Night Owl Rating:

Tell me, folks, how long should it take a company to take an existing Windows-oriented keyboard and change a couple of key tops to make it Mac-like? Well, you’d think a few days in the scheme of things, but it has taken Microsoft months to ready its $99.95 “first Mac-specific desktop.” What this means in the real world is that this is “Microsoft’s only keyboard without the Windows Start button.” The drivers are also Universal, making it compatible with both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, and incorporates the standard preset hot keys for the platform.

Other than these few changes, it’s otherwise identical to Microsoft’s Wireless Laser Desktop 6000, which has been available for a while. However, the Mac version won’t actually ship until the summer, although they were happy to send me an early production version for review.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• Newsletter #393 Preview: Attention Mac Users: Microsoft Makes Good Stuff Too!
• Newsletter #391 Preview: Will Mac Users Accept Being Normal?
• Newsletter #385 Preview: The Mac Becomes a Low-Key Survivor
• Apple Sales Confusion and Other Silliness
• Newsletter #381 Preview: No, Apple Isn’t Giving Up the Mac!

Let’s make it simple: I have already made public predictions on the subject, here, on my radio show and on Craig Crossman’s syndicated broadcast, Computer America. In each case I said something that I regard as obvious, that Apple will be announcing a professional desktop computer, known as the Mac Pro, during the WWDC in August.

This doesn’t require any of the abilities, real or imagined, that I talk about on the paranormal radio show I host with my friend, David Biedny. Instead, it involves a simple reading of Intel’s processor roadmap. According to current plans, Intel will be releasing its newest desktop processor family, code-named Conroe, or Core 2 Duo, in late July. Right now, it’s reasonable to assume that Apple is already testing prototype versions, and may, in fact, be in the final stages of deciding the ultimate design of the new desktop.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• The Tea Leaves Report: A Look at Apple’s Major Product Transition
• So Maybe Apple Didn’t Cave on Pricing
• After the WWDC III: The Good and the Bad
• After the WWDC II: Did I Say Cheaper?
• Revisiting the Midrange Mac Minitower in a Down Economy

For months, people have been talking about Apple’s efforts to use the courts get information about who might have leaked confidential information about a new digital interface from several Mac Web sites and their ISPs. The news about Apple’s defeat on Friday in a California appeals court may not be the end of the story, however. As with most matters of extreme legal import, there may be further skirmishes in the courts, but that decision is up to Apple at this point.

Meantime, before you read our newsletter commentary on the matter, I recommend you check out the actual decision, which is posted here. The hour or so you spend reading it will put you in a better position to evaluate some of the knee-jerk reactions that have been published so far.

Click here to read the rest of this week’s newsletter.

Related Articles:

• Newsletter Issue #486 Preview: The Internet Explorer 8 Failure
• Newsletter #422 Preview: Are Chronic Leopard Bugs Getting a Fair Hearing?
• Newsletter #389 Preview: Do Windows Users Really Love Windows?
• Newsletter #387 Preview: Do You Really Want to Rent Music?
• Newsletter #381 Preview: No, Apple Isn’t Giving Up the Mac!

This may seem like a radical idea, but the conventional wisdom, such as it is, states that Apple will announce an Intel-based professional desktop Mac during the WWDC in August. That is, along with Leopard and perhaps a second generation Intel-based model or two. This would complete the transition to Intel, assuming the Xserve is part of the program.

But hear me out: While this may be a good idea from the politically-correct standpoint, there are issues from the practical standpoint that may, to some, argue against such a speedy product release. In a case of the chicken and egg syndrome, not all software creative people need will be ready. While I can’t speak to 3D software, such as Autodesk’s Maya, it is certain you won’t see Adobe Creative Suite 3 until the second quarter of 2007. That news comes straight from Adobe, and it doesn’t seem likely they’ll suddenly change their tune and have it available six months earlier. Only Apple manages to release products ahead of schedule.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• The Leopard Report: Is Apple Regaining What it Lost?
• The Leopard Report: Time for One More Wish List
• The Tiger Report: All Right, Still More to Say
• Microsoft and Mozilla Updates: One Minor, One Awesome!
• Newsletter #419 Preview: CompUSA Self-Destructs