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Editorial Reply (3/31/99)
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Ladies and Gents, in the context of discussing the dreaded Melissa virus, we at AtAT recently made some statements that were just plain wrong. Basically, we said that Macs weren't susceptible to the Melissa virus because that virus relies on Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express) to do its dirty work, and there's no Mac version of Outlook. That fact was incorrect-- Outlook does exist for the Mac and ships as a component of Microsoft Exchange Server for Windows NT. Several faithful viewers told us so within minutes of broadcast, prompting us to issue an addendum to that day's episode. However, in the addendum we also passed along information that we received from several of those viewers regarding the future of Outlook on the Mac, which looked rather dim. Many people told us that Mac Outlook lacked crucial features found in the Windows version, and that Microsoft had claimed they were phasing out support for it, viewing it as really just a stepping stone for migration to Windows.
So, in response to that statement, here's an editorial reply from David Dumler, whom you can consider the "horse's mouth" on this issue, since he's a product manager at Microsoft: Regarding your story about
the Mac Outlook client and Microsoft stating that the client is no longer
supported and users should move to Windows, it is not true. This client is
always getting additional improvements with new features and bug fixes,
and is fully supported by Microsoft (and always has been). In fact, to
learn more about what we are doing to this client, connect to
http://www.microsoft.com/office/97/Outlook/Documents/mac.htm. You will
see here we are committed to improving this client, etc. So there you have it: the official stance on the future of Mac Outlook. We appreciate the time Mr. Dumler took to set the record straight, although the URL he provides may be frustrating to several viewers-- the page links to a document that supposedly contains all kinds of juicy info about Mac Outlook's future, but it's in Microsoft Word format. If you don't have Word, you're out of luck; while there's also a link to free Word document viewers, even though the document is about the continuation of a Mac product, there's no Mac version of the Word viewer to let non-Word users read it. Anyway, coming full circle and tying all of this back to the Melissa virus, it still appears that Macs are not fully vulnerable, even if they're running Outlook, though it has been shown that Macs running Word 98 can be infected in such a way that all documents created will carry the virus, which could then be transmitted to other machines. For the latest Mac-specific issues regarding Melissa, we highly recommend that you keep one eye on MacFixit.
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SceneLink (1435)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/31/99 episode: March 31, 1999: If you thought that unresearched Apple-bashing based on blatant misinformation was out of style, think again. Meanwhile, a Microsoft product manager assures us all that Mac Outlook is here to stay, and "Redmond Justice" is off the air until at least May 10th...
Other scenes from that episode: 1434: Just Like Old Times Again (3/31/99) Thank heaven! Here we were, thinking that the knee-jerk anti-Mac sentiment in the press had gone the way of the dinosaurs, when Information Week columnist Fred Langa proves otherwise. In his latest "Langa Letter," he claims that the press has been handling Apple with kid gloves because "no one likes to kick an underdog."... 1436: Twiddling Our Thumbs (3/31/99) Pre-empted! Oh, what rotten luck; we "Redmond Justice" fans will have to endure an even longer hiatus than originally expected, as external forces continue the delay and plague our drama-addicted lives...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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