The Macintosh turns 25 this week. Here’s the little box that started it all, being shown off for the first time by Steve Jobs:
Category: Apple
The MacBook Air, All Grown Up
Macworld reviewed the new MacBook Air:
Though not for everyone, Apple’s MacBook Air can still boast about its status as the world’s thinnest notebook computer, only now, with a 33 percent performance gain, the tradeoff between size and speed is not as great as with the first generation MacBook Air.
Its good to see a positive review of the MacBook Air talk about something other than the thin factor. I had a 1st generation for a bit, and thing was barely usable for much more than browsing and Office.
More on Taskbar vs. Dock
Ultimately, the new Taskbar is not Mac-like in any important way, and only the most facile of analyses would claim that it is. Concerns that Microsoft is making Windows too much like Mac OS X are not founded on any real evidence; the similarity is at most skin-deep.
That said, it’s not impossible to see a future where Windows also uses the same concept of the document being the window, ending the peculiar document-less windows we see today in Word and other software. It could do this by using the same approach as Messenger already uses in Windows 7; retain the Taskbar icon even when the last window is closed. In conjunction with a few extra window management operations (the ability to bring all windows of a particular application to the front, for example), Windows could offer the best of both worlds: the document-centric UI of Mac OS X, with its neatly orthogonal application and document switching, and document windows free from the constraints of their application, combined with the rapid window switching and management of the Taskbar.
The Macalope on Netbooks
Meanwhile, who is being hurt by netbooks? Why, turns out it’s Microsoft. The former 800-pound gorilla said the rise of netbooks is hurting its bottom line because they run Windows XP instead of Vista and don’t come with Office.
Mac-loving Obama Staff Inherits White House Full of Old Windows Machines
One member of the White House new-media team came to work on Tuesday, right after the swearing-in ceremony, only to discover that it was impossible to know which programs could be updated, or even which computers could be used for which purposes. The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops were scarce, assigned to only a few people in the West Wing. The team was left struggling to put closed captions on online videos.
A Look at Windows 7’s New Taskbar
The biggest UI change in the upcoming, still-in-beta Windows 7 is the system’s new taskbar.
Up until Windows 7 showed up, the taskbar was not much more than a way to manage open windows and applications. But with the new OS, the taskbar is now an application launcher. True, the old Windows taskbar could hold shortcuts to apps, but it was nothing like the Dock - the whole “mini-launcher” section was kinda janky. The Mac’s Dock was a far better application launcher - allowing users to place their favorite apps at the bottom or side of their display for quick access.
Apple Still Raking in the Cash
From Apple’s 1st quarter results:
Apple sold 2,524,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.
“Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history—surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
25 Years of Mac Ads
Computerworld has posted collection of Apple ads over the last 25 years. Highlights include Get a Macintosh, Lifesavers, and Super Computer.
Failures include Lemmings, and John Sculley’s open letter . Lemmings makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry under the bed.
Ellen Feiss still remains outside all categories - the whole thing is just plain weird.
I had not seen several of these, and had never seen the phrase “ The power to be your best.” Some classics though - like the Intel Bunny and the Intel Snail are missing from the list - as are the first iPod ad and the HAL commercial.
$999 ‘MacBook White’ Gets Faster Guts
The low-end $999 white plastic MacBook White is running a little closer to its shiny unibody cousins as of this morning:
- Processor moved to 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo with 1066 MHz frontside bus from 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo with 866 MHz bus - Standard RAM increased to 2 GB (two 1 GB sticks) from 1 GB (two 512 MB sticks) - Graphics switched to NVIDIA 9400M with 256 MB of shared memory from Intel GMA X3100 with 144 MB of shared memory - Bluetooth version updated to 2.1 from 2.0. - 320 GB, 5400-rpm hard drive option added
The Introduction of the "Desktop"
Macworld, looking back at their very first issue 25 years ago:
A lot of the ideas introduced in that first issue seem remarkably normal today. The very first feature article, “A Tour of the Mac Desktop” by longtime Macworld contributor Lon Poole, includes an illustration of features I can see on my Mac screen today: a menu bar with an Apple logo in the left corner, a window full of files and folders represented by icons and names, and a desktop area.
The Macintosh SE/30 Named "Best Ever"
As part of their “ The Macintosh at 25” series, Macworld asked several pundits which Mac was the best ever . The answer? The Macintosh SE/30:
There was a time when every new Macintosh equaled or bettered all aspects of every previous model. The Macintosh SE/30 came along very close to the end of that era, representing the apex of the original Macintosh form factor. Sporting every bit as much horsepower as the phenomenally expensive Macintosh IIx, the SE/30 was like a V12 engine shoehorned into a Honda Civic. Though future models with the original upright shape were released, they were all tagged with the derisive moniker Classic. The SE/30 bore no such shame. It was and is the undisputed king of the original, iconic Macs and, therefore, of all Macs for all time.—JOHN SIRACUSA
The Fundamental Flaw with Windows
Microsoft has had to keep Windows a general purpose, one-size-fits-all product that it can license to every PC maker on earth apart from Apple. Microsoft’s business interests often fail to align with those of its licensees, resulting in skirmishes with its OEMs.
Some people say that the environment Apple creates by controlling hardware and software is bad, but Apple has avoided the issues Microsoft has faced by dealing with dozens of companies, all running Windows on literally thousands of different products.