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Adam Engst No comments

Software Acceleration Comments

We received a number of well thought-out comments abut Roy McDonald's article on software acceleration in TidBITS #186. Although we don't have room for all of them, here are a few notes: Larry Rosenstein and several others disagreed with Roy's statement that "OOP is an obvious formula for inefficient code." Larry felt that this is a myth, pointing at the fact that the System 7 Finder is a new program that hasn't been optimized, in contrast to the System 6 Finder, which had gone through several iterations that would help speed it up

Adam Engst No comments

Internet Gateway News

This information will end up in my book, but it's worth mentioning, since it may be of use to you now. AOL now splits long Internet email messages. In the past the America Online gateway software truncated incoming files at 27K, which put a damper on receiving long text files like TidBITS and BinHexed programs

Adam Engst No comments

ClarisWorks Reigns

We've come across an intriguing rumor. It might or might not be true, as with all rumors, and I'm sure Claris reserves the right to deny everything or to change its mind, but it appears that all of Claris's major products are doomed in favor of ClarisWorks. That sounds radical and rash, since even the slick ClarisWorks 2.0 doesn't boast anywhere near the stand-alone power of MacWrite Pro, FileMaker Pro, Resolve, or MacDraw Pro

Adam Engst No comments

ResEdit Hacking MacsBug

Anyone who runs an unattended server Mac will appreciate a little-known feature of MacsBug 6.2.2. You can define a FirstTime/EveryTime macro that automatically restarts the Mac if it crashes into MacsBug, rather than sitting with an error message on its screen

Adam Engst No comments

Newton Notes

By the time you read this, Apple will have released the Newton, in the form of the MessagePad, which we talked about in TidBITS #185. Several thousand units will be for sale at the Macworld Expo in Boston, although unless the price to the press is lower than for normal folks, I'm not coming home with one

Adam Engst No comments

Administrivia

I need to issue a correction and an apology. There is no way Jesse Helms could be involved with the House of Representatives' pilot project because he is a Senator, not a Representative

Adam Engst No comments

The Macintosh LC 520

The Macintosh LC 520 is sold in Canada, or so writes to tell us. Unlike in the U.S., where Apple currently sells the LC 520 only to the education market, normal people can buy the LC 520 in Canada

Adam Engst No comments

Bite the Purple Bullet

Bite the Purple Bullet and buy yourself a bigger PowerBook drive. Along with the cases that various hard drive vendors sell, you can now buy a $99 NuBus card from ETC Peripherals that will accept your 2.5" hard drive (or a 3.5" low-power drive if you buy an optional Purple Bullet Expander)

Adam Engst No comments

In the unconfirmed news department

In the unconfirmed news department, I hear that Apple has finished the Macintosh Hardware System Update 2.0, but that the update is not yet generally available

Adam Engst No comments

RAM Prices Increase

Fireworks weren't the only thing blowing up on the Fourth of July this year. In Japan the Sumitomo epoxy plant, which made most of the epoxy used in constructing DRAM chips, blew up

Adam Engst No comments

Pen-Based PowerBook Crossed Out

Along with all the layoffs, Apple has cut back projects deemed non-essential. Among them was the pen-based PowerBook, probably a modified Duo. In some ways it's a shame that such projects are dying, because even if they never lead to real products, the research often benefits Apple in other ways

Adam Engst No comments

Online Congressional Hearing Postponed

Fresh off the heels of correcting my egregious mistake regarding Senator Helms, it seems that the Online Congressional Hearing was postponed until later in the year

Roy K. McDonald No comments

Software Acceleration

Presented at the Sumeria Technologies & Issues Conference Hardware gets faster every year. We've all come to expect it. And, a huge amount of work is going on right now to ensure that next year the same thing will happen. Software gets more features

Adam Engst No comments

Administrivia

You probably already noticed our redesign in this issue. Like most publications, we spent months in consultation with graphic designers and information architects in an attempt to create the best possible look for TidBITS

Adam Engst No comments

DeskWriter owners

DeskWriter owners who have printers with serial numbers that begin with 2936 or lower should get "Free Upgrade Kit No. 02276-60106," a sheet that describes how to acquire the free upgrade kit mentioned by James Brigman in last week's article about refilling DeskWriter cartridges