|
World's Not Ready (10/14/99)
|
 
|
| | |
Unfortunately, it appears that the Macintosh community sometimes needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future of computing. Remember the uproar over the iMac's lack of a floppy drive? Well, here we are a year and a half later, and not only is the iMac wildly successful, but Apple has also omitted the floppy drive from every computer it now produces, and there's nary a complaint still out there. And remember all the bellyaching about how SCSI was going away? And ADB? And DIN-8 serial ports? Yet these days people are happier than ever with USB and FireWire. C'mon, folks, get with the program! If Apple ditches an old paradigm and replaces it with something new, it's for your own good. All those expensive peripherals were old technology, so you should be happy to be forced to replace them.
But alas, some people just don't get it. And that's why a few customers are up in arms about the way that Apple's gone ahead and cancelled their pre-orders for the older, faster Power Mac G4 systems. Yes, hard as it is to believe, some folks are actually angry at Apple for emailing them to say that the Power Mac G4/500 they've patiently been waiting for has been replaced with a slower (but newer!) G4/450 at the same price. All orders for those old G4s have been cancelled, but customers are perfectly free to place orders for the newer, slower models instead-- and get to the back of the line.
We don't understand the problem, ourselves, but we assume it's just another instance of old-fashioned Mac users initially rejecting a new Steve innovation-- this time, the innovation of "slower computers for the same price." Still, never let it be said that Apple isn't sensitive to constant barrages of flaming e-outrage and threats of mayhem and destruction. In an attempt to placate the angry mob who's too nearsighted to see the vast far-reaching benefits of having to re-order a slower machine, MacInTouch reports that Apple is in fact reinstating the cancelled orders. Orders for G4/400 and G4/450 systems will be honored at "the original price quoted," and G4/500 orders will be replaced with "either the same configuration with a 450 MHz processor at $350 less than [the] original order price," or "any other configuration with a 450 MHz processor at the original prices in effect before October 13." So that's that. Sorry, Steve; apparently the world just wasn't ready for your latest breakthrough. Thanks for trying, though, and thanks for giving the customers what they want. (Or think they want.)
| |
| |
 |
SceneLink (1846)
|  |
 |
|
And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
| | | |
|
| |
|
 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/14/99 episode: October 14, 1999: Steve Jobs breaks Apple's stock curse by confusing Wall Street into sending AAPL soaring. Meanwhile, irate customers get their wish, as Apple reinstates the G4 pre-orders that were cancelled just the day before, and Windows 2000 slips again, now due in February of next year...
Other scenes from that episode: 1845: Now THAT'S Different (10/14/99) By George, we think he's got it! Leave it to Steve Jobs to figure out a way to break the long-standing Apple Profit Stock Curse. See, for the seven quarters prior to Q4/1999, Apple's final earnings have been not just profits, but profits higher than the Wall Street analysts were expecting... 1847: Shoulda Called It Win99 (10/14/99) Finally, a quickie about our pals in Redmond, who are still struggling to get Windows NT 5 out the door. Renaming the product "Windows 2000" a year ago may have been just a little too prescient; the next version of Microsoft's heavy-duty professional/server operating system was most recently due on store shelves before the end of this year, but according to a PC Week article, now the company is saying that the product won't be available until February of next year...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
|
|
