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Knowing Whom To Root For (3/21/01)
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Ah, this wacky high-tech business world and all its strange bedfellows... you probably thought you knew who the enemies were, didn't you? Microsoft, for one; aside from the obvious fact that Apple represents the forces of good and Microsoft is evil incarnate, from a purely business perspective, Windows is obviously the Mac's biggest competitor for operating system market share. But don't you remember the Great Truce of 1997? Steve said Microsoft is our friend. After all, Redmond cranks out versions of Office and Internet Explorer for the Mac that are arguably even better than their Windows counterparts. Of course, that didn't stop Apple from testifying that Microsoft is the antichrist during the Redmond Justice trial, when it came out that Bill's minions threatened to cancel Mac Office outright unless Apple killed QuickTime. In front of the cameras, though, it's all smiles and handshakes. Situational alliances; ya gotta love 'em.
So you probably take the stance that Intel is the enemy on the hardware side, while Motorola is clearly Apple's ally (one year stuck at 500 MHz notwithstanding). Not so fast, Spanky! Sure, when it comes to chips, Apple's rooting for Motorola's G4 over Intel's various Pentium doohickeys, but how about when it comes to wireless networking standards? When viewed in that light, suddenly the sides switch with blinding speed.
Apple, as you know, was a pioneer in the field of wireless home networking, having released AirPort in 1999 as the first easy-to-use, integrated, and inexpensive architecture for getting home computers talking to each other with no wires and (hopefully) no headaches. AirPort is based on 802.11, an industry standard wireless Ethernet specification. But along came a new (and incompatible) standard, HomeRF, that threatened to confuse the market; you can't mix HomeRF and 802.11 equipment, so one of them is probably going to have to go. Needless to say, Apple bet a lot on 802.11, and HomeRF threatens that investment.
Well, get this: according to The Register, one "industry heavyweight" pushing for HomeRF is-- you guessed it-- Motorola. And while Intel used to support HomeRF in its AnyPoint wireless networking gear, the next revision of the product line will switch over to 802.11 instead. In other words, in the wireless game, Motorola = Bad Guy, Intel = Good Guy. We know, you need a score card to keep track of all this stuff. Wacky, no?
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SceneLink (2939)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/21/01 episode: March 21, 2001: It's still officially three days away, but CNET keeps laying into Mac OS X-- this time for lack of CD-RW support. Meanwhile, word has it that different-colored PowerBooks are on the horizon, and if you thought Intel was the bad guy and Motorola was the good guy, try looking at things from a wireless networking perspective...
Other scenes from that episode: 2937: Might Crash, Won't Burn (3/21/01) Three days and counting-- and wouldn't you know it? CNET continues to complain about Mac OS X's missing features well in advance of the product making it out the door. Not long ago, Those Of The Yellow Sidebar issued a gloomy report focusing on the operating system's 1.0 warts, such as incomplete support for hardware graphics acceleration, performance bottlenecks, crashing problems, and-- horror of horrors-- its inability to play DVD movies... 2938: Fashion Comes To Pro-Ville (3/21/01) So what's with Apple's long-held belief that only consumers like color choices? Granted, the company's first and only foray into the "colors for pros" area didn't go over too well, what with the Blueberry-and-Ice Power Mac G3 looking more like a Smurf condo than a professional workstation, but surely something more muted like Indigo would have been simply smashing...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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