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Maclennium Countdown (12/15/98)
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We at AtAT have been stating for a long time that Apple should capitalize upon the relative insignificance of the Y2K bug in Macintosh systems by starting a heavy-hitting ad blitz that harps on the subject. Yes, of course Macs are susceptible to Y2K problems depending on what software they run, but it's a much-reduced concern, and the system itself won't blink an eye when 2000 comes around. Anyway, right at the end of a MacWEEK article about all kinds of upcoming Apple stuff, Apple's Mac OS product manager Peter Lowe reveals that Apple will indeed be "pushing hard" to market the Mac as a Y2K-proof computer in 1999. (Thankfully, Apple's testing that claim strenuously before they start the ads and open themselves up for a very embarrassing New Year's Day, 2000.)
Mac OS Rumors claims to have some more details on the Y2K advertising blitz (though the information is thrown in with so many marginally believable details about QuickTime 5 and PC-compatible "Red Box" technology that we're more than a little wary of the integrity of the source). Apparently the new TV commercials will start to air on February 2nd, and Rumors even has a transcript of one of the ads, which features the "president of a large corporation" fielding a call from a representative of "Data Protection Systems" who is hawking Y2K preparation services; the president calmly states that he doesn't have to worry because he has a Macintosh. Mmm, too simple and lacks punch. We've received a ton of better Y2K ad suggestions from AtAT viewers over the course of the past year, so we hope that the example over at Rumors isn't genuine. Still, we welcome the advent of Y2K-centric Mac ads, even though they should have started a long time ago.
So how extensive will the system failures be once the calendar flips over to 2000? We won't know until we get there, but here's our personal prediction: in PC-based companies all over the world, the only departments left standing will be the graphics folks and their Macs, who will rise to take over the companies and build a new Golden Era of peace and prosperity. Blessed are the Graphics Geeks, for they shall inherit the payroll department...
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SceneLink (1218)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 12/15/98 episode: December 15, 1998: The Mac is relatively bullet-proof when it comes to the millennium bug, and Apple is finally getting ready to exploit that fact in a big advertising blitz. Meanwhile, Apple isn't the only high-tech company facing a billion-dollar patent infringement lawsuit, and in "Redmond Justice," Judge Jackson once again gets snippy with Microsoft's lawyers...
Other scenes from that episode: 1219: Lawsuits All Around (12/15/98) We all know about Imatec's $1.1 billion lawsuit against Apple for allegedly infringing upon Imatec patents in the ColorSync color management technology. Since it was first announced, we've been hard-pressed to name another high-tech suit with such a high price tag-- but that's all just changed... 1220: More Monkey Business (12/15/98) Just when "Redmond Justice" seemed to have slipped into a lull, things got hopping again during Microsoft's cross-examination of government witness Edward Felten. If you've been tuning in regularly, you know that Felten is the Princeton University professor of computer science who has testified that Microsoft's integration of the Internet Explorer web browser into the Windows operating system was not done because of any planned design, but rather to force Windows customers to use IE...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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