Been waiting to install Mac OS X? Be sure to read Rita Lewis’s detailed article on installing Mac OS X first for essential advice. Also this week, Adam looks at using inexpensive FireWire hard disks for backup. In the news, Microsoft releases Office 2001 for Mac Service Release 1, Outpost.com’s shipping charges increase, and we encourage caution with Apple’s recent firmware updates. Please note we’re suffering a partial network outage!
Network Outage! TidBITS Technical Editor Geoff Duncan has discovered a reliable method to block all spam: have your network service provider suddenly go dark
Microsoft Updates Office 2001 -- Microsoft has released the Office 2001 for Mac Service Release 1, which updates the suite of applications for Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X compatibility, international language support, and other improvements
Avoid Current Firmware Updates -- Apple's just-released firmware updates (4.1.7 and 4.1.8) for recent iMacs, plus the iBook, G4 Cube, Power Mac G4, and PowerBooks with FireWire ports have caused much gnashing of teeth
Outpost.com's Shipping Charges Increase Again -- Just six weeks after mail-order vendor Outpost.com replaced its policy of free overnight shipping for all orders with one that offered free overnight shipping for orders totalling over $100, the company has again changed its approach (see "I Saw Free Ships..." in TidBITS-567)
April Fools Day Apologies -- My apologies to everyone we suckered with the fake update posted on Sunday to our Web site about how rolling blackouts in California and the associated cut-overs from the power grid to generators at Apple's data centers were causing Mac OS X to kernel panic if it accessed a mounted iDisk in a specific fashion
Never let it be said that I'm not open to new ideas. After my recent review of Ecrix's VXA-1 tape drive, a number of people asked why you couldn't just use hard disks for backup.
I quickly responded with all the reasons that hard disks are a fairly poor option as a sole backup solution
You've heard plenty online about Mac OS X from those who installed the Public Beta and those who took the jump before this. But now you've received your shiny white box with the big X, and after reading last week's article about Mac OS X, you're ready to install Apple's new operating system