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More on the Cheap Box (1/27/98)
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Apparently, news about the upcoming sub-$1000 Mac for the home market isn't the most closely-guarded secret over at Apple these days. Rumors about the machine's specs have now filtered down into the "legitimate" Mac press. MacUser UK has what they call "exclusive" details on the low-cost G3 system, code-named Artemis.
According to MacUser's sources, Artemis is currently in beta testing. Contrary to some reports which had it morphing into a 6500-style tower system to be bundled with a monitor, Artemis is reportedly remaining faithful to its original all-in-one specification, which, in its current incarnation, houses a 16" Trinitron monitor and packs 32MB of RAM, an IDE hard drive of unspecified capacity, and the now-ubiquitous 24x CD-ROM drive. Thankfully, the sinful ugliness of the original Artemis case design has been reworked into something described as "very Mac-like," but with some unusual touches like transparent bits and a distinctive wavy back.
Of course, for MacUser to call their information "exclusive" is dubious, at best. The Mac rumors sites have had most of this data for weeks, if not months. And the more we read the description of the case, the more we wonder if MacUser actually got to see one of the old cases instead; that bit about the "wavy look" is evocative of the unpleasant lumps of the initial model, which was scrapped when Apple found that most users would rather jab a fork into each eye and learn to use an abacus by touch rather than have to look at the thing for more than a few seconds at a time. But as the release date creeps ever closer (the machine is said to debut at MacWorld Expo Boston in July), the info about Artemis is sure to intensify; stay tuned for the latest (and ugliest) developments.
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SceneLink (397)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/27/98 episode: January 27, 1998: Apple reabsorbs its offspring Claris, in an attempt to bolster its precarious bottom line, which teeters nervously in the balance during the dark days of Q2. Meanwhile, spicy details about the upcoming sub-$1000 Mac continue to "leak" from Cupertino, and Microsoft confirms that Windows NT is the future for consumer Wintel users...
Other scenes from that episode: 396: Easy Come, Easy Go (1/27/98) Once again, the rumors proved correct--Claris is no more. Apple has just reabsorbed most of the products of its consistently-profitable wholly-owned subsidiary, leaving Claris with only the immensely successful FileMaker Pro and Claris Home Page... 398: Bluescreens for All! (1/27/98) It's official: In the home market, Microsoft is planning to migrate away from the Windows 95/98 code base in favor of a "consumerized" future version of Windows NT. A Business Wire report has the details; first some home-type features like games acceleration will be added to Windows NT 5, and then a full-fledged "Windows NT Consumer" will ship after the year 2000. While this news surprises very few people, it's relevant in that it confirms just how spookily similar Microsoft's and Apple's OS strategies really are...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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