Apple Celebrates 30 Awesome Years!

Despite my misgivings over Apple’s current ‘Intel Transition,” this annivarsary event has reminded me of all the great achievements of Apple Computers. Just look at their current OS compared to old security-plagued, cumbersome Windows. Look at the super sleek ‘must-have’ styling, the well-designed efficient functioning.

If the Apple didn’t even do anything it should be put in a museum anyhow. Of course, it does Everything: photos, movies, music, printing, science, education and it does it second to none.

Perhaps the most significant feature of Steve Job’s company is it’s clear pursuit of Excellence. How refreshing. What a wonderful experience. What creative genius. What tools put in our hands.

Of course, even the mighty falls and it has not all been a smooth ride (remember the Newton!?). Nobody’s perfect and life is not a smooth stairway to heaven.

Unfortunately, in this somewhat misguided “Intel Transition,” is appears that the “suits” and ” bean counters” have taken over from the inspired and enthusiastic creators. Now we see a “cutting of corners.’ (eliminating the on-off switch from the keyboard!) cutting corners to save money rather than investing money to continue making the world-best personal computer.

Going from its much vaunted “duel processing’ back to single bus systems. Going from leading the way with 64-bit computing back to 32-bit computing.

As was said about the death of Kings, though:
“Apple is Dead! Long Live Apple!”

Apple to Open Some Windows!?

Apple shares have dropped 25% since mid-January as the “Intel Transition” continues to stall.

But the new MacBook Pro is getting good reviews and Apple-watchers expect the company to launch lower-priced MacBooks in coming months to compete for the lion’s share of the market.

Can the Apple professional user wait till next year, wehn Adobe will have converted its popular graphics and Web publishing software to run at top speed on the new Intel-based Macs.

How this plays out is a critical event for Apple.

Maybe Apple has some surprises up it’s sleeves? Such as rumors of the Intel-based Macs being able to run Windows programs!?

Or Apple could still try an oft-debated strategy: licensing its Mac software to other PC makers. Dell has already expressed an interest in stamping out Mac clones, much as it does with Windows-based PCs today.

Yet the real big improvements are for video and pictures and game playing. That still sounds like a Sony Playstation to me.

I don’t need a faster typewriter and my Photoshop whips along (thank you very much), but 3-D animation is a different story, so it is significant to realize that one of the most popular and mainstream professional 3-D program, Maya 7, will run on the Linux Operating System, used in the upcoming Sony PlayStation3 which will be using the new IBM ‘Cell’ chip, which measures 50-times faster on some benchmarks.

Even if this reputed 50-times increase in speed doesn’t translate exactlyt to user experiences in the real-world (and where have we heard this times of claims before; or where haven’t we heard such exaggerated claimes).

Nevertheless, the Cell-chip IS predicted to be several times totally faster on levels never heard of before: 5-times faster? 10 times faster? 20-times faster? Faster, for sure is predicted even if not 50-times faster.

Plus Windows is alleged to have (finally) it’s long overdue new operating system out as well as a new version of MS Office.

Window’s Wash-Out! No New OS till next year. No New Office, either!

On Friday, Microsoft confirmed that the mainstream launch of its new Office 2007 system would also be delayed to January.

This will enable Microsoft to market it in tandem with Vista.

Microsoft is planning six versions of the next incarnation of its Windows operating system, three of which will be targeted at home users.

“We are enhancing the leadership team and structure across the division to ensure we have the right organization to support our technology vision,” said Kevin Johnson, co-president of the software giant’s Platform and Services Division.

Apple’s On-Off Switch Turned Off!

When did Apple begin to go backwards? I’ve been asked.

No doubt about it, I think it’s when they disabled the incredibly user-friendly, conventent and efficient ability to TURN THE MACHINE ON!

Seriously. Think about this. Instead of a keystorke, a key dedicated to turning the computer ON and/OFF, that was replaced with a key to EJECT a disk.

Off-hand, without taking any survey, I suspect that I may turn my PowerPC Duel 2.3 G5 ON and/or OFF several times a day, every day.

On the other hand, I EJECT about once a month, only to install new software, making the occassionally disk backup of data, or to play Scrabble or Age of Empires Deluxe.

This is when I realized, as they say, that “The Emperor had no clothes,” which is to say there was a Big Obvious Stupidity going on here that nobody was talking about.

{Note: Warning. Like every long-term computer user I’ve come to realize you have to back up data frequently, more than once a month; but I do this to my second internal HD. It’s just the additional – third time — backing up to a disk that is monthly.}

So now, everyday, several times a day, I get down on my knees, crawl under the edge of my computer desk, and turn the G5 on.
It makes me think of the Muslim call to prayer.

it was during one of these prayer sessions I realized the need for this blog. Equally indicative is how the PowerPC G5 went from two-chips, Duel Processors, to one chip, Duel Core.

Since the Dawn of Time Apple has boasted how their Duel Processor is the greatest thing on planet earth, but now they make a system with one chip, one bus, etc., and shrug it off like it was nothing.

Plus you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that, after having achieved and implimented 64-bit computing that to return to 32-bit computer is not an advancement.

The solution, thus far, is for Apple to claim their new Intel machines are 3 to 4 times faster when in fact, on most significant programs that count, the machines are twice as slow.

This also just gets shrugged off although I’m afraid (like Bush’s war) that talk, talk, talk and shrugging reality off isn’t a game plan for success.

Just look at this quote from the head of the company that makes Rosetta (a great PR name). While it is a well-known fact that throughout all of computer history people would KILL for a 10% increase in speed, the folks over at Rosetta (and Apple) now say that having your computer go twice as slow is no big deal!

Headline from Rosetta: Rosetta speeds no concern for Mac majority

Transitive CEO Bob Wiederhold said: “If you use performance intensive applications, or if you are a professional user and you are going to use certain applications in a way that is computationally intensive, you will see some loss in performance. But we think that that’s a relatively small percentage of the users, and a small percentage of the applications. For the vast majority of users, we think that Quick Transit delivers more than sufficient performance.”

These headlines and ideas must be made up by the same people who make up Bush’s signs: Victory is Here! Mission Accomplished! War is Peace!, etc. and all these folks at Apple, Rosetta, etc. appear to think that now, instead of their fine legacy of progress and improvements, that making Apple computers that should go on sale at Wal-Mart soon, is a Big Leap Forward.

Meanwhile, you’ll have to excuse me, time to turn off my G5.

Now, let’s see, how do I do that?

Oh yea…I push myself away from my desk, I get down on my hands and knees, I crawl under the edge of the desk, twist my wrist and hands into an awkward position, and hunt around to press a button you can hardly see!

(And PS – Note to Apple’s Public Relations Dept: the “solution” to this is NOT for me to put my G5 tower ontop of my desk. The top of my desk is full. Tower computers are most often placed to the side or under desks to conserve space. Why should I want a 44 pound massive tower on my desk, just so I can turn it on and off!!}

It’s obvious what the new solution is. We need more signs. More slogans. Apple computers on sale at Wal-Mart with the logo: “Intel Inside!” as if this meant an improvement.

IBM. Sony, and Toshiba aim for the heart of Bill Gates and Apple with new chip: the Cell

The new chip from IBM, the “Cell,” is a new multi-core chip that leaves any previous chips in the dust.

It must be admitted that the prime reasons given by Apple for it’s “Intel Transition,” i.e., faster laptops, may be the one
area where things are going according to plan. But, of course, when you say; “faster laptops,” you have to ask: “Faster than what?”

The answer is laptops faster than slow laptops. But by the time gets it’s new Intel Duel Core in its whole lineup, not just the laptops
initially released, the Duel Core is going to be a Duel dummy, because the Cell will be here and it has already shown it is faster
than fast, it’s jet-power fast. It leaves everything that was ‘past fast,’ behind.

The Cell super advanced CPU is going to be at the heart of Sony’s upcoming Playstation 3 console, which will rock the world upon it’s release, not just for awesome video gameplay, but probably becoming the hub for all our home’s digitial media, second to none, way out in front.

Plus, with the addition of a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, this sucker will burn through video, photo and music files, being a 64-bit chip and running at 4GB’s.

Of course, Intel is trying to come up with a 64-bit chips too (while Apple’s “Great Leap Forward,” in it’s Intel transition went from using 64-bit chips in the iMacG5 to using 32-bit chips).

But the Cell processor is not just 64-bit, but is vastly different from conventional processors inside. This tiny chip contains a powerful 64-bit Dual-threaded IBM PowerPC core but also eight proprietary ‘Synergistic Processing Elements’ (SPEs), essentially eight more highly specialized mini-computers on the same die.

Eight Synergistic Processing Elements. Sounds good doesn’t it?
In fact it’s like going from propeller airplances to jets! It’s not just good, it a jetleap forward.

Additionally, the Sony PS3 will use the new High Definition DVD Blu-Ray format.

High Definition DVD. Jetpower chips. Three Big Boy Companies each noted for excellence in their own way.

Yup, Bill Gates is going to have to use some of his 50-billion in the bank to take out more phony ads about how everyone loves his fatally flawed five year old Operating System and disputable business practices; and Steve jobs might have to finally find other job at last: Being head of Disney Corporation is not a bad start.

As that country-western tune by Kenny Rodgers said: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,” and despite being Very Happy with my computer system and all it can do, when it comes time to bet on the future in this industry and equipment, my bet’s not on Billy Gates with his consistently bland and flawed products, nor gonna need a new job Jobs who suddenly thinks he’s a tail that can wag the dog.

IBM/Sony/Toshiba, these are well-noted blue chips, and they got the HD DVD Blu-Ray and the next generation of miracle technology.

Clash of the Titans!

The word is hitting the street: Apple is going down. Microsoft is going nuts and two big boys have suddenly teamed up and will be coming on strong.

You may have hear their names before: Sony and IBM.

Sony’s new playstation (PS3) may be delayed but when it comes out it will rock our worlds! It going to be using a new IBM chip called: The Cell.

IBM’s Cell chip sound like the chip of the next decade, a leap forward in technology, speeds hard to believe, especially with video and games (which is why Sony is going for ‘em).

Meanwhile, nobody’s buying into Apple’s “Intel Transition.” It appears Intel’s Core Dore is a dud from day one, nothing compared to what IBM and Sony have coming.

Microsoft is reported to have to rewrite 60% of it code for it’s vaporware: Vista and rumored to be firing people left and right.

As always, the computers we have now (all of us) will be nothing compared to the computers soon to be. But this time Apple and Microsoft won’t be able to pick up the pieces.

Maybe they should take out more ads.

Meanwhile, let’s enjoy and utilize what we have but when it comes time for MY next computer, media center, or home digital world or whatever they want to call it, it’s not going to be miniMac, Mighty Mouse, or washed up Windows.

I’m already thinking: PS3 is the future for me.

The Good,the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: This Computer Age is awesome, with programs like Adobe CS2, Micromedia Studio 8 (now Adobe owned), Final Cut and playful iLife
you can make music, make art, edit photos, design graphics, make anything from posters to books, edit video, spin animations, listen to
iTunes, publish to the web, send and receive instant email, browse the Web for a world of knowledge, checked yourn spillin” It’s awesome.

The Bad: Some computer businesses decisions are now putting out more junk than true progress or improvements.

The Ugly: Some MegaCompanies, like Microsoft and Intel, by insisting that their — AND ONLY THEIR CHIPS OR OPERATING SYSTEMS — must be used for major significant software and features, like the latest news, just released, about Intel pressuring Skype to only work with Intel chips? Yuk!…that’s like saying you can’t ride on a highway unless you drive Ford vehicles!

Microsoft Delays (again) it’s new Operating System till 2007 (!)

Microsoft plans to delay the consumer launch of its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system to January 2007.
LOL. People shock-weary by Microsoft’s vaporware and delays are shocked again! How shocking!

Microsoft had originally aimed to launch Vista – the first major update since Windows XP was introduced five years ago – in the second half of 2006.
Most software companies launch new products and improvements on an 18-24 month cycle (like high-quality Adobe or the fine Apple OS)

Some analysts said this could throw some PC manufacturers and retailers into turmoil. (Duh!)
although maybe they already made plans to be disappointed again.

Maybe instead of having $50 Billion in the bank, Big Bill could spend some cash on a quality product.

Efforts to improve security in the new system were largely behind the delay, Microsoft said.
(choke! security problems even before it’s released!)

Microsoft is planning six versions of the next incarnation of its Windows operating system.

(Six versions! – Why not just one version, one that works!) PLEEAZZEEE!! ONE THAT WORKS!!!

Three versions of the software, called Vista, will be for home users, two will be for businesses and one will be for emerging markets
though perhaps the emerging markets should be given caculators and pencils; they’d be better off.

Apple and Microsoft’s current stock valuations

A handy scorecard to watch the decline of fortunes for the now fatally flawed computer age.
March 21, 2006
[AAPL] Apple stock value = $61.81
52 Wk High / Low $ 86.40 / $ 33.11
Shares Outstanding 848,612,000
Market Value $ 52,452,707,720
P/E Ratio 33.23
Forward P/E (1yr) 23.69
Earnings Per Share $ 1.86

March 21, 2006
[MSFT] Microsoft stock value = $27.74
52 Wk High / Low $ 28.38 / $ 23.82
Shares Outstanding 10,333,369,000
Market Value $ 286,647,656,060
P/E Ratio 23.12

We do NOT recommend Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Microsoft, for the past year, has been promoting the “vaporware,’ of it’s new Operating System, now called: Vista. Their past operating systems are universally held to be bland, slow, and full of security flaws. The sytems are so bad Microsoft has apparently set up incentives or just provides cash payments for companies to ad messages to their ads about how much they love it and how they recommend it.
It’s sickening. Can you imagine having a bad product so you solution is to take years and years before making it better and meanwhile hire people and companies to say how much they love the current system.
It’s worse than George Bush’s PR for Iraq.

Another hidious thing about Windows is that when it comes out with a new Operating System, it’s not just one (1) OS, but, like, Window’s Vista for Media OS, Window’s Vista for Servers OS, Windows Family Vista, Windows Vista Profession, Vista for Scientist, Game-players Special Vista Pak, etc. As if the confusion and problems weren’t bad enough.

On page 61 of the upcoming April 11, 2006 PC Magazine, columnist John Dickinson explains why he won’t upgrade. It could only get worse, is his reasoning.
The sense of dread throughout the magazine is palatable and perversaive already bracing themselves against another disappointment and anticipating more problems.

At least with Apple, in it’s glory days, users would waiting on lines overnight to get the next new Operating System; and there were only two (2) versions of an OS, one for servers and one for everybody else. An OS like Tiger is so astonishingly good it makes you believe in a future of great promise and improvements.

While Windows has been now trying for over a year to catch up to where Apple has already been, Apple now slams into the wall of it’s “Intel transition.’

Hang on to your hats! Hold on to those old computers! Sell these stocks short!.