AS SUGGESTED EARLIER this week in WinInfo, Apple's continuing frustration with the inability of Motorola to deliver ever-faster G4 chips has caused the company to begin looking elsewhere. And though Intel might be the obvious choice, Apple is choosing to "think different" \[sic\] and is considering the secretive Transmeta Crusoe instead. Apple rumor sites are going ga-ga over the news, as reports indicate that Apple has already begun work on porting its Darwin OS core to Crusoe. Stay tuned for news as it develops.
AN OVERVIEW OF Windows 2000 in PC World shows you what happens when someone who just doesn't get Windows 2000 writes a review. The best quote in the whole thing: "And while it's understandable that there's no DOS prompt in software that doesn't have DOS, we grizzled veterans will miss the command line that can be so handy for juggling files." Guess that command prompt thing (which has been there since the very first version of NT) really threw him off. Not to mention the command prompt boot option. Stick with what you know, guys.
I'M NOT A Linux basher. But I do keep up on Linux (and Mac OS) issues for a reason: I think it's silly to ignore the competition. I've often said that Linux is poised to seize both the business and consumer markets from Windows if Microsoft doesn't get its act together. But the reality here is that the Linux camp is going to have to get its own act together as well, because from a user's perspective, Linux is just a poor imitation of Windows, let alone the Mac OS, right now. The GUI is sort of there, the tools are kind of easy to use, and almost ready for primetime. Hardware support is there if you have the right devices, impossible to configure unless you're a real wirehead. And while I smile knowingly at every fanatical story told by a bleary-eyed Linux geek, who spent six hours the night before configuring a media player that now works "about 70% as good as the one in Windows" (his words), I have to laugh. I had another one of these moments earlier this week when I read an article in Linux Journal called, "LaTeX for secretaries." No, I'm not kidding (for those of you who don't know, LaTeX is a text processing system that forces you to write HTML-like markup code in a text editor. It's not exactly what I'd call a "easy," let alone a competitor for Microsoft Word). Hey Linux, call me in two years when you're done. Right now your middle is a bit too pink for my tastes.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: When I broke the story about Windows Me earlier this week, I got this classic reply via email: "Will there ever be a Windows Mini-Me?" -- WinInfo reader Richard Ponte, with a tip of the hat to Mike Myers of "Austin Powers" fame
