Farewell to the Apple IIe and Mac Plus
Here’s what will probably be the last of my “Thanks for the memories” videos. Sorry for the camera shaking at the beginning; hopefully it’s not bad enough to make anyone seasick.
I talk about the Apple IIe and the Mac Plus. (I also have an Apple IIgs Woz Limited Edition but I couldn’t think of anything to say about it!)
All you need to know about networking with System 6
Now that we’ve all recovered from my attempt at video-making in 1998, it’s time for some 2009 video-making, which is actually less fancy – but, oddly, has editing! I guess it all evens out. Here, I talk about the PowerBook 145B and Farallon PhoneNet connectors, and mention the moon landing.
System 7 + AOL 2.x + Global Village modem = internet access circa 1996
I think this is my best video so far. Probably because it’s starting to get truly personal! I really do feel a connection to this stuff and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get rid of the System 7.5 software package.
But I’ll write more on that later. For now, here’s the video!
Video experiement continues: “Thanks for the memories” part 2
Yes, it’s another video.
Last night Rusty and I bought the newest version of iMovie, which includes the ability to do text overlays – so now I can do all the editing stuff myself! That is, unless I want to do anything fancy, which so far I have no desire to do.
I think the coloring in this one looks different because we changed the overhead light from incandescent bulbs to curly-cue compact fluorescents. If you care.
One note:
1) I screwed up my clever little quip at the end. Microsoft’s unofficial slogan is, “Bring you yesterday, tomorrow.” I didn’t care enough to go back and reshoot the whole thing, though.
There was something else I had noticed while watching it last night that needed clarifying, but on the computer I’m on at the moment I don’t have sound, so I can’t remember what it was. Maybe I’ll update this post later.
Anyway, in this video I talk about MacProject. Wanna buy it? Make me your best offer!
Computers
I have too much old computer detritus (or “collectibles,” depending on how you see it) that for some reason I just can’t bring myself to get rid of. I’ve never been a pack rat. I like the occasional purge. I do hold onto things that have personal, sentimental value for me – the stuff that doesn’t necessarily have monetary value, but can’t be replaced if lost. Why do I hold onto these last remains of my former pretty-big computer collection? I haven’t *used* them in any way in years. I simply tote the boxes around w/ me whenever I move, and shove them in another closet. But do I really need an entire box of Localtalk connectors? This stuff is taking up space, and while we have more of it at the house than at the apartment, we don’t have a ton of it to waste.
I guess part of me thinks maybe one day this stuff will be even rarer than it is now, and… then what? I don’t know. Old stuff is cool. Scarcity makes for interestingness. Plus, I believe it’s important not to erase all traces of where we’ve been – and esp. w/ technology, since it changes so fast.
And yet the fact remains, I *don’t* have space for this stuff.
[Originally posted on my Tumblr, and then I realized, hey, I ended up writing enough to constitute a real blog post! So I'm cross-posting it here - and shortly the RSS feed will be imported to my Tumblr, to complete the infinite loop.]
Selective reporting
From the Wired story, “Is the Internet Out of Room?”:
RTI estimates that only 30 percent of application vendors will have integrated IPv6 capabilities by 2008. And while market-leading Cisco Systems routers have been IPv6-ready for years, most corporate workstations aren’t. Current versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system aren’t set up to support IPv6 automatically, although the company’s oft-delayed successor, Vista, will.
What they don’t tell you is that Mac OS X has supported IPv6 since Jaguar (10.2), which was released in 2002.
Revenge, Served Cold
…with a side order of “I told you so.”
Windows was broken and Microsoft has admitted it. In an unprecedented attempt to explain its Longhorn problems and how it abandoned its traditional way of working, the normally secretive software giant has given unparalleled access to The Wall Street Journal, even revealing how Vice President Jim Allchin, personally broke the bad news to Bill Gates.
Patrick sticks it to “Peter B” – read for yourself and laugh, laugh, laugh. Oh, and circulate that bad boy.
Cryptic Geek Post
Anybody who’s good with the AppleScript skillz… email me. I have an idea. (Yes, it’s a secret.)
Depressing? Hardly
I promised Rusty and Nick that I’d do a post on the rumors about Apple switching to Intel chips, so here you go.
I actually think the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. I just don’t see it as being a big deal. But people love to prophecy doom for Apple; they’ve been doing it for years, and they never stop, even as Apple has consistently maintained an impressive profit margin while other PC companies have fallen by the wayside.
For example, some random analyst says:
“I don’t know that Apple’s market share can survive another architecture shift,” Insight 64 analyst Nathan Brookwood told News.com. “Every time they do this, they lose more customers.”
Let’s see, so that’s why Apple’s profits increased by over 500% this past quarter compared to last year a?? including a 115% increase in computer sales, for those determined to pin it all on iPods; revenue is up 70% from last year; and Apple’s stock price has risen steadily over the past year (compare to that of Microsoft).
People are also bellyaching about the possibility of running OS X on x86 architecture, and how that could bring Apple crashing to its knees, blah blah blah. There have been rumors of porting OS X to x86 since the last century a?? before OS X was OS X, when it was Rhapsody. And before that, of course, was its ultimate forebear, NeXTSTEP (later OPENSTEP) which did run on x86 architecture. Many people are also unaware that Darwin, the core operating system of OS X, will run on x86 – people have been doing so for years. It’s open source, after all.
Bottom line? Apple is, at the end of the day, a business – and in the business world, things change all the time, corporations make decisions, and life goes on. Apple has proven itself to be not only a stable fixture in the marketplace, but has consistently surpassed itself and its competitors. Why some talking-head analysts continue to bemoan its fate remains a mystery to me.
Tiger Tip
If, after installing Tiger, your Mac won’t automatically reconnect to your Airport network after awaking from sleep (even if you have “Join a specific network” selected in the Network control panel), the solution is to go into the Keychain Access application and delete and re-enter the password for the network.
I can’t take credit for figuring this out myself; I found it at macosx.com. And I’m glad I did, because this problem was driving me crazy!