| | November 17, 1997: (Sorry—this was before we started writing intro text for each episode!) | | |
But First, A Word From Our Sponsors |
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All-in-One & One for All (11/17/97)
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From the appliance look of the 9-inch-screened Classic chassis, to the lumpy-but-loveable LC 550, to the monitor-with-a-floppy look of the 5x00, and possibly even encompassing the slightly more complex (and certainly flatter) Spartacus, less interestingly known as the 20th Anniversary Macintosh, AtAT is a sucker for a standalone design. If you're a fan of the all-in-one Mac concept, don't despair; you've only got to wait until April for Apple's next in the line of self-contained "toaster-Macs." So sayeth MacOS Rumors.
The new offering, code-named "Artemis," will pack the hearty punch of a G3 processor running between 225 and 266 MHz. And reportedly, Apple will crunch all that computing goodness into a new case that's smaller, cheaper, and nicer-looking than the 5x00 series.
Unfortunately, every Mac has its achilles heel, and this one's may just be its name. When it's ready to ship, it will lose the sporty moniker "Artemis" and may assume the bland appellation, "Power Macintosh G3 Home." Yecccchh.
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Netscape Keeps Sliding (11/17/97)
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Ouch... Ralph, DoJ, say what you will about Microsoft's tactics being illegal and immoral, just don't forget to add that they're also effective. Netscape's share of the browser market is down for the third quarter in a row, according to this InfoWorld article.
According to Dataquest, Netscape now holds 57.6% of the pie, compared to Microsoft's 39.4%. Compare that to last quarter: Netscape had 61.1%, Microsoft 35.3%. How about the quarter before that? Netscape 73%, Microsoft 20%. Gadzooks! At this rate, things'll be 50/50 by mid-1998. (Of course, Netscape says its current share is really about 70%. And Microsoft says its hold on the market is really closer to 41%. But who's counting?)
Regardless, Netscape is still the browser of choice for 80% of the surfers who tune into AtAT on a regular basis. We like to think that counts for something...
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Shhhh! Baywatch Is On! (11/17/97)
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...Not that popularity is everything. You know, it's funny, but just the other day we were sitting around talking about the difference between "best" and "most popular," and how often you see a stark disparity between the two, and then Dob Crabb goes and writes an article about that very concept, citing reader Barry L. Ritholtz's examples to demonstrate.
Ritholtz has compiled a fabulous list of "most popular" items that most discriminating people would agree are, shall we say, not the creme de la creme in their respective categories. Of course he hit upon the obvious example we had thought of--Budweiser beer--but you may be surprised (and mildly perturbed) to learn that the U.S. President who garnered the largest popular majority was Richard Nixon. Or that the longest running Broadway play is still Cats. Or that the single that spent the longest stint on the U.S. charts was The Macarena. So the next time you boot your Mac and you're starting to feel edgy about a 3.3% marketshare value, just remember that all of the top three best-selling music videos of all time were made by the New Kids on the Block. (Okay, you can stop twitching now.)
As for the highest revenue-generating infomercials being those for the Psychic Friends Network, well, what did you expect? It sure as hell wasn't that Performa infomercial about how to get Grampa a date.
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