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September 13, 1997
News
Mac clones are officially over. After Apple's recent purchase of Power Computing,
Motorola, IBM and all their sub-licensees (including APS and several other smaller
companies) announced this week that they have now officially backed out of the clone
market. The only remaining clone vendor is UMAX, but the licensing agreement they signed
with Apple is limited to Asian markets and low-end machines and their contract is only
through July of next year.
As I briefly mentioned last week, IBM and Motorola are also refocusing their PowerPC
processor business more toward embedded controllers in fixed devices and away from general
purpose microprocessors used in desktop PCs. What does this mean to you and me? While
Motorola and/or IBM will continue to supply Apple with chips for their computers for a
while, we may start seeing Apple forced to use (or choosing to use) Intel processors. In
fact, the next version of Apple's OS, code-named Rhapsody, will apparently run on Intel
processors. Look for that to be a critical factor in the future of Apple's business.
Again, one good side of these developments is that you can get a good deal on Mac
clones, particularly if you wait a bit. Both Power and Motorola said they would stop
selling machines by the end of the year, so start thinking about some last-minute
Christmas shopping if you're in the market for a Mac-compatible computer. There shouldn't
be much of a risk and both companies have vowed to continue offering phone support for at
least one year. I've read some reports that suggested that the companies' inventory may
run out before then, but I'd still wait a few weeks. Apparently Power will have yet
another price cut (their second this month) that begins next week.
The other big industry news from this week: AOL bought CompuServe giving the company a
total of 11.6 million subscribers, which is many times higher than its nearest competitor,
MSN. AOL claims they will keep CompuServe going as an independent entity but we'll see how
long that lasts. Of course many CompuServe users want nothing to do with AOL and may very
well bail out of the deal. In another part of the complicated three-way deal, AOL will be
gaining additional network infrastructure support which should lead to less busy lines and
help them overcome the problems they've had. I think the real winners here will be all the
ISPs who pick up frustrated CompuServe customers.
Looking to fight junk e-mail, otherwise known as spam? You may want to check out the new
version 1.1 of SpammerSlammer from Now. The company's web site is www.nowtools.com. SpammerSlammer, which is available for Windows 95 and NT, blocks
spam mail before it hits your inbox by looking at the mail protocols of incoming mail
messages and blocking "bulk-mailed" messages from ever reaching you. Sounds
interesting.
Another deal that sounds interesting is the new "Double Your Memory" promotion
from mail-order vendor Micron. Between now and the end of September, certain Millenia
desktop system and Transport portable systems you buy from them will have twice the amount
of memory you ordered up to a maximum of 48 free MBs of RAM (giving you a system with 96
MB total in one instance). Check it out at www.micronpc.com.
Lots of fast new PC notebooks are now available. As we've been talking about for quite a
while, the new 200 and 233 MHz mobile Pentium MMX processors, code-named Tillamook, are
now available and are appearing in systems from numerous vendors. In case you're curious
about this kind of stuff, these are the first chips from Intel to be produced using .25
micron-width technology. All previous chips used .35 micron-width technology. This is
important because smaller the etched lines, the faster and cooler the processor can run.
Smaller chips also use less voltage, which means computers using them usually have longer
battery life, and you can squeeze more chips on a silicon wafer which, theoretically means
they'll be cheaper to make and produce. You may have also heard this week about the joint
effort between Intel, AMD, Motorola and some government research labs for developing even
smaller faster chips for the future. The reason for this is that at around .10 microns,
physics intervenes and it becomes virtually impossible to build chips at this size using
current methods. That's why these companies are looking at extreme ultraviolet lithography
to develop new methods for making even smaller, faster chips.
Back to the present, one of the more interesting new notebooks I heard about that uses
the new Tillamook chips is Dell's new Inspiron line. The company describes the line as
being geared towards those customers who want to have all the latest technology first.
Sounds like me….Anyway, the new Inspiron 3000 offers a 233 MHz Pentium, 32 MB of
SDRAM, 13.3" screen, NeoMagic 128-bit graphics accelerator, 20x CD, 2.1 GB drive and
a lithium ion battery for $3,999. Not bad.
The 56K modem standard is being delayed. The ITU committee working on the standard have
been unable to reach any decisions, which will probably result in a delay for a 56K
standard well into next year. That, in turn, means the incompatibilities that we've had to
deal with for a few months now between x2 and K56Flex technology will continue for quite a
while.
Microsoft bought into a company that does voice recognition software this week. I'd say
that means we'll be seeing voice recognition within Windows by around 2000. Remember, you
heard it here first….
Look for the hot new peripheral for your PC? Check out all the new 19" monitors.
Companies such as Mag Innovision, Compaq, ADI, Phillips, and KDS USA are all offering
19" monitors (with 18 or 18.1" viewable area) for right around $1,000. That's
much less than the 20 and 21" monstrosities and much closer to 17 inchers. The
physical size of the 19" monitors is also very similar to many 17s, despite the
additional two to three inches of viewable area.
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