Date: Fri 04-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

iinfo-Apple-brand

Full Text:

INTERNET INFO FOR REAL PEOPLE: Apple is Back

By Bob Brand

In a PC-centric world, it has been easy to dismiss Apple Computers, with its

small four to eight percent, depending on who you believe, market share.

Essentially, many PC fans silently smirk at "Mac huggers" with their

"radicalized" view of computer hardware. Some say this attitude falls a few

bricks short of the intensity witnessed on the Kool-Aid queue at Jonestown.

Frankly, it was with some glee that many PC-ers watched agonized Mac-sters

slowly twist in the wind as a tidal wave of Cupertino red ink washed away

their dreams of a ubiquitous "peoples machine."

There was a general feeling that the "let me tell you how much I love my

computer" crowd, led by the insanely great Peter Panesque Steve Jobs would

finally get their overdue come-uppance. A yawn reception greeted the iMac as

too little too late by technology-whiplashed computer users. Inured by pricing

where computer resale value dropped like a dead hard drive upon leaving the

showroom, the iMac missed radar screens all over PC-Land.

The $100 million cash infusion into Apple by Bill Gates was seen as a "chump

change" investment. The patient has died; will anybody show up at the funeral?

But wait, miracle of miracles! The patient is not only out of bed metabolizing

solid food, but is enrolled in aerobics classes. The CAT scan of the patient

at eBay ("the Hospital of What Things are Really Worth in Cyber-land") reveals

used iMacs are fetching prices close to new models. Yikes!

With The Tech Team

When invited to Apple's K-12 Technology Update by Henryk Michnowicz, director

of information technology for the Newtown School District, I reluctantly

accepted. Most K through 8 grade schools have LANs (local area networks)

populated with high concentrations of Apple computers in classrooms and

laboratories. Once in high school, the deployment ratio of Apples to PCs

reverts to about 50/50. (After all, the conventional wisdom espouses the idea

that you should expose the students to the same computers found in the real

world.) Three times during the school year, Apple conducts day-long update

seminars specifically directed at K-12 system administrators and their

technical support staffs. On May 25, I attended the meeting at the East Haven

High School.

It became apparent immediately that Apple commits serious resources to this

market. Unlike PC-centered seminars, characterized by Michnowicz as

essentially "hard core" sales pitches, the Apple program uses former educators

to blend tips, shortcuts and candid comments on areas where Apple products

need improvement while describing the features of newly released Apple

offerings. Essentially, it is a much softer sell to an audience who enjoys a

high comfort level with the products.

In addition, Apple has an impressive line-up of new technology yet stays

focused on problems with tight school budgets. Here is a rundown of the items

covered during the seminar: Mac OS X Server (Unix based new LAN operating

system), Final Cut Pro (professional quality video editing), creation of a CD

ROM for a uniform software environment across the school system, a common

sense approach to keeping older equipment alive and reliable, using FileMaker

Pro as a cross platform database across the network and the Internet, and

using AppleScript to show educators how to automate repetitive software tasks

and integrate them into the classroom setting. In all cases, the information

was easy to understand and provided down to earth solutions for common

problems. Copies of all the information, demonstrations, and evaluation

software presented at the seminar were issued on a free CD ROM. Slick.

Even though the iMac is a closed system, Apple supports and promotes "open

standards." They actively support FireWire (IEEE P1394) and USB (Universal

Serial Bus) for "hot plugable" high speed communications to modems, storage

devices and video equipment. Slowly we are seeing more USB devices in the

marketplace. Apple's push should help the PC community here.

Voice Recognition

The last presentation of the day showcased a soon-to-be-released product named

MacSpeech. This is voice recognition on the Mac. While the product holds

promise, the demonstration lacked the WOW factor. Computer command and control

are of strong interest to students with special problems. My judgment is that

this area requires additional breakthroughs in software and hardware before it

can be smoothly integrated into the system. Time will tell.

What Computer to Buy?

Many parents with grade school children wrestle with the question of whether

to buy a Mac or a PC for their youngster. Frankly, the iMac should be on that

short list of candidates because this is the hardware found in many grammar

schools today. Apple will continue to hold a dominant position in K-8 schools

and will share hardware space in high schools. Mac offerings provide many

solid reasons to educators and system network administrators to purchase Apple

hardware and software products. The total hardware cost of ownership for Macs

over PCs in the lower grades is apparent even to a hard bitten PC nut like me.

No Respect

With Apple's Lazarus-like miracle executed before a skeptical PC crowd,

hopefully we are not entering a new era where the electronic landscape

repopulates with newly invigorated hair-on-fire iMac evangelists. Most of the

PC users have come to the conclusion that a computer is a gadget more like a

telephone than a defining symbol of a lifestyle. If we can tone down the

rhetoric on hardware, then the only over-caffeinated computer wackos remaining

will be the Microsoft bashing Linux crowd. Apple, welcome back!

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.apple.com

http://www.vxm.com/21R.35.html

http://www.zdnet.com/windows/stories/main/0,4728,312779,00.html

(This is the 157th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the

Internet. Next, Linux v NT is the subject on tap. Stay tuned. Until next week,

happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real

People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and

suggestions to: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)