Jul 1, 2009 - Think of us as an online checkbook register with the added bonus of. I use Quicken for Mac, which supposedly updates investment portfolios automatically. We don't have MS Money set-up to coordinate with our bank or pay bills. And rewards programs and calendars and other web-based stuff) in.
Full text of ' Word 6.0 Showdown Which Word Processor Is the Right One for You? New Net Traveler Your Monthly Guid to the Internet Hot Reviews Quicken 5.0 ClarisWorks3.0 Star Trek CD-ROM MacUsercoNTENTS APRIL 1995 / VOLUME 11 NUMBER 4 PowerPC Pippin Apple’s multimedia CD-ROM player. / ZMac Utility of the Month E-mail-address translator. / New PDAs From Apple and Sony.
/ Word 6 Fix Microsoft offers free patch. / Plus Macintosh price index. / 29 COLUMNS Letters Readers welcome new Web site, clamor for clones, and pepper Dr.
/II Maggie Canon Keep the clone fires burning. / 19 Andy Ihnatko If you can’t beat ’em / 23 John C. Dvorak Apple’s bold new plan. / 180 Product Index / 143 Advertiser Index/ 146 Marketplace /1 54 On the cover/ The Radius VideoVision Workstation. Cover photo / Fred Stimson REVIEWS & QUICK CLICKS Epson Stylus Color and Tektronix Phaser 140 Two affordable color inkjet printers take aim at home users as well as business buyers.
/ 45 Polaroid SprintScan 35 The speedy Polaroid SprintScan 35 scans slides and film at a higher resolution than its more expensive competition. / 66 Epson ES-1200C and PixelCraft Pro Imager 4000 Buyers can choose between two scanners that deliver professional- quality color without costing an arm and a leg./ 51 Visioneer PaperPort Reading documents electronically reaches new levels of elegance and convenience with this $399 scanner. / 56 56 / A scanner that can win the paper chase. ClarisWorks 3.0 Offering cross-platform compatibility and a new reduced price, this integrated program is still the cream of the crop.
/ 60 Maplnfo 3.0 Sporting a revamped interface and more-powerful analytical tools, Maplnfo shines at making sense of geographical data. / 67 Connectix QuickCam It’s cute, it’s cool, and it captures video at s a bargain price. / 69 Art Explorer and Flying Colors When crayons don’t cut it, computer art programs may. / 69 Grammatik 6 Passive constructions are activated by this grammar guide. / 70 HP OfficeJet All-in-one fax/printer/copier combo saves desktop space. / 71 Cartoon History of the Universe History comes alive in an animated interactive adventure through time.
/ 72 theTypeBook Catalog your fonts in style sheets — automatically. / 72 Blueprint 5 New tools and Power Mac support distinguish this 2-D-CAD program for architects. / 61 NewGen Chromax New dye-sub printer teams excellent color quality with speed and sophisticated color-management tools. / 62 Adobe Acrobat 2.0 Freely distributed reader makes your portable Acrobat documents even more portable.
/ 63 Helix Express 3.0 Along with its faster speed, this iconic relational-database program now supports Apple events. / 64 Quicken 5.0 A favorite personal-finance program adds nifty shortcuts, a spruced- up interface, and a financial calendar. / 65 Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual Beam up to the first QuickTime virtual- reality product. / 73 ultraSHIELD 2.5 Rock-solid security at an affordable price. / 73 73 / Your Mac beams you to the Enterprise bridge.
COVER STORY The Shape of Macs to Come The first Mac clones have been announced, but they're probably only the beginning. MAC OS COM PUTERS are no longer an Apple exclusive. The first Mac clones, from Radius and Power Computing, prove that at least two companies are betting there's room for more machines that run Mac software. One's designed a high-end video-editing workstation; the other wants to sell mail- order Power Macs. Each is revolutionary, by henry bortman / 29 FEATURES Fine Print MacUser ZD irasM CAN YOU BYPASS the service bureau and still get the professional print quality you need? M acUser Labs puts five high-resolution 1,200-dpi PostScript printers through a series of real-life tests to see whether the latest high-end offerings measure up to imagesetters.
BY henry bortman / 75 War of the Words MacUser ZD I S IT Tl M E TO SWITCH? M i crosoft W ord, for years the prem i er word-processing software package, meets up with four noteworthy challengers to the throne. And the winner is. BY CONNIE GUGLIELMO/ 84 Taking Care of Business SMASHING THE MYTH that the M ac can't do accounting: We found versatile, powerful Mac accounting software designed for every type of business imaginable. Here are the pros and cons, the strengths and the weaknesses of 21 accounting packages. BY CHERYL ENGLAND/ 92 DESKTOP PUBLISHING / 100 Graphics How-To Customize Pai nter's brushes to react spontaneously and achieve a natural watercolor look.
/ 103 Expert Tips Understanding and applying color theory to get the results you need. / 106 NETWORKING / 108 Network Help How to make Internet files readable, solve AppleShare gleaning glitches, and improve Ethernet performance. /no Mac to PC From Newtons to PowerBooks, Apple may be losing its edgein mobile computing. / 112 HANDS ON / 114 System 7.5 Finder Secrets Undocumented tips and secret tricks can make your move up moresatisfying. / 114 Mobile MacPowerBook Word 6 tricks./ 117 NetTravelerJammin’ on the Net. / 119 Help Folder Answers to all your questions. Plus hot tips on your favorite programs.
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4 MacUser / april 1995 MacUser ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY Group Publisher David J. Ezequelle Editor-in-Chief Maggie Canon Editorial Editor Janies S.
Bradbury Managing Editor Nancy Groth Technical Director Henry Bortman Executive Editor Rik Myslewski Senior Editors Cheryl England, Mark Frost, Susan Janus, Karen J. Ohlson, Pamela Pfiffner Technical Editor John Rizzo Senior Associate Managing Editor Claire H.
Breen Chief Copy Editor Eva Langfeldt Associate Technical Editor Rhoda Simmons Associate Editors Carolyn Bickford, Shelly Brisbin, Nancy Peterson, Sean J. Safreed, Jim Shatz-Akin Copy Editor Jon Zobenica Assistant Editors Patty Ames, Kristin M. Balleisen, Jason Snell Contributing Editors Sharon Zardetto Aker, David Biedny, Christopher Breen, Don Crabb, Bruce Fraser, Andy Ihnatko, Ted Landau, Bob LeVitus, Stephan C.
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Scott Briggs President, Computer Intelligence/InfoCorp Bob Brown President, International Media Group J. Holston III Senior Vice President, Circulation Baird Davis Senior Vice President Rachel Greenfield Vice President, Assistant to the Chairman Tom McGrade Vice President, Business Manager T. Thompson Vice President, Circulation Services James F.
Ramaley Vice President, Controller and Treasurer Timothy J. Mitchell Vice President, Creative Services Herbert Stern Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary J.
Malcolm Morris Vice President, General Manager Bruce W. Bourne Vice President, Human Resources Rayna Brown Vice President, Production Roger Herrmann Vice President, Research Rolf M. Wulfsberg Vice President, Technology Bill Machrone Chief Information Officer Wellington Y. Chiu Internal Marketing Consultant Paul H. Chook Editorial Director Lewis DVorkin Executive Director, Information Systems Owen Weekley Executive Director, Marketing Services Jim Manning Production Director Walter J. Terlecki Director of Licensing Jean Lamensdorf Director of Public Relations Gregory Jarboe In memory of John J. Anderson 1956- 1 989 and Derek Van Alstyne 1967-1 989 Ybpa Entire contents © 1995 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, L.P.
All rights reserved; reproduction in whole or in part without permis- sion is prohibited. MacUser is a registered trademark of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, L.P. MacUser is an independent journal, not affiliated in any way with Apple Computer, Inc. Printed in the USA 6 MacUser / april 1995 LETTERS Practical Prognostications MAGGIE CANON PREDICTS that 1995 will be The Year of the Clone (“New Year’s Pre- dictions,” January ’95, page 21), and I can hardly wait. Over the last decade, I have run a bunch of Macs and DOS/Windows boxes in a rough environment.
We’ve had Apple and IBM brand-name stuff as well as and-play capabilities, new in- tuitive GUI, a trash can on the desktop, and one thing he was par- ticularly proud of: how a status bar that measured the progress of the pro- cess came up when copying files. “I want it now,” my boss said. If he had bought Macs for the office three years ago, OPEN FOLDER clones. We run our computers long and hard, and we put ’em away wet, when we bother to put them away at all. When it comes to long-term reliability in a tough environment, this is what we have found: IBM is the worst, and every one of the clones, no matter how cheap, has been better than Apple machines. We love the Mac OS and the plug-and-play integration of the Mac platform, but Apple hardware has never impressed us. What I want now is to see that cute new Mac OS logo boot up on a Sony; a Toshiba; or better yet, a Compu- FlyByNight box.
Bring on the clones! Ski Milburn [email protected] Windows Wish List LAST WEEK I went to a seminar on Win- dows 95 offered by Microsoft. I’ve worked extensively with Macs, but my current em- ployer has only DOS machines. Microsoft is proud of Windows 95. The presenter kept going on about its 32 -bit architecture, true multitasking, OLE, plug- Write to c/o MacUser 950 Tower Lane 18th Floor Foster City, CA 94404 To send your letter electronically via the Internet, MCI Mail, CompuServe, or ZiffNet/Mac (our on-line service), see “How to Reach Us,” on page 4. All letters become the property of MacUser, and we reserve the right to edit any letters we print. Include a return address and a daytime phone number.
If you write to us on-line, please specify whether you want your electronic address printed. He would have had most of those features for the past three years! And not pseudo- plug-and-play but the real thing. I don’t understand why businesses do not switch over to the Mac.
Every day I use my Pentium, I think, “God, if only I had a Mac.” Thanks. I feel better now.
Rich Keightley keightley.1 @osu.edu Spinning Our Web JUST THOUGHT I’d write to say I have just discovered your new World Wide Web site (What a great idea! I haven’t received the De- cember issue of the magazine yet, but imag- ine my delight when I found the very ar- ticles I was looking forward to reading available on-line. Thanks a lot.
This is a wonderful service! Rob Goodall [email protected] THANKS FOR THE MacUser home page (on the World Wide Web.
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As a longtime sub- scriber, I have come to depend on MacUser as an important source of accurate infor- mation in my role as a support coordinator. This new tool, a dynamic home page, adds to your credibility as a leading-edge pub- lisher of Mac-related information! I’ll be ac- cessing it at least once a week. Treble via the Internet Color Them Cheap I’M SHOPPING FOR an economical color printer for “serious” home use and read with great interest your “Low-Cost Color Shootout” (January ’95, page 70).
Sadly, you left me and others who work with Post- Script graphics wanting more information. The end of the world has been forecast for thousands of years, although the deadline keeps getting pushed back. Now we have it on good authority that the computer world could end on December 31,1999.
According to Peter de Jager, who wrote to us via the Internet, on that day, 'more than 80 million PCs will be switched off as people leave work.When they return, their computers will not know the correct date.' We might worry about that tomorrow, but tonight we're gonna party like it's 1904.
The future can be a scary place, especially when your software is set to self-destruct. Luis Shein, of Piedmont, California, points out that Adobe Photoshop 3.0 was designed to stop working January 1, 1995. Although this was simply a case of a security precau- tion from Photoshop's beta-test cycle run amok (it's since been fixed with a software patch), Luis spies a software-company con- spiracy to make us buy new versions of their software on a regular basis. 'Companies such as Adobe are trying to condition users to accept this scheme!' For our pithy answer to Luis' letter, be sure to run out and buy a copy of next month's MacUser.
Never let it be said that Open Folder isn't a place for serious thought. Our January com- ment that Technical Director Henry Bortman is running System 9 on his 1 984-vintage Mac prompted Eugene Ko to weigh in via the Internet: 'Have you considered the serious ramifications that using software that hasn't been designed yet could have for the space- time continuum?' Of course we have, Eu- gene, but we figured that if it hasn't stopped any of the beta testers for Windows 95, why should it stop us? The cutting edge is sharpening every sec- ond, but that doesn't faze Mimi Rehor, who dropped us a note from the Mac llci she keeps on a sailboat anchored off the coast of Miami, Florida. 'We're totally solar-powered, unless there's no sun for four days,' she writes. You may think you're safe out there, Mimi, cut off from the Infobahn and the electrical grid.
But answer us this: Will that protect you when December 31, 1999 rolls around? April 1995 / MacUser 1 1 LETTERS ASK DR.
POWER MAC I AM CONSIDERING a motherboard up- grade for my one-year-old Centris 650 with a CD-ROM drive and 40 MB of RAM. I have been told it would be more cost- effective to just sell my 650 and purchase a Power Mac 7100. Is this a good option? Mike Lawless via ZiffNet/Mac I OWN A PERFORMA 600CD and want to upgrade to a Power Mac 7100AV. Will the upgraded machine have any differences from a real Power Mac? Robert Klein Bowling Green, KY /The AV upgrade costs about $1,700 (non-AV, $1,500). A new Power Mac 7100/80 with 8 MB of RAM, a 700-MB hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive costs about $3,200.
Which is the better deal de- pends on how much money Mike can get for his Centris 650. But he should definitely plan on sav- ing his old RAM. The upgraded machine will perform as well as a new 7100AV, because it includes the same motherboard. The only difference in speed be- tween the upgraded machine and a new machine will be the hard drive. I WISH SOMEONE could tell me why Apple seems to have no plans to port HyperCard to the new platform. Here we have an ap- plication that is processor-hungry and relatively slow.
Why would I buy a new computer now, when there's virtually no hope of the application I use the most go- ing native in the near future? David Axworthy Tulsa, OK /We don't have word on when Apple will make a native version of HyperCard.
A native version of SuperCard, a program similar to HyperCard but with more-robust multimedia capabilities, should be shipping by the time you read this. You can contact Allegiant Technologies, the maker of SuperCard, at 619-587-0500. IF IBM'S UPCOMING PowerPC machines follow the same hardware specs, will I be able to buy an IBM PowerPC machine and install the Mac OS? Don Adams [email protected] /According to Apple, machines based on the Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) will be able to run the Mac OS. These machines will be available sometime in 1996.
IBM should have PowerPC systems out sometime in the first half of this year, but it's unlikely that these models will run the Mac OS. For more information, see 'Here Come the Clones,' February '95, page 76. You said the printers you profiled use QuickDraw, but you did not describe what would happen if the user tried to print EPS graphics from Adobe Illustrator or Page- Maker. Youd get a low-resolution printout based on the screen image, right? You also failed to mention that at least one of the printers can use PostScript rasterizing soft- ware to handle PostScript files. I’d have loved to learn how well those add-on soft- ware packages worked — or didn’t.
Next time, let’s see a little more on the high end of the low end, for those of us who are serious enough about our Macintoshes to invest significant money in a color printer and software but are not ready to plunk down ten grand or more for the high- end machines. Jon Okerstrom via the Internet / A screen-resolution image (72 dpi) is the bestjou can hope for when printing PostScript data to a QuickDraw printer. Often the result is even worse — a garbled mess of text characters. There are sev- eral software options that use your Mac to process PostScript data for output on a QuickDraw device: StyleScript, from GDT Softworks, and Hewlett- Packard’s PostScript Software offer true Adobe PostScript output for the Apple StyleWriters and HP DeskWriters, respectively. T-Script, from TeleType- setting, and Freedom of Press, from Custom Appli- cations, are general-purpose PostScript emulators that can be used with any QuickDraw printer.
Al- though these products are fine for very occasional graphics work, they place considerable processing demands on your Mac. Unless you can afford to tie up your Mac for extended periods of time, or unless you’ve got a spare 68020-or-better Mac to dedicate to printing chores, a PostScript printer is a prereq- uisite for serious graphics work. / JSA I ENJOYED READING your January ’95 ar- ticle comparing low-cost color printers, which appeared just as color printers have become a considerable option for the home. However, your “10 Easy Ways to Screw Up” sidebar states, “There’s no way for a printer to detect when an ink cartridge is empty.” When an ink cartridge on my Color StyleWriter Pro becomes empty, an error light for the corresponding cartridge lights on the printer and Print Monitor displays an alert that the particular cartridge needs to be replaced. Josh Wardell [email protected] More Information, Please I ENJOYED READING your PIM review (“Electric Assistants,” January ’95, page 82) and agreed with most of the content, but you did overlook one important feature: how much trouble these programs have export- ing and importing from Newton. Of the PIMs I have tried, none easily exports to the Newton without some programming and none appears to link well with the potential features in the Newton’s scheduler or with any other scheduler available.
Bob Rashid [email protected] / We looked into discussing PDA integration in our feature but determined that there were no viable options beyond programming, hacking, or tweak- ing. We hope we’ll be able to address this subject in the future. / MF I WISH APPLESCRIPT support had been considered in your review of PIMs. Without a demand for scripting support, there is little incentive for developers to continue their investments in this area. You note that none of the PIMs reviewed offers full-fledged project management. One solution would be to add project-man- agement features to those PIMs. The right solution, however, is to allow the informa- tion to flow from the calendar of my choice to the project-management application of my choice.
AppleScript support allows that. We now have a newsroom-management project underway with links between Now Up-to-Date and Chena Software’s superbly scriptable InfoDepot. Northrup, Gannett Co. [email protected] WIMPs Welcome Here MY BIGGEST QUIBBLE with John Dvorak’s column (“Welcome to WIMP,” January ’95, page 196) is about his us-against-them atti- tude.
Such attitudes only help fuel a costly marketing war and widen the divide be- tween the two companies poised to help the common person realize the advantages of a computer- assisted environment. Dvorak’s worst fear is the loss of the intel- lectual influences of Apple for the more “bottom line” approach of Microsoft and Intel. Frankly, I’m glad Microsoft and Intel recognize the motivation of money. They’re not going to develop something if it won’t sell and perform. If Apple saw the bottom 12 MacUser / april 1995 LETTERS line as clearly, maybe they would put an end to such disasters as the IIvx or SCSI Man- ager 4.3. The whole idea of compatibility is to bring the best of both worlds together. This means merging the Mac’s ease of use and graphics superiority with the low cost, speed, and marketing savvy of Microsoft/ Intel PCs.
I’m looking forward to the WIMP machine of the ’90s. Andrew Walker [email protected] JOHN DVORAK SEEMS to be the closest thing to an honest computer columnist left in the business. I hope he continues to ac- curately point out the weaknesses and strengths of Macintosh computing. Idiots might want only feel-good columns, but I for one am glad he usually doesn’t write them. Ben Boyle [email protected] JOHN DVORAK’S COLUMN alone is worth the cost of a subscription.
Some folks may not like his style, but he’s usually right. It’s too bad that the criticisms he makes are never taken seriously by those he levels them at. Jim Whitacre [email protected] Yo, Apple APPLE HAS ALWAYS led the industry in technological innovation but trails Micro- soft and Intel in marketing. Why, Apple, do you not follow Intel’s lead and run “PowerPC Inside” commercials? Why is Apple producing a 486 board only for the Power Mac 6100? Why not build it for all Mac processor-direct slots and advertise that “for $700, you can have a Windows sys- tem in your Macintosh. Two computers for the price of one!” Apple ads appear so negative and seem to address themselves to people who already have Macs.
Parade your system in front of everyone. Have exciting commercials that say, “our computer kicks their computer’s huttr Compaq’s commercials for the Pre- sario show its voice- activation capability. Apple developed this first — why didn’t they show it? Why not show a surreal virtual landscape, and then pull out to reveal a Mac running QuickTime VR while you hear a slogan such as “Macintosh: the power to go where no one has gone before.” If you’ve got it, flaunt it! Sauer via the Internet Cache on Delivery I’D LIKE TO SHED some light on your De- cember ’94 CD-ROM article (“Built for Speed,” page 76), especially in regard to caching driver software.
Most caching ben- efits occur when a CD-ROM and files are frequently accessed and during repetitive tasks. Since most users access their CD- ROM files repetitively, they’ll usually see improved performance with caching. It’s true that in some instances caching soft- ware can degrade performance, due to the initial caching of data. Additionally, cach- ing may bring negligible results when the cache is not “hit,” the cache is too small, or an inappropriate cache type is selected. Well-designed software allows the cache to be disabled and the cache size and type to be adjusted to meet each user’s needs. The unimpressive results of your final driver tests were due in part to the tests con- ducted, which did not include repetitive file or data access. Tests such as opening files, searching for files, changing the view type in the menu, and specific word searches would yield more impressive results.
Simon Brown, MacPEAK Austin, TX I FOUND YOUR article on CD-ROM drives very informative, but I don’t understand your failure to mention the MacProducts Magic CD other than in passing. It was not only the fastest drive but was also outstand- ing in price/performance, customer ser- vice, and design. You should have praised this drive and others more.
Jim Petula [email protected] / You’re right We should have given the drives from DGR, MacConnection, and MacProducts more credit in the text. These three companies produce above-average products at bargain prices. / CE This Networks JOHN RIZZO’S ARTICLE on PC-to-Mac networking (“Savvy Small-Office Network- ing,” January ’95, page 115) promotes an inaccurate myth in the Macintosh world. Until I tried actually working with it, I too thought that Novell NetWare was harder to use than other server software, such as AppleShare. I was led to believe this by the generally prevalent attitude in the Mac community that NetWare was complex.
However, I found it easier than I ex- pected. A simple perusal of the manual was all that was necessary for me to get my seven-Macintosh classroom going without a hitch. NetWare is fast and requires no maintenance, other than regular backups, and it is much less expensive than Apple- Share 4.0 for small networks (consisting of five to ten Macs).
Your advice to steer clear of it is unsubstantiated. Sterling Ledet [email protected] /Using NetWare 3.12 ($2,495) with Macs means also purchasing NetWare for Mac ($995 for the server software, plus $30 for each Mac). NetWare 4.1 ($2,495 for ten users) is cheaper, since it doesn’t re- quire extra software for Macs. However, either one is significantly more expensive than AppleShare 3.0.1 ($1,199) and 4.0.2 ($1,899), which are fine for five to ten users. Although it is true that the NetWare client software requires minimal learning by Mac users, it is considerably more difficult to set up and maintain than AppleShare, and such difficulties add to the cost of owning NetWare. NetWare setup requires a trained technician who can navigate through the command-line interface of the NetWare server software. / JR Even Easier Access IN “THE EASY-ACCESS MAC” (January ’95, page 119), you say, “QuickTime does provide tracks in which you can store cap- tions, but it’s up to QuickTime authors to learn the exacting art of captioning and ac- tually include captions.” You’re right about the “exacting art,” but it can be done by anyone with QuickTime 2.0 and MoviePlayer.
Anyone can type the text into a word processor or even into Simple- Text. Then copy it and Option-Shift-paste it into a selection in a QuickTime movie. The text should appear below the movie in the font and color you gave it in SimpleText. Scott Bayes [email protected] Sounding Off I KNOW IT’S hard to review complex soft- ware products in a few hundred words, but your review of Macromedia’s SoundEdit 16 (January ’95, page 53) misled your readers. 14 MacUser / april 1995 LETTERS You say that “you won’t do better than using SoundEdit 16.” This is absurd.
Sound- Edit is not the best audio editor on the mar- ket by a long shot. Lets forget the high end of the market; OSC’s Deck II and Alaska Software’s Digitrax are in the same price range as SoundEdit, and both have profes- sional recording and editing environments. Each offers automated mixing, MIDI sync, and QuickTime support. Digitrax also of- fers effects such as flanging and real-time EQ.
SoundEdit 16’s tone control is not real- time. Its mixing is rudimentary. Its flanging is limited in scope. Other “effects” are prac- tically useless. Audioshop 2.0, from Opcode Systems, is cheaper and superior for almost every gar- den-variety audio -editing task. Like Sound- Edit 16, all these editors use disk files in- stead of RAM.
I’d even recommend Alberto Ricci’s Sound Effects 0.91 ($15) and $200 or $300 worth of RAM — since Ricci’s editor is RAM-based — over SoundEdit. SoundEdit 16 is a significant improve- ment over SoundEdit Pro, but given the changes in the middle of the multimedia audio market in the past 12 months, it is way overpriced and underpowered.
Craig O'Donnell Author, Cool Mac Sounds [email protected] The Techno Pied Piper WE WERE DISMAYED by the “Open Folder” suggestion (Letters, January ’95, page 11) that dead Mac mice be hung from trees and used as wind chimes.We have friends at schools and nonprofits unable to use their old Macs for lack of a mouse. We pay $10 each for old Mac mice, dead or alive. Then we fix them. David Lerner, Tekserve [email protected] / That’s an even better recycling idea, to be sure, but now you’d better brace yourself for an infestation of electronic rodents. / PP ^ CORRECTIONS The price we listed for the HeadMaster head-mounted pointing device from Prentke Romich ('The Easy-Access Mac,' January '95, page 119), was incorrect. The correct price is $1,195. Educational-software developer Michael Carter's first name was inadvertently omit- ted from 'Learning Power: Software for Kids' (December '94, page 90).
April 1995 / MacUser 17 MAGGIE CANON No Mac Is an Island SMALL, BRUSHED- ALUMINUM briefcase flips open to become the screen and keyboard on the PowerBook clone a vendor dropped off at my office yesterday. The keyboard itself is a false bottom to the briefcase; it flips up to reveal a pair of batteries, an auto coiling power cord, a detachable wireless micro- phone, and a nest for an optional cellular phone.
It’s a PowerPC-based laptop run- ning the Mac OS (and Windows, optional), with 12 MB of RAM. Built in to the grooves along the edges of the briefcase are a flip- out phone jack, an antenna for wireless net- working, and a PCMCIA slot. Very James (or Jane) Bondian, and a definite fashion state- ment, available in metallic hues of green, blue, or purple. Due out in mid- 1995 and available at all major electronics stores for just $1,100.
“Blue’s my color! Where do I sign?” you exclaim.
This being the April issue, I thought I’d pull your virtual leg a little. Still, all this talk of licensing and clones — not just by Apple but also by the first few takers: Radius, Power Computing, and Japanese toy maker Bandai — certainly does fuel the imagination. I daydream about a world where the store shelves sag beneath the burgeoning weight of Mac software and clones, packed in side by side with the Real Deal — Apple Macintosh systems. The electronics stores will feature Blue Light specials on fully loaded Macs and Mac clones, every maker locked in a life- or- death struggle to deliver the best product for the lowest price, offer- ings at the altar of the increasingly impla- cable and exacting customer. This kind of fawning attention I could live with. And beyond desktop systems — way be- yond desktop systems — I am seeing the crisp simplicity of the Mac OS on products Apple never dreamed of, or never actually produced, at any rate. It becomes an inter- face for whole new kinds of telephones, home-entertainment systems, musical in- struments.
A Dick Tracy watch, a sports- car dashboard. I long for the day when my VCR has an Apple interface that makes it easy to record my favorite shows while surfing myriad new channels for other shows that might fit my viewer profile. Apple knows that the brightest promise of licensing, the light at the end of a long and scary tunnel, is the promise of throwing a wedge into the market that makes lots more room for Mac-based products. More mar- ket share, a bigger slice of the pie, more square feet on the re- tail shelves, more software.
The Mac’s name in lights on that mainstream marquee. So let’s assume this all happens. Why, when I walk into my local computer store where the shelves are jammed with Mac- compatible products, am I going to choose Apple’s products?
I suspect that a few Apple people have asked themselves that same question. Here are some suggestions on what will make people buy Apple products: Give them a six-color logo for the price of one. Given the same price on a clone system or an Apple Macintosh with equal capabilities, many buyers will choose the tight integra- tion and ease of use the Apple logo repre- sents. I suspect that customers will even pay a slight premium, say 5 percent, to get their hands on a Mac. But don’t get greedy, Apple, get market share! Get your industrial design out there. And I do mean out there.
At first blush, the ap- preciable differences between current Mac form factors and those of other PCs, in- cluding the sexy new Radius Mac clone, are — well, slim. Don’t let your industrial- design edge go the way of your interface edge. No one creates products that tap into the emotional and tactile reaches of the user brain like Apple. Run through your design shop, open the cages, and unleash the amazing refine- ments on, say, some of those slick flat-panel systems you’ve been showing off. Take the Mac we know and love, set the form on its ear, and turn out a new generation of desktop designs. Make them fresh, unprecedented, sculptural.
Make them something that people are proud to show off. More than that, make them available, and soon. Hold on to some of your trump- card technol- ogy, but err on the side of open systems.
Capitalize on other companies’ innova- tions, leverage technology and component standards so you kill the compatibility conflict, and turn your mad and brilliant scientists loose on more-distinctive and -meaningful innovations — say, for ex- ample, an accelerated schedule for that next-gen interface? So I offered a little more than my two cents.
If Apple is to stay afloat in a sea of clones — or even among just a few good clones in critical markets — it will need to set its sails just right and keep a big, bright spinnaker out in front. 6^ / daydream about a world where the store shelves sag beneath the weight of Mac software and clones. April 1995 / MacUser 1 9 ANDY IHNATKO Farewell, Farewell W ELL, THERE’S NO to say this, so I’ll just come right out with it: T his is my last column for MacUser.
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