff. Heck, we thrive on it.

That's why we're so indebted to a longtime faithful viewer mysteriously known only as "~" for contacting us with one of the strangest stories we've yet encountered involving Apple. Some of you will remember that a few weeks ago, we were bemoaning the rather limited choice of programming available via QuickTime 4's new live streaming architecture: HBO previews, BBC world news, WGBH public television, and Bloomberg financial news. That's why "~" notified us that, ever since his update to the latest beta version of QuickTime 4, his bookmarked Bloomberg webcast turned into something quite different. Specifically, when he fired it up in QiuckTime Player, he found he was watching an episode of Star Trek: Voyager on UPN.

So, yeah, that was weird-- but it got even more interesting. Not long after, "~" wrote back to tell us that now his supposed "Bloomberg" webcast was showing the season finale of The X-Files on a San Francisco Fox station. He even emailed us his Bloomberg QuickTime file, so we could see for ourselves-- and yes, it was true. Then things wandered into the realm of the truly surreal: after The X-Files ended, a short portion of the San Francisco news was shown, and then the screen went black-- and we heard an audio-only track of the "Swedish-made penis enlarger" scene from the original Austin Powers repeated over and over again for perhaps ten minutes. We swear we are not making this up. After that, Voyager started again. This lineup just keeps repeating. Yes, we know this sounds kinda nuts, but we've posted the QuickTime 4 file which points to this mysterious live video stream so you can check it out yourself-- hurry, because there's no telling how long it'll stay up. We've opened up the file and confirmed that the stream is in fact coming from Apple's servers-- you can even enter the URL rtsp://qt4s.apple.com/bloomberg/bloomberghi in QuickTime Player to load the same stream. (Loading a Bloomberg stream from Apple's site, however, gives you the actual Bloomberg broadcast.) All we can say is, it's good to see that someone at Apple still has a sense of humor.

And Then There Were 7 (5/26/99)

If you've been thinking that Apple's board of directors has been way too static lately, you're in luck. We're pretty sure that ever since the coup d'etat that revamped the whole board way back in August of 1997, the line-up has remained the same-- until now. Apple issued a press release announcing that they've added a new face to the board, bringing the total to seven; please welcome Mr. Millard Drexler, the CEO of Gap Inc.

Why is this interesting, you ask? Because Drexler has absolutely nothing to do with the computer industry (and we refuse to capitalize on an easy pun involving "soft wear"). Instead, his company sells clothes-- lots of clothes-- to the mainstream consumer market, which is the same market Apple's trying to court with the iMac and the upcoming consumer portable that may or may not be called the iBook. Coincidence? Piffle. As a Mac Observer article deftly points out, the addition of Drexler to the Apple team is likely indicative of Steve's grand vision of "Apple: The Sony of Computers;" in their words, the choice "shows that Apple is far less concerned with being a computer company and far more concerned with continuing to transform Apple into a consumer/fashion/appliance/information/etc. company." Like it or not, this may another step in a brave new direction.

Personally, we at AtAT are happy to see a change on Apple's board. Sure, we understand the whole "if it ain't broke don't fix it" concept, but in general, we think change is an inherently positive force overall. And the fact that Drexler is bringing in a vast wealth of knowledge regarding how to sell products to the average consumer really gives us hope that he can strengthen Apple's position in that competitive market. Plus, we're interested to see whether Gap khakis will soon be available in fruit flavors or if we'll spot any "iMacs Swing" commercials on TV...

Been There, Done That (5/23/99)

Over the last couple of years, there have been a lot of changes in the Apple world, to be sure. For one thing, what was once a raging torrent of red ink the likes of which were not previously witnessed since those elevator doors opened in Stanley Kubrick's cinematic interpretation of Stephen King's The Shining has since transformed almost magically into a steady stream of black ink. Then there's the fact that Apple was nary a blip on the consumer retail landscape, whereas these days the iMac continues to sell well, particularly to households who have never owned a computer before. And the advertising scene has changed pretty drastically, too-- these days, you actually see Apple ads in places other than Mac-specific magazines. See? There are all kinds of big differences.

Of course, some things never change. Take, for example, the way the PC world comes out with a new "innovation" and grabs all the credit-- about three years after Apple had already "been there, done that," but Apple gets nary a footnote in the mainstream press. The particular instance that's got us thinking about this phenomenon is detailed in a CNET article about Gateway's new "all-in-one" computer design. In Japan, Gateway is selling a PC that integrates the computer's motherboard, hard drive, and other components into a single enclosure that also houses the display. Sound familiar? Sure, it's reminiscent of the iMac, and even of the original 1984 "toaster-style" Macintosh, but the Gateway unit differs from those all-in-one designs in that it uses an active-matrix flat-panel display like those used in laptop computers. The result is a very flat, space-efficient design that's expected to go over big in Japan. It's new and exciting!

So, uh, can anyone say Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh? As in, released by Apple in 1997? The TAM, also known by its code name of "Spartacus," beat Gateway to the punch by integrating a vertically-oriented motherboard and an LCD flat-panel display into a single unit. It's also about a gazillion times more beautiful than Gateway's rather uninteresting and pedestrian interpretation. In addition, other innovations in the Spartacus included a breakthrough Bose sound system (which apparently integrated a subwoofer with the unit's power supply), a special way to allow a single PCI card to be installed even in the system's superthin design via the use of a separate "backpack" rear cover, and-- perhaps most distinctively-- a ridiculously high price tag. The Spartacus debuted at a jaw-dropping $9000. Somehow we doubt that PC manufacturers will be ripping off that particular

Apple innovation anytime soon...Jumping Ship Too Late (5/23/99)

Want proof that Apple still has a ways to go before they're out of the woods? We admit, it can be hard to believe, given how much better things are now than they were a few years ago, but there's definitely still room for improvement. For one thing, even though lots of developers who left the Mac platform behind are now starting to come back because of the iMac's popularity, occasionally we still see companies leaving the party, just when things are getting good. Case in point: Hewlett-Packard. According to a MacWEEK article, HP has officially confirmed that it has "ended development in the Mac scanner market."

What this means is that HP's current generation of ScanJet scanners-- which are incompatible with the latest Power Macs-- will stay that way. Furthermore, don't expect any more Mac-compatible scanners from now on, unless they reverse their official decision; their web site states quite clearly that their "solution" (!) to the issue of Mac support is that their scanner division "has moved out of the Macintosh environment," a decision that was "based solely on market needs and revenue" because "the current Macintosh market is relatively small" compared to the Wintel juggernaut. Mmm, some solution. Thanks for nothing.

What's particularly interesting about this "solution" is that, with the iMac's terrific sales performance and Apple's year-over-year unit growth outpacing the industry as a whole, the Mac's installed base must be growing faster now that at any other time in the last several years. So why would HP pick now, of all times, to bail out? Then again, it's not like we particularly need HP, given the other scanner options available to Mac users; in fact, we're hard-pressed to think of any Mac users we know who have bought an HP scanner within the last five years. Most people seem to opt for offerings from Umax, Epson, and Agfa, so maybe it's no big loss. (By the way, for those of you who are fans of HP printers, fear not-- the Mac printer division isn't jumping ship. Yet.)

Made In Taiwan (5/25/99)

So you want to know the real details about Apple's upcoming consumer portable? Hey, who doesn't? The simple fact is, Apple has the project encased in a Cone of Secrecy so dense, not even light can escape; if they hadn't announced that such a product was even in the works, we doubt any info about its progress would have been picked up by the press. Remember how the iMac stunned the world? The way that Apple's managed to keep most "iBook" details under wraps for over a year while everyone's trying to sneak a peek is impressive, to say the least.

But that doesn't mean the occasional fourth-hand detail doesn't worm its way through the Translucent Curtain-- of course, sometimes you have to go halfway around the world to find a spot weak enough to penetrate. The latest buzz all emanates from a story in an Asian business journal, which claims that Apple has selected a third-party manufacturer to build the iBooks, in much the same way that LG Electronics now produces the iMac. The lucky winner of the iBook contract is reportedly Alpha Top of Taiwan, who, as related by a CNET article, plans to begin production in June; if all goes according to plan, then an unveiling at July's Macworld Expo is virtually guaranteed (though we expected that, anyway).

As for what that means regarding an actual ship date, we're personally skeptical that units will be available for sale in time for the Expo. As the CNET article points out, the company that's producing the new "bronze" PowerBooks started working on them in March, and they still haven't shipped; if the iBooks follow a similar timeline, then they might well follow in the iMac's footsteps and inherit an August 15th launch date. Not that we wouldn't welcome an earlier addition to our Mac family-- heck, we'd buy the demo unit from Steve Jobs after his keynote if he'd sell it to us. Are you listening, Steve? Cash in hand, and no one else needs to know. Meet us in the alley next to Zen Palate on Broadway after the speech and we'll make the exchange. We'll even buy you a vegan meal for your trouble. How can you pass up an offer like that?