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This blog contains my random ramblings about everything Mac and some things OT
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Sunday, January 25, 2004
Happy Birthday, Mac! As I saw a few other members of the blogging Mac-community used the occasion to look back in time on their own beginnings with the Mac, here is my story... My first contact with computers was in high school, programming in Fortran, not very inspiring for a mainly visual person. The following years I had on and off to do with computers (learned Basic on the way) and eventually owned a Commodore 16. But none of these got me really hooked, until '87. In early 87 I heard at some seminar for journalists about some new technology, called DTP. It was just mentioned as a new way to visually layout pages on a computer, no pictures, no demo, but it stuck to my mind. A few month later I came across a classified job ad mentioning computer based layout, and at my interview for the job, which I eventually got, I saw my first Macintosh. I had been working in traditional page layout for some time and what I saw there just blew me away. Instead of counting lines and drawing layouts and hoping the typesetter wouldn't mess it all up, I could do it all on my own and see the final outcome on the screen. WYSIWYG and I was hooked. The company, a magazine publisher, had 2 Macs, a Macintosh IIe and a II, networked with some DOS monstrosity with a custom made program to transfer the stories the writers typed on DOS machines and carried over to the layout department on 5.25 inch floppy disks. I started my first day and began my training... I received a pile of papers and was told to design a magazine for insurance brokers. "And, btw, the computer is switched on here. You have about 2 weeks to finish the project." I spent the first half day on exploring the interface (this was pre-multifinder!) and trying out what happens if you click on things etc. After 10 days I had finished my magazine layout and also learned the Mac inside out. Spending every minute during this time reading the manuals and books I found in the office made a good foundation for many years to come. I have never, not for one minute, regretted to be working on this truly great platform. So once again, Happy Birthday, Mac, and to another 20 great years! (0) comments Saturday, January 24, 2004
iCar Absolutely amazing what that guy did... Tatra Mac G4 - fastest Mac on the four wheels? (0) comments Friday, January 09, 2004
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
iPod mini So, are you disappointed too? The general tenor of the comments on the new iPod mini that can be found on various mac fora and mailing-list are 'neat but too expensive'. I must admit I was a bit disappointed too at first, but thinking about it, it's a smart move. Apple will be selling the all-new, all-colorful, all-cool iPod mini in big numbers thus making a good deal of money. Then, in a few month there will be a new line-up of the iPod mini, a 8-10GB model (to fill in the gap to the iPod) for USD 249 and the 4GB low end will drop to USD 199, thus breaking deeper into the mid-level player market. Taking this speculation a bit further, I would expect a line-up of 3 sizes of iPod mini and 2 sizes of the iPod, all depending on the pace at which Hitachi can offer bigger HDs at a decent price. This strategy would clearly follow the line-up in Apples computer offerings: iMac - Powermac iBook - Powerbook iPod mini - iPod Now as for a timeframe, a good date to expect a revision of the iPod mini and a possible price-drop might be the one year anniversary of the iTunes Music Store. The sales of the iPod mini -and the iPod for that matter too- might rise internationally, if Apple finally manages to get the iTMS up and running outside the US. Lots of rumors to that issue are around, including Canada, Australia, Europe and Japan. Japan might rank on top of the list for Apple as the brand is well-known in Japan and has a good share of the market. Also, Japanese people are great lovers of gadgets of all kind, especially if they are electronic. A japanese iTMS might be just around the corner. Canada and Australia might be good candidates too as they are both big countries with a fair amount of money to be spent on an iTMS. Europe, though, is another story. Not that it would lack lots of consumers with money to spend and a decent interest in electronic gadgets, but licensing issues might delay the launch of the iTMS in Europe for a long time. I honestly don't think Apple will launch it, unless it can cover at least the UK, France, and Germany and some of the Scandinavian countries. Let's just hope it will not take as long as the international availability to order prints and books from iPhoto. (0) comments |
