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What Pulled the Plug (12/17/97)
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Okay, okay, we know we're beating a long-dead horse here, but we've got to address the November 10th announcement one last time. You all still remember, we're sure, that Apple originally planned for the circus to last for two and a half hours, when in fact it lasted only sixty minutes. Everyone expected the unveiling of some kind of deal with Oracle, but none came. Since then, we (and many others) have been certain that something fell through at the last minute and just couldn't be announced. Well, finally, MacOS Rumors has what they claim is the real story.
Apparently what happened was incredibly simple: Oracle planned a large investment in Apple for NC development, and everything was rosy. But then Oracle noticed the numbers for their current financial quarter weren't nearly as good as they originally thought. To avoid a total slaughter in the stock market, they canceled the announcement at the last minute. (Oracle's stock plunged some 30% once the figures were made public; how much worse might it have been if they had also announced an investment in Apple?)
Nothing spectacular. But we feel better with this issue finally settled. (Mostly.) Props to Steve for salvaging the presentation with a rousing and entertaining sixty minutes-- apparently he may have heard of the Oracle pullout only hours before the announcement was to be made. The man's a great ad-libber.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 12/17/97 episode: December 17, 1997: (Sorry—this was before we started writing intro text for each episode!)
Other scenes from that episode: 277: DoJ Fights Back (12/17/97) Not that anyone didn't expect it, but the Department of Justice is fighting Microsoft's current "compliance" with Judge Jackson's temporary injunction. As you saw in yesterday's episode, Microsoft's idea of not forcing vendors to ship IE on Windows 95 systems consists of giving them the additional "choices" of shipping either a non-bootable system, or one running a two-year-old OS with more bugs than a Watergate hotel room... 279: Giving me a SEIZURE!! (12/17/97) And in the "Unrelated But Too Goofy Not To Mention" file today, how 'bout that Japanese cartoon that sent some 560 viewers into convulsions while watching it? That's right-- a slew of folks who tuned into a particular episode of "Pocket Monster" apparently wound up writhing on their sitting-room floors with their eyes rolling back in their heads...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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