My iMac?
Well, no (at least not yet!) But I created this "new" logo in response to the iMac's release. Pretty catchy, no? Kinda fits in the family, don't you think?
Tim

iMac Day
Many of you have seen the iMac up close and personal. A few lucky people actually got to take one home with them. (I wish I was one!) Well, on August 15th (the day I'm writing this), I spent a few hours in the nearest CompUSA store myself.

Reflecting back on the day, I am still amazed. This product is going to change the way most people look at Apple and the Mac. I saw so much excitement at CompUSA today from not only Mac and new computer buyers, but from hardcore PC users as well. Everyone, it seems, really loves the design and speed of the iMac. They had Virtual PC running on the display machine, and I heard a person comment "Man, it runs Windows as fast as my Gateway does!" High praise from a PC user? Will wonders never cease?

I asked a store salesman at CompUSA today how the iMac is selling. He said "If we had a few hundred of them, we could sell them all today" I asked how many they had sold, and he replied "We started with fifty of them, and they were all sold in ten minutes. We did not sell that many copies of Windows 98 in the first hour!"

There was a line of people waiting just to play, touch, and get near the display unit. The store had banners hanging outside the store "iMac is here!" They had balloons that said "iMac" and "CompUSA" all over the place. They had at least four reps from Apple present. It was, all said and done, very impressive.

Can we officially say the iMac is a hit? I think so. Some of you may even be reading this on an iMac. Write in, tell us about the machine. Do you like it? (Dumb question...) What do you not like about it? Tell us all! We want your iMac story! Simply drop us a line at publisher@mymac.com
Tim

John's Due
I doubt John will ever mention this, so I will! John's "Book Bytes" reviews do not go unnoticed by the book publishers of the world. Back in April of this year, John reviewed "Macworld ClarisWorks Office Bible by Steven A. Schwartz" I can't speak for John, but when I ran across this book in the book store (and I knew this was on the book before I saw it) it did my heart proud to see this on the cover:

Way to go, John! When I can spring for the $34.99, I want to get this book even though I don't own ClarisWorks Office! One thing, though: John never wrote "And the winner is... ClarisWorks Office Bible." anywhere in his review. He did write "HIGHLY RECOMMENDED" though. Ah well, this book is great, and all publishers are free to write such blurbs on their covers;-)

Thanks, John, for providing such good reviews of Mac-related books every month for My Mac Magazine and My Mac Online! You are an amazing writer, and your Nemo Memo column not only inspires and entertains me, your Book Bytes reviews really help me when I go looking for a book to buy.
Tim

One Year Ago...
In the September 1997 issue of My Mac (#29) I published a column in our "The Readers Voice" by a writer named Susan Howerter titled "Deus ex Machina" At the time, I really had no idea how much talent this lady had. But I loved her column so much, I offered her a place here in My Mac. To my ever lasting joy, Susan accepted, and now writes not one, but TWO very popular columns every month (Churning the AppleCart and Out of the AppleCart).

Susan is a great writer, and I am one of her biggest fans. So happy one year anniversary, Susan! May you stay with My Mac for as long as it stays in publication! (Which we plan to do for years to come!)

One year ago also marked the first and last time Steven M. Adelson appeared here in My Mac as a writer. Steven wrote a great book review, and I was hoping to have him return as a regular writer. Where did you disappear to, Steven?

Two Years Ago...
It was two years ago when all the rumor mills seemed to be churning out were rumors that Apple would buy out BE Software, and make the BE OS the new Mac OS. Wow, does it seem that long ago?

Also two years ago, My Mac welcomed new reviewer Fenton "Manavesh" Jones, who reviewed the shareware title "Plaintext". Fenton still writes for My Mac, though now his endeavors are in FileMaker Pro. His new series titled "FileMaker 101" is now at part 6, and has been released on our website as a special download containing all chapters of this series. If you have not read FileMaker 101 yet, you simply do not know what you're missing!
Tim

Three Years Ago...
Honestly, most of you never read My Mac this far back, though we were around. Issue #4, to be precise. At that time, My Mac was nothing like it is today, and no one currently on staff was yet engaged. The only other two writers at that time were Pam Wilson and Michael Rio. Mike is a teacher and still uses Macs everyday. Pam also works for a education facility, and helped me land a job a few years ago teaching a once-a-week computer class to elementary school kids.

Virtual Viagra
Want to simply have fun with your Mac, and make anyone around you laugh? I found this really neat program titled "Virtual Viagra" With all the news reporting on Viagra, the impotence wonder drug, I just had to download this program and check it out.

What does it do? When you double click the program, you hear a voice that goes "Whoa-ho-ho-ho-HO!" and your pointer grows to this size:

Your pointer will stay this size until you click something, and which time it will "shrink" back down to "normal" size.

This is a completely worthless program, and one of the best I have downloaded in months! I can't stop myself laughing every time I use it! Every time someone stops by the house, I always end up showing this to them. It always gets a chuckle from people.

Where can you get Virtual Viagra? From our friend over at Freeverse Software! http://www.freeverse.com Be sure to check out their other titles while you're there.
Tim

Tim Robertson
publisher@mymac.com
Russ Walkowich
editor@mymac.com