ZDNet has egg on it's face this morning, along with a lot of slashdot readers who jump at the first opportunity to trash Apple.
Apple has issued a press release this morning stating in part "Apple® today announced it will honor all orders for its Power Macintosh® G4 computers placed before Wednesday, October 13, at the originally quoted prices, including those placed with the Company's resellers which were accompanied by a purchase order, or a cash or credit card deposit."
If microsoft hadn't existed, the PC would have been IBM's mac. A single vendor solution, IBM hardware, OS and software.
I really don't agree with this idea at all. IBM is the reason we have multivendor hardware sources, not Microsoft. If you look at the state of the PC world what we have is on the hardware side - open hardware with lots of vendors it's great.
But look at the software side. This is a world that is closed closed closed. Microsoft has driven out all of the serious competition from the OS and key application markets for the desktop. It is in fact single source. If you are buying an Intel machine for desktop use you have one OS and application vendor you are stuck with. Microsoft.
Sure, there are some competitiors to Microsoft on the server side. But for clients Microsoft is the single vendor source.
Whether Mr. Gates is responsible for the proliferation of the PC is undisputed
Nonsense. The only reason Billy-Boy is where he is today is that Gary Kildall decided to take a plane ride rather than meet with some suits from Armonk.
IBM was the driving force for the wide-spread adoption of the PC. Period. Bill just went along for the ride. In fact at Microsoft they used to call it 'riding the bear', that is getting up on the back of IBM and trying to hang on.
As far as the Internet goes, that was and is self-feeding. As soon as the early browsers came out in the fall of 1994 the web started growing at rates of 100% per day. In a space of 3 months the web went from 100 pages to 4 million pages. Where was Microsoft during this? Nowhere.
Microsoft never innovated anything important and NEVER will They are a drag on the whole computer industry and need to be broken up to give innovators a chance to realize the true potential of computers.
The fact of the matter is that truly revolutionary ideas initially mask themselves as a better form of something else. Computers are now being used as a better form of paper. This is just the very beginning. Ultimately truly great inventions (automobile, printing press, etc.) alter the way we live in the most profound manner in ways taht are initially impossible to predict. I believe that Microsoft, by virtue of it's lack of innovating capability and it's monopoly power is a serious impediment to the full realization of the invention of the computer.
The main reason is that there is no mac competition. If you really want something that runs macos then you have to go to Apple and if they screw up-you're screwed.
Interesting theory, but it doesn't hold water. If Apple had competition in the Mac box arena it would make no difference here. Motorola's inability to deliver would mess up everyone equally.
Wall Street analysts were mostly unfazed, saying they did not expect a big drop in customers or orders.
``It's better than nothing,'' said Lou Mazzucchelli, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., who predicted customer outrage when Apple first announced the pricing switch. ``Is it going to make everyone happy, no. On the other hand, I really think they did have an issue with increased expenses and they are trying to make the best of a bad situation.''
Mazzucchelli estimated that about 5,000 customers have pre-ordered G4 systems from the Apple Store before Oct. 13. The remaining G4 orders that have yet to be fulfilled were from retail stores or distributors, he said.
``I'm not worrying about it,'' said Daniel Kunstler, an analyst at J.P. Morgan.
As you can see the stock price has gone up two-and-a-half times this year - following a doubling last year. If you had bought Apple stock at it's low, you would have increased your money 5x.
Where I work there are the Mac user and those (everyone else) who laugh at Apple's blunders. I wish apple didn't make it so easy.
Are you telling me that Intel and Microsoft don't make blunders?
Have you looked at Apple's stock recently? It's been outpacing just about everything on the market. It's been up 10% since the first announcement of G4 cancellations. Apple has been reporting extremely strong sales of iMacs and iBooks. The reason for the G4 problems is they can't build them fast enbough because demand is so high. Other companies would love to have such problems.
Depends on the internal policies of the company. If they enforce a no piracy policy and back it up with real action the company is off the hook and the employee gets screwed. OTOH if they have no policy and management seems to encourage piracy by not allowing an adaquate budget the the company has the problems.
Microsoft is not the `evil empire' and dosen't want to take over the world (sorry)
I don't think the rank and file worker at Redmond is doing anything but what he has to to feed his family.
BUT - I've been in the computer biz since the days of the IBM 1130 and the Link 8, and from my experiences I think that MS is very bad for innovation. The diversity of systems people have to work with has been choked by Microsoft's monopoly. Sure, standards are good, but standards can also be a real impediment.
When Microsoft says 'we want the freedom to innovate' what they really mean is that we want the freedom to copy and crush anyone who has an innovation.
A LOT of people have day jobs where their only computing choice is some sort of Wintel box with MS Office/MS Exchange on it. I've been there and it really sucks to have this sort of thing crammed down your throat.
Stop the zealotry and start to look at things with a *calm* and objective eye.
Let me understand this now. Gartner writes a report critical of Linux, Microsoft pays bux (how many unknown) and distributes the report.
Now, suppose Gartner writes a report critical of Win2k (bloated unstable pig-dog of unknown compatability quality and buginess but fact it is largest number of code lines ever attempted in an OS doesn't bode wll unlikely to be installed by anyone sane until at least SP2 is out project being led by PHB who says his number one job is to ship the product). Is anyone in the free software community likely to have the bux to pay for this? No, if they have money they are spending it on stuff like making the code better.
If you are Gartner you don't have to be all that smart to realize where you are most likely to get a renumeration for your efforts. Heck, we don't even know if there was collusion before the article was written, i.e. some MS flack calls up Gartner - hey Joe - do you have anything critical of Linux we could buy? Joe, realizing this is an opportunity to make his sales target says, sure, I think we have something - might take a day or three to find it in our files. We'll send it over, and put it on your tab.
This is the same group of 'consultants' that has done a number of reports on user productivity and cost of ownership funded by Apple in order to show Windows to be inferior.
These outfits have zero credibility. They are not independent, they always write what the client wants to hear in hopes of getting more work of the same nature in the future,
The fact that the author's book is published by Cambridge Univ. Press tells me that he is no hack.
There are a lot of interesting people like Paul Erdos at the bleeding edge.
My first year physics prof at Tufts U. shared a Nobel Prize for something he worked on in his basement during free time completed unrelated to his main research topics.
Since a lot of great physics is done in the early life of a physicist, it is not surprising that there is a lot of amatuer flavor to it. Many of Einstein's ideas leading to relativity were framed when he was 15 or 16 years old.
My theory about companies is that they all screw up occasionally. THe question is what do they do when their customers point out the screwup. In this case Apple has retreated from the screwup and is honoring previous orders. To me that is good enough.
Re:Ah, back to the old Apple we all know and loath
on
Apple Makes G4s Slower
·
· Score: 2
Intel hardware is pretty disgusting, but at least you don't have to deal with this kind of bait-and-switch crap.
I guess you never bought anything from Midwest Micro, National Electronic Warehouse of NJ, CompUSA or anyplace that has a NYC address. It seems like half the clone vendors out there, at least, are playing shell games with factory rebates, internet bundles, refurbed hardware sold as new, and any other sharp practice they can find to push junk on the consumer at deceptive prices.
Macintouch reports: "Apple has reversed the cancellation of existing Power Mac G4 orders, according to impeccable sources, and is calling back customers to explain."
Nonsense. There were three models announced at different price points. Apple found that they had jumped the gun on G4 availability at the speeds they announced their products at, and were sitting on 90,000 orders that they could not deliver. In order to clear this problem they had to cancel the orders they couldn't deliver, and come up with new offerings that they could deliver. These offerings are the same except with a 50 MHz speed reduction - one with the old motherboard design, two with the new design. There is no sign as several correspondants here suggested that this is due to motherboard problems and that Apple was only going to be shipping 350 MHz and 400 MHz old motherboard designs.
I really don't see where Apple had a lot of choice in this matter given where they were at the time.
I know it pissed off a lot of people. I would certainly have been annoyed myself if I had an order in - but I would also become rather annoyed when my order arrived months late. Better to know the real story now than later. Some companies, like Intel and Microsoft would just try to string people out forever with vaporware like Merced and Win 2K.
It may also indicate that Apple is having problems with their new G4 motherboard. they are now only offering 350 and 400 MHz G4 systems these are probably the old G3 motherboard.
Isn't speculation without bothering to do any research or consideration of what an article says wonderful?
The fact is that nothing has changed except the speed reduction of 50 MHz. There are still three models in the G4 product line, not two 350 (old motherboard) and 400, 450 (new motherboard).
Apple has not changed anything else in the G4 product family.
The bug will apparently delay 500 MHz G4's until early 2000.
It is hard to say what the effect on Apple stock was because Apple had a big series of announcements along with the quarterly earnings yesterday, of which the G4 spped reduction was only one small item. Overall the picture was quite good - big order backlogs, higher than expected profits, so on. Also an agreement for IBM to manufacture G4s was announced. This in itself is probably far more important long term than a 50 MHz speed reduction right now.
The only real problem Apple has right now is they can't ship enough hardware. Unsatisfied demand for the G4's, new iMacs and iBooks is something like 500,000 boxes.
Aoole stock went up several points after the announcements yesterday because of the overall positive picture.
In this case, yes. The IRRI is a third world run institute with a long established record of delivering innovations to rice growing countries that have made huge impacts already to the quality of life in these countries. It has been estimated that their hydrid rices already have resulted in productivity gains that have saved over a billion people from starvation. They know how to deliver improved technologies to sustinence level farmers. They are not allied with first world agribusiness in any way.
My, you wrote a long reply. Too bad none of it is correct.
1). The IRRI is not a GM company. It is a non-profit organization funded by third world countries to improve rice for use by sustenance level farmers. It has been very effective doing this; it is estmated that it's products feed 2-3 billion people right now.
2). Wrong. Third world countries are already using the biotech products of the IRRI.
3). Wrong. The amount of arable land in production in in rice growing countries is strictly limited by geography.
4). Monsanto is not the IRRI.
5). IRRI super crops are being used to feed nearly 50% of the world population today.
6). Rice supplies the basic calorie input of 50% of the world population today. It is a simple fact. Fruits and vegatbles are nice too, but the basic caloric intake needed to sustain life comes from grains.
7). Irrigation is not going to increase the output of a rice paddy that is already intensively irrigated.
8). If Southeast Asia used organic methods like you propose 1 Billion people would die of starvation next year. Their methods are not organic, but are sustainable.
Simple - by looking at the people and the politics we can solve the problem not by throwing more technology at it.
While you screw around with pie in the sky ideas, 840 million people are starving.
The distribution/political problems are real. Third world countries often don't produce enough to feed their population, and can't afford to buy food on the international market. T
The answer is to get the tools into the hands of local farmers to grow more of their own food. If you were take a look at the IRRI web site you would realize that this is exactly what they are doing, and they are making heavy use of GM R&D to achieve this laudable goal.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple is ONLY honoring orders that were made via the AppleStore.
Bzzzzt.. WRONG
Take a look at the OFFICIAL Apple press release
It quite clearly states orders from resellers are being honored.
The fact is that ZDNet reported incorrect crap that confused a lot of people. Most of the Mac sites had it right.
ZDNet has egg on it's face this morning, along with a lot of slashdot readers who jump at the first opportunity to trash Apple.
Apple has issued a press release this morning stating in part "Apple® today announced it will honor all orders for its Power Macintosh® G4 computers placed before Wednesday, October 13, at the originally quoted prices, including those placed with the Company's resellers which were accompanied by a purchase order, or a cash or credit card deposit."
If microsoft hadn't existed, the PC would have been IBM's mac. A single vendor solution, IBM hardware, OS and software.
I really don't agree with this idea at all. IBM is the reason we have multivendor hardware sources, not Microsoft. If you look at the state of the PC world what we have is on the hardware side - open hardware with lots of vendors it's great.
But look at the software side. This is a world that is closed closed closed. Microsoft has driven out all of the serious competition from the OS and key application markets for the desktop. It is in fact single source. If you are buying an Intel machine for desktop use you have one OS and application vendor you are stuck with. Microsoft.
Sure, there are some competitiors to Microsoft on the server side. But for clients Microsoft is the single vendor source.
Whether Mr. Gates is responsible for the proliferation of the PC is undisputed
Nonsense. The only reason Billy-Boy is where he is today is that Gary Kildall decided to take a plane ride rather than meet with some suits from Armonk.
IBM was the driving force for the wide-spread adoption of the PC. Period. Bill just went along for the ride. In fact at Microsoft they used to call it 'riding the bear', that is getting up on the back of IBM and trying to hang on.
As far as the Internet goes, that was and is self-feeding. As soon as the early browsers came out in the fall of 1994 the web started growing at rates of 100% per day. In a space of 3 months the web went from 100 pages to 4 million pages. Where was Microsoft during this? Nowhere.
Microsoft never innovated anything important and NEVER will They are a drag on the whole computer industry and need to be broken up to give innovators a chance to realize the true potential of computers.
The fact of the matter is that truly revolutionary ideas initially mask themselves as a better form of something else. Computers are now being used as a better form of paper. This is just the very beginning. Ultimately truly great inventions (automobile, printing press, etc.) alter the way we live in the most profound manner in ways taht are initially impossible to predict. I believe that Microsoft, by virtue of it's lack of innovating capability and it's monopoly power is a serious impediment to the full realization of the invention of the computer.
The REAL computer revolution has yet to occur.
The main reason is that there is no mac competition. If you really want something that runs macos then you have to go to Apple and if they screw up-you're screwed.
Interesting theory, but it doesn't hold water. If Apple had competition in the Mac box arena it would make no difference here. Motorola's inability to deliver would mess up everyone equally.
Anyone what effect this is having on the num of new macs purchased? macintosh stock?
h _apple_2.html
i led=t
Try these two links.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991016/tc/tec
Wall Street analysts were mostly unfazed, saying they did not expect a big drop in customers or orders.
``It's better than nothing,'' said Lou Mazzucchelli, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., who predicted customer outrage
when Apple first announced the pricing switch. ``Is it going to make everyone happy, no. On the other hand, I really think
they did have an issue with increased expenses and they are trying to make the best of a bad situation.''
Mazzucchelli estimated that about 5,000 customers have pre-ordered G4 systems from the Apple Store before Oct. 13. The
remaining G4 orders that have yet to be fulfilled were from retail stores or distributors, he said.
``I'm not worrying about it,'' said Daniel Kunstler, an analyst at J.P. Morgan.
and
http://quote.yahoo.com/quotes?SYMBOLS=AAPL&deta
As you can see the stock price has gone up two-and-a-half times this year - following a doubling last year. If you had bought Apple stock at it's low, you would have increased your money 5x.
Where I work there are the Mac user and those (everyone else) who laugh at Apple's blunders. I wish apple didn't make it so easy.
Are you telling me that Intel and Microsoft don't make blunders?
I think that this story is just fsck-up by ZDNet. None of the Mac News sites are saying any such thing.
I imagine it will not fare very well.
Have you looked at Apple's stock recently? It's been outpacing just about everything on the market. It's been up 10% since the first announcement of G4 cancellations. Apple has been reporting extremely strong sales of iMacs and iBooks. The reason for the G4 problems is they can't build them fast enbough because demand is so high. Other companies would love to have such problems.
Depends on the internal policies of the company. If they enforce a no piracy policy and back it up with real action the company is off the hook and the employee gets screwed. OTOH if they have no policy and management seems to encourage piracy by not allowing an adaquate budget the the company has the problems.
Microsoft is not the `evil empire' and dosen't want to take over the world (sorry)
I don't think the rank and file worker at Redmond is doing anything but what he has to to feed his family.
BUT - I've been in the computer biz since the days of the IBM 1130 and the Link 8, and from my experiences I think that MS is very bad for innovation. The diversity of systems people have to work with has been choked by Microsoft's monopoly. Sure, standards are good, but standards can also be a real impediment.
When Microsoft says 'we want the freedom to innovate' what they really mean is that we want the freedom to copy and crush anyone who has an innovation.
A LOT of people have day jobs where their only computing choice is some sort of Wintel box with MS Office/MS Exchange on it. I've been there and it really sucks to have this sort of thing crammed down your throat.
Stop the zealotry and start to look at things with a *calm* and objective eye.
Let me understand this now. Gartner writes a report critical of Linux, Microsoft pays bux (how many unknown) and distributes the report.
Now, suppose Gartner writes a report critical of Win2k (bloated unstable pig-dog of unknown compatability quality and buginess but fact it is largest number of code lines ever attempted in an OS doesn't bode wll unlikely to be installed by anyone sane until at least SP2 is out project being led by PHB who says his number one job is to ship the product). Is anyone in the free software community likely to have the bux to pay for this? No, if they have money they are spending it on stuff like making the code better.
If you are Gartner you don't have to be all that smart to realize where you are most likely to get a renumeration for your efforts. Heck, we don't even know if there was collusion before the article was written, i.e. some MS flack calls up Gartner - hey Joe - do you have anything critical of Linux we could buy? Joe, realizing this is an opportunity to make his sales target says, sure, I think we have something - might take a day or three to find it in our files. We'll send it over, and put it on your tab.
This is the same group of 'consultants' that has done a number of reports on user productivity and cost of ownership funded by Apple in order to show Windows to be inferior.
These outfits have zero credibility. They are not independent, they always write what the client wants to hear in hopes of getting more work of the same nature in the future,
The problem for Apple is that they aren't likely to ever attract a significant number of new customers until they change their business practices.
That is a rather fanstastic assertion given the fact of the matter is that 50% of iMac sales are first time Apple customers.
The fact that the author's book is published by Cambridge Univ. Press tells me that he is no hack.
There are a lot of interesting people like Paul Erdos at the bleeding edge.
My first year physics prof at Tufts U. shared a Nobel Prize for something he worked on in his basement during free time completed unrelated to his main research topics.
Since a lot of great physics is done in the early life of a physicist, it is not surprising that there is a lot of amatuer flavor to it. Many of Einstein's ideas leading to relativity were framed when he was 15 or 16 years old.
just keep feeding the sheep and let those of us with brains continue thinking.
The problem with this is that they have the right to vote.
My theory about companies is that they all screw up occasionally. THe question is what do they do when their customers point out the screwup. In this case Apple has retreated from the screwup and is honoring previous orders. To me that is good enough.
Intel hardware is pretty disgusting, but at least you don't have to deal with this kind of bait-and-switch crap.
I guess you never bought anything from Midwest Micro, National Electronic Warehouse of NJ, CompUSA or anyplace that has a NYC address. It seems like half the clone vendors out there, at least, are playing shell games with factory rebates, internet bundles, refurbed hardware sold as new, and any other sharp practice they can find to push junk on the consumer at deceptive prices.
By comparison Apple is the virgin mother.
Macintouch reports: "Apple has reversed the cancellation of existing Power Mac G4 orders, according to impeccable sources, and is calling back customers to explain."
Nonsense. There were three models announced at different price points. Apple found that they had jumped the gun on G4 availability at the speeds they announced their products at, and were sitting on 90,000 orders that they could not deliver. In order to clear this problem they had to cancel the orders they couldn't deliver, and come up with new offerings that they could deliver. These offerings are the same except with a 50 MHz speed reduction - one with the old motherboard design, two with the new design. There is no sign as several correspondants here suggested that this is due to motherboard problems and that Apple was only going to be shipping 350 MHz and 400 MHz old motherboard designs.
I really don't see where Apple had a lot of choice in this matter given where they were at the time.
I know it pissed off a lot of people. I would certainly have been annoyed myself if I had an order in - but I would also become rather annoyed when my order arrived months late. Better to know the real story now than later. Some companies, like Intel and Microsoft would just try to string people out forever with vaporware like Merced and Win 2K.
It may also indicate that Apple is having problems with their new G4 motherboard. they are now only offering 350 and 400 MHz G4 systems these are probably the old G3 motherboard.
Isn't speculation without bothering to do any research or consideration of what an article says wonderful?
The fact is that nothing has changed except the speed reduction of 50 MHz. There are still three models in the G4 product line, not two 350 (old motherboard) and 400, 450 (new motherboard).
Apple has not changed anything else in the G4 product family.
Mac OS 9 is much closer to 8. Mac OS X is whole new ballgame.
The bug will apparently delay 500 MHz G4's until early 2000.
It is hard to say what the effect on Apple stock was because Apple had a big series of announcements along with the quarterly earnings yesterday, of which the G4 spped reduction was only one small item. Overall the picture was quite good - big order backlogs, higher than expected profits, so on. Also an agreement for IBM to manufacture G4s was announced. This in itself is probably far more important long term than a 50 MHz speed reduction right now.
The only real problem Apple has right now is they can't ship enough hardware. Unsatisfied demand for the G4's, new iMacs and iBooks is something like 500,000 boxes.
Aoole stock went up several points after the announcements yesterday because of the overall positive picture.
are you sure you have *all* the facts
In this case, yes. The IRRI is a third world run institute with a long established record of delivering innovations to rice growing countries that have made huge impacts already to the quality of life in these countries. It has been estimated that their hydrid rices already have resulted in productivity gains that have saved over a billion people from starvation. They know how to deliver improved technologies to sustinence level farmers. They are not allied with first world agribusiness in any way.
My, you wrote a long reply. Too bad none of it is correct.
1). The IRRI is not a GM company. It is a non-profit organization funded by third world countries to improve rice for use by sustenance level farmers. It has been very effective doing this; it is estmated that it's products feed 2-3 billion people right now.
2). Wrong. Third world countries are already using the biotech products of the IRRI.
3). Wrong. The amount of arable land in production in in rice growing countries is strictly limited by geography.
4). Monsanto is not the IRRI.
5). IRRI super crops are being used to feed nearly 50% of the world population today.
6). Rice supplies the basic calorie input of 50% of the world population today. It is a simple fact. Fruits and vegatbles are nice too, but the basic caloric intake needed to sustain life comes from grains.
7). Irrigation is not going to increase the output of a rice paddy that is already intensively irrigated.
8). If Southeast Asia used organic methods like you propose 1 Billion people would die of starvation next year. Their methods are not organic, but are sustainable.
Simple - by looking at the people and the politics we can solve the problem not by throwing more technology at it.
While you screw around with pie in the sky ideas, 840 million people are starving.
The distribution/political problems are real. Third world countries often don't produce enough to feed their population, and can't afford to buy food on the international market. T
The answer is to get the tools into the hands of local farmers to grow more of their own food. If you were take a look at the IRRI web site you would realize that this is exactly what they are doing, and they are making heavy use of GM R&D to achieve this laudable goal.