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Resourcefulness Redone (12/16/98)
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Wanna know why we're not running Apple? We mean, aside from the obvious reasons like we have no formal business training, we'd hire all our friends regardless of their skills, we'd institute a policy that every new Mac made should have a one-of-a-kind swirled two-tone translucent case even if it added $200 to the price, etc. It's because we never would have thought of raising money by using Amazon.com's associate program within Sherlock.
You're probably aware of these associate programs; several e-commerce web sites have deals where you can sign up with them, and put links to their site on your site. Then, if somebody viewing your site clicks through to, say, Vacuum Cleaners Online ("The Web Site That Really Sucks!") and orders a new Electro-Suck 3000™, you would get a small chunk of the profits. Well, according to MacWEEK, Apple's hit upon a cool variation of the idea: the Mac OS 8.5.1 Sherlock plug-ins for Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble include the tags for Apple's associate contract with those organizations. The upshot is, if you use Sherlock to search Amazon.com for a book title, and then click on the found link and buy that book, Apple gets a little bit of cash at the end of the month. Smart! It costs Apple nothing to set up, Sherlock users have the same ease of use they would have without the associate's program stuff embedded, and everybody lives happily ever after.
So if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Apple booster and you like to buy your books online, remember-- using Mac OS 8.5.1's Sherlock to find your latest picks costs you nothing extra, but it kicks a little extra pocket change to Apple. We can't imagine that it's a lot of money, or anything, since the associate's cut seems to be anywhere up to 15% of the profit on each sale, but we're still impressed with the sheer resourcefulness of the idea.
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SceneLink (1222)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 12/16/98 episode: December 16, 1998: You all know that Apple's doing better these days, but did you know that Apple is lifting up the rest of the industry? Meanwhile, Apple tweaks Sherlock's plug-ins to transform them into a potential no-effort revenue source, and Mac OS X Server might take a back seat to the introduction of new Apple-branded Linux computers...
Other scenes from that episode: 1221: Recapturing Relevance (12/16/98) Holy cats, what a difference a year or two can make. Not very long ago, the overwhelming sentiment in the tech industry was that Apple Computer had ceased to be at all relevant, and it was only a matter of time before they tanked and faded into obscurity... 1223: Ready and Waiting (12/16/98) Poor Mac OS X Server-- it just can't seem to catch a break. Back when it was known as NextStep, it had a small but fiercely loyal following among the programmers of the world, but it could never make the transition from "cult movie icon" to "blockbuster star."...
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