Category — History

Daniel Eran Dilger
In referencing the history of Mac viruses that occurred long before anyone ever began using Windows, I referred to “boot sector viruses” that occasionally bit users of Macs, particularly those in school environments where floppies were being passed around. I forgot to note this earlier, but an anti-virus authority corrected me earlier to point out these never actually existed. Boot sector viruses were (and are) exclusive to the PC.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
According to proponents of the Mac Malware Myth, Mac users should be afraid of a series of reports about a “rising tide” of malicious software and in panicked response, install anti-virus software from the vendors who propagate those dire warnings. They’re wrong, here’s why.
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Daniel Eran Dilger

Bloggers jumped on comments from Apple COO Tim Cook to suggest that the company is planning legal action to shut down Palm’s webOS Pre phone before the device can even make it to the market. They’re wrong, here’s why.
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Daniel Eran Dilger

Sometimes it feels odd to have to explain why a company such as Apple, which can generate tremendous waves of publicity by simply sending out “event” post cards as a press release at any point throughout the year, might want to bail out of Macworld Expo, an event it does not control, does not really benefit from, is poorly positioned within the year for new product announcements, and has limped along on life support for years just like every other trade show in the terminally ill industry, even before the economic crisis really hit.

Who exactly could be surprised by Apple’s move, apart from the pseudo-journalistic tech punditry circle that has for so long confused the role of reporting events in the tech industry with trying to mold public opinion through its tiresome cacophony of forcefully stated, but poorly thought out opinions?
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Daniel Eran Dilger

The software business is going mobile. That shift will present new challenges but also new opportunities for developers. Here’s how the mobile market has evolved into being today’s promising next frontier for new software models.
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Daniel Eran Dilger

Every once and a while, a new technology platform surfaces that disrupts the status quo, crushing existing business models and reconfiguring how the world works, what new expectations consumers now have, and how investment decisions will be made in the future. Frequently, nobody sees it coming, and those who think they can are often wrong. There are actually three types of disruption, and being able to identify them can set you apart from your competitors.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
While Microsoft and the John McCain presidential campaign might not share many political views, there are striking similarities on how both advertise and promote their respective products. Here’s ten parallels between the two that demand attention.
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Despite Apple’s current successes, it seems that nine out of ten pundits agree: Apple needs to change its hardware-centric business model to copy the software-oriented success that Microsoft saw in the 90s, or die trying. They’re wrong, here’s why.

Apple and the New Software Market
How Apple Is Changing the PC Software World… Back
iPhone Apps Store Growing Twice as Fast as iTunes Music
The Other iPhone Apps Store
SDK 3.3.3: The iPhone Podcaster Surprise Myth
Banned iPhone Apps and the John Gruber Podcaster Defense
The iPhone Monopoly Myth
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Paul Thurrott celebrated Microsoft’s new $300 million ad campaign as a promising new attempt to stop “the bad guys” at Apple from further eroding Microsoft’s monopoly grip on the desktop PC market. The problem is that the new ads don’t accomplish what they set out to do. Here’s why.

[Artwork contributed by Alf of faq-mac.com]

Microsoft $300 Million Ads
Microsoft’s Mojave Attempts to Wet Vista’s Desert
Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment Exposes Serious Vista Problems
Paul Thurrott calls Apple “the Bad Guys” of Microsoft’s $300 Million Ads
Gates, Seinfeld and the $300 Million Ad to Nowhere
Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign tumbles with new PC ads
Microsoft’s “Windows vs Walls” Ad Tries to Think Different, Fails
Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” Millions Actually Promoting the Mac
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Daniel Eran Dilger
While praising Microsoft’s new $300 million ad campaign, Paul Thurrott, a Windows Enthusiast who regularly complains about any criticism of Microsoft’s questionable business practices and its shoddy product quality and who portrays himself as an unbiased user of Apple products to court the favor of his readers, has called Apple “the bad guys” in exposing Vista’s flaws.

Microsoft $300 Million Ads
Microsoft’s Mojave Attempts to Wet Vista’s Desert
Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment Exposes Serious Vista Problems
Paul Thurrott calls Apple “the Bad Guys” of Microsoft’s $300 Million Ads
Gates, Seinfeld and the $300 Million Ad to Nowhere
Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign tumbles with new PC ads
Microsoft’s “Windows vs Walls” Ad Tries to Think Different, Fails
Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” Millions Actually Promoting the Mac
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Prince McLean, Apple Insider
Snow Leopard’s across-the-board leap to 64-bits, from the kernel to all of its bundled apps, will make more memory available and boost performance. However, Apple will also need to manage its 64-bit lead and organize its developers. Here’s why.
Following the initial introduction to 64-bit computing leading up to Snow Leopard, a second segment outlining issues related to the amount of RAM that can be installed and actually used by the system, and a third segment examining how much memory a specific app can use and how performance will improve with 64-bit addressing, this fourth segment will look at how the market for 64-bit apps is unfolding and how Apple has pioneered 64-bits on the desktop.

Road to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 1: 64-bits
2: 64-bits, Santa Rosa and the great PC swindle
3: Twice the RAM, half the price, 64-bits
4: the future of 64-bit apps

Prince McLean, Apple Insider
Snow Leopard’s across-the-board leap to 64-bits, from the kernel to all of its bundled apps, will do more than just make more memory available. It will also have a significant positive impact on performance system wide, even more than the same jump to 64-bits in Windows Vista. Here’s why.

Following the initial introduction to 64-bit computing leading up to Snow Leopard and a second segment outlining issues related to the amount of RAM that can be installed and actually used by the system, this third segment examines how much memory a specific app can use and how performance will improve with 64-bit addressing despite the additional overhead involved. A follow up segment will look at how the market for 64-bit apps is unfolding and how Apple is pioneering 64-bits on the desktop.

Road to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 1: 64-bits
2: 64-bits, Santa Rosa and the great PC swindle
3: Twice the RAM, half the price, 64-bits
4: the future of 64-bit apps

Daniel Eran Dilger
AppleInsider’s article “Developers question why Apple keeps its iPhone 2.0 SDK under NDA” presented several reasons why developers are frustrated with Apple’s tight control over the iPhone platform. Another facet behind Apple wanting to maintain a centralized position of control over iPhone development, where developers are bound by NDA to interface only with Apple but not each other, is to head off tangent hacks that might complicate Apple’s ability to lead its platform in the direction it wants.
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Prince McLean, AppleInsider
Next year’s 10.6 reference release of Mac OS X promises to deliver technology updates throughout the system without focusing on the customer-facing marketing features that typically sell a new operating system. Here’s a look at what those behind-the-scenes enhancements will mean to you, starting with new 64-bit support.

Road to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: 64-Bits
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Daniel Eran Dilger
Today’s broad array of smartphone operating system contenders are offering lots of potential answers to a problem that only requires one. It appears the market has two options ahead: either pool generic hardware makers behind a single operating system and deliver a smartphone marketplace that resembles the Windows PC market, or watch them fall to a dominant leader and have a smartphone market that resembles Apple’s iPod ecosystem.

This decision isn’t going to be made by a class of intellectual elite, or by government mandate. it’s going to be made by the market itself. Here are the factors that will influence the outcome, either marginalizing Apple’s iPhone into a niche as the company has twice experienced previously at the hands of DOS in 1981 and Windows in 1991, or positioning it as the dominant leader as Apple has achieved for itself with the iPod since 2001.

The third segment in this series looks at Google’s Android and the Open Handset Alliance as a possible “DOS-attack” against Apple’s iPhone. Subsequent segments will look at Nokia’s newly opened Symbian and other mobile contenders challenging the iPhone.

Will the iPhone Meet its Match from a Modern Day DOS?
Will Windows Mobile Play DOS to Apple’s iPhone?
Will Google’s Android Play DOS to Apple’s iPhone?
Will Symbian Play DOS to Apple’s iPhone?
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