Finally, the truth comes out! Apple has finally acknowledged the nasty iBook disk corruption bug, which has apparently been present in every iBook to roll off the line since day one. As far as bugs go, this is one of the more serious in Apple's checkered history; afflicted systems can't boot up, instead displaying the dreaded flashing folder icon indicating that no boot device was found. iBook disks found fried in this fashion generally prove to be irreparable no matter how many disk repair utilities are thrown at them, which means we're talking about that ugliest of situations, irretrievable data loss. This is an especially heinous scenario with the iBook, since it's a consumer device, so it's targeted at folks that generally think "backing up" involves shifting into reverse and looking through the rear window. And remember, the iBook ships with absolutely no capacity for backup, lacking any sort of removable storage system-- even a lowly floppy drive. So when this bug bites, odds are, any data on that disk has gone to the Great Trash Icon in the Sky.

Now, the reason there's a mini-scandal buzzing about this whole thing is that, given the iBook's "Backup? What backup?" design, any potential for data loss is a Big Deal™. Yet despite the Mac community having noticed months ago the iBook's alarming propensity to eat data for breakfast, Apple's kept its collective mouth shut about the problem for what seemed to be an eternity. When Apple did make an official move, all we got was a call for profile reports asking for help in isolating the problem, when in fact a big honkin' notice on the iBook Support Page explaining the importance of backups may have been a good idea. Worse yet, it's been weeks since people noticed a connection between turning on the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" option in the Energy Saver control panel and watching their data get shredded like a phone book into a wood chipper-- yet there was still no warning from Apple.

Now Apple's finally admitted to the problem in a Tech Info article; apparently the problem occurs when, in "rare circumstances" involving low available memory, an iBook (or a new PowerBook with FireWire) with the "Preserve contents" option enabled is put to sleep. The contents of RAM get written to the hard disk, all right-- unfortunately, they can be written right over some "critical file system information." Whoa Nelly! Yeah, that's a big bug. Heck, that's the Bug That Ate Cleveland. And yet there's still no huge flashing warning on the iBook Support Page telling users to turn off the "Preserve contents" option, or risk seeing their data melt like a vinyl record on a car dashboard in July. Go figure. In any event, Apple promises a software fix later this month that will make the "Preserve contents" feature work as intended; until then, hopefully iBook and new PowerBook owners will hear about the problem (from someone) and take steps to avoid it.

It's March, and you know what that means, right? That's right, the annual Florida Educational Technology Conference, and Apple's requisite press release reaffirming its lead in the education market. Every year it's like clockwork-- the FETC rolls around, Apple announces some new education initiative-- like the Apple Store for Education, or that new "Apple Learning Solutions" series that we got this year-- and somewhere along the line comes the inevitable news that Apple's still beating the tar out of the competition when it comes to selling computers to schools.

This year, we were a little concerned, since the FETC wrapped up a week ago and we still hadn't seen the "Apple Still Rules" press release. But fear not-- better late than never. It finally showed up, and once again, Apple's able to trumpet its lofty position; according to International Data Corp., Apple's share of the education pie for the fourth quarter of last year was 30.6%, "double its closest competitor." And for all of the 1999 calendar year, Apple was also on top, with 23.6%. Gotta love the fact that Apple's share was higher at the end of the year, right? It bodes well for growth.

Now, while this is great news, we can't help but see some clouds under that silver lining. (So we've got a dark side. Sue us.) 30.6% is nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but we'd swear that it used to be much higher than that. For a while there, if a computer was in a school, it was pretty much guaranteed to wear an Apple logo. If three out of ten computers sold to schools last quarter were Macs, that means the other seven were not. How can Steve expect to indoctrinate the youth of America into his plans for world domination with so many Wintel systems diluting the Mac's presence in our schools? We think it's time for a killer education product to get those numbers pumping again; how about special low-cost iBooks with AirPort built in, sold in five-packs like the old eMates? Cut corners to get the per-unit price under $1000 and schools will flock to buy these "mobile computer labs." Hey, just a suggestion. Anything to further The Cause.

Ah, the day after... That wonderful time when yesterday's good news becomes consumed in the ominous Shadow of Doubt™. This time, people are looking more closely at Apple's jubilant announcement that it had secured "worldwide injunctions" against those who stole its iMac design and issued cheap knockoffs. For instance, faithful viewer Daniel Drew Turner pointed out his own ZDNet article, which examines the limitations behind Apple's settlements with the copycats and reveals that while the battle may in fact be over, it's a bit questionable which side won.

Apple's struggle focused on two machines, the E-Power and the eOne. The eOne, in particular, may have been hurting Apple's iMac sales, since it's been available at U.S. retail outlets for months now. According to Apple's settlement, eMachines agreed to stop selling the current blue and white eOne by March 31st-- but eMachines retains the right to use the eOne name for a "redesigned" system. Any bets that the "redesign" will consist of nothing more than a color change to something other than one of Apple's established iMac flavors? Heck, Sotec tried that in Japan; their new eOne was identical to the old, only it was silvery-blue instead. In fact, we won't be a bit surprised if the new eMachines eOne turns out to be the same silver Sotec model. If eMachines was too lazy to make their own iMac knockoff in the first place (they opted to sell Sotec's instead), why change now?

As for the E-Power, it never even saw the light of day. Back in November when Apple won its preliminary injunction, Future Power started its own knockoff redesign. According to The Register, the first modified E-Power prototype was "much squarer" and grey, with a "pastel-coloured oval on each side." Is that enough of a change to get around Apple's injunction? We don't know, since they never tried to ship that one, either. But Future Power isn't through with the E-Power yet; the ZDNet article states that Daewoo and Future Power are planning to push a "silver-blue--no translucency" E-Power onto store shelves "within the next 45 days." Evidently "silver-blue" is the color of choice when revamping an iMac clone to back it legal. (Remember that, because it'll show up in Trivial Pursuit one day.) In the end, the final result may simply be this: instead of a slew of fruit-flavored translucent iMac knockoffs diluting Apple's brand, store shelves may be packed with silver, non-translucent iMac knockoffs making every CompUSA look like a Buck Rogers set. Mmmmm, we can't wait.