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Vingt et Unième Siècle (2/28/99)
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Vive La France! After all, the French have given us many things over the years, not the least of which are the Statue of Liberty, the film "Delicatessen," and a newfound appreciation for the comic genius of Jerry Lewis. ("Hey LLAAAADDDDDYYYYYYYYY!!!") "Oh, sure," you're saying right now, "but what have they done for us lately?" To answer that question, you need look no further than this Nando Media article, describing the French government's assertion that Windows 98 is-- prepare for a dramatic group gasp-- not Year 2000 compliant. Sacré bleu!
"So what?" we hear you say. (Boy, you guys sure can be whiney on a Monday morning!) "That's not news." Au contraire, mon frère-- to enlightened Mac fans like yourselves, it may come as no surprise that the latest version of Windows still has problems with the concept that the century's going to end, but Microsoft's Y2K web site lists all versions of Windows 98 as fully compliant, not "compliant with minor issues" as they sometimes say. Of course, there are "prerequisites" for the products to be considered compliant; for instance, the French version of Windows 98 (and presumably the others, too) needs the "Windows 98 Year 2000 Update" and the "Updated Microsoft Virtual Machine" in order to be considered compliant. Perhaps the French government didn't do their research and tested an un-updated machine, or maybe they really found some problems that escaped Microsoft's attention. At any rate, the fact that an entire government is yelling about Windows Y2K problems is sure to attract some attention-- and if Apple is really planning an ad blitz touting the Mac's millennium-readiness, now might be the time to capitalize on that publicity.
For its part, Microsoft France appears to be denying the government's allegations regarding Windows 98, though marketing chief Pascal Brier admits that Microsoft Works 4.5, the other product that the government claims failed their tests, is in fact not compliant. According to Brier, "only" seven percent of Microsoft's products will fail hard when 2000 rolls around, and a full third of the Microsoft product line will "experience minor problems." Hey, but two out of three ain't bad...
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SceneLink (1369)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/28/99 episode: February 28, 1999: Oh, you may think that the whole Bell Atlantic/ADSL thing is over, but we've heard otherwise. Meanwhile, mighty France rails against Microsoft and the non-Y2K-compliance of Windows 98, and "Redmond Justice" enters a long hiatus following a Sweeps Month tour de force...
Other scenes from that episode: 1368: Case Closed-- Almost (2/28/99) Those of you who were following Steve Godun's apallingly Kafkaesque saga of trying to get Bell Atlantic to sell him a high-speed ADSL Internet connection to use with his Mac clone probably consider the story closed-- after all, Steve sure does... 1370: Can't Talk, Coming Down (2/28/99) We at AtAT are currently trying to deal with our traditional post-Sweeps-Month doldrums. All the ratings-grabbing episodes are over, all the numbers have been tallied, and now the networks are airing reruns and more conventional fare...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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