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Reality Bites (the Dust) (2/26/98)
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In recent months, MacNN Reality has grown to become one of AtAT's favorite Mac websites. However, much of their appeal arose from their posting of "sensitive" news, and we've been growing increasingly concerned recently that Reality could get shut down by, say, Apple's legal department. Reality always walked that danger line, and their information was getting increasingly more illicit. They seemed to be the poster child for the bastardized slogan, "Live Fast, Die Young, Leave a Good-Looking Cobweb." What a surprise, then, to find that the end came not from lawyers with six-colored tietacks, but instead from a much smaller source-- and not one brandishing legal tactics as weapons.
Reality has shut itself down after an incident stemming from their recent sneak-preview of a future version of Kaleidoscope-- one which was, evidently, unsanctioned by the authors of that popular shareware interface enhancer. After Reality posted three leaked screenshots from a beta version of the new 2.0 version, Kaleidoscope programmers Greg Landweber and Arlo Rose reportedly decided to disband the entire beta testing team and delay the product's completion date. They also emailed MacNN stating that they were severing ties with the news site. And it goes downhill from there: Reality claims that Greg actually hung up on a MacNN/Reality representative who called to apologize. To make matters worse, ex-beta-testers then allegedly ran an organized campaign to slander MacNN/Reality to the sponsors of those sites. It was this action which led Reality to the decision to self-terminate.
The whole sordid affair (at least, the whole affair from Reality's point of view) is told in their farewell message. In the end, the whole mess is so complicated we personally don't think any one party is entirely to blame for the debacle. We'll miss Reality, and we hope the authors decide to relaunch the site soon.
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SceneLink (486)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/26/98 episode: February 26, 1998: Another promising Mac site ends its short existence on the Mac webscape, amid scandal and uproar. Meanwhile, Apple's new Powerbook smokes every other laptop out there-- and every desktop Mac, too; and Apple's stock continues its slow climb, as its short interest drops drastically since last month (whatever the heck that means)...
Other scenes from that episode: 487: Too Fast to Live (2/26/98) In a quick blast of happy news, O'Grady's PowerPage continues its "Wall Street Week" with a MacBench 4.0 speed comparison of Apple's upcoming top-of-the-line laptop with other high-end Macs. The results will make your knees buckle: a 292 MHz Wall Street broke the four-digit barrier, scoring a 1023... 488: The Other Other Wall St. (2/26/98) If you've been tuning in to AtAT for any length of time now, you're very aware that when it comes to the stock market, we haven't a clue. Business finance just isn't our thing; frankly, the whole subject bores us to tears...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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