Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock

January 18

Although it's easy to knee-jerk and call this site a hate site. I can assure you it's not. It's really a mere chronicalling of Apple's endless mistakes as well as taking pot-shots at those who spend too much of their own, and everyone elses, mindshare ranting and raving about machines - when they could be ranting and raving about people. That doesn't mean there's a shortage of operating system hate sites out there, in fact there's hate sites on just about every aspect of computers. The sad fact is, there's plenty more "Mac hates everyone else" sites out there than you can shake a mouse at. Most are just poorly designed spite-fluff, other's are real exercises in bitterness that advocate hacking sites that offend their tender sensibilities or even mocks their "mission". You may have noticed that this site has never advocated hacking anyone or any view. We all have views, and we all shouldn't be silenced by a nazi minority that decides otherwise. On that note, I'll take advantage of my power with this site (now up to 1000 hits a week - hey hey - now I'm really wasting time!), to advocate that people should do what they can to clean up the internet. It's not about sending checks to feed starving orphans, and you don't really have to do much but the following. If you come across a site that advocates hacking because that site disagrees with an opinion you, or me may have, don't hack, don't spam, don't do all the little juvinile tricks that are staus-quo for the internet. DO contact the service provider and point out that their sponsering internet terrorism. Most internet service providers have basic terms of service guidelines that they use to prevent outright attacks and major denial of service conduct. Minor incidents occur all the time, but cold-calculated attacks are a major violation of the internet because it causes headaches for many people. Not just one site. Also, most ISP's don't want the liability of people like me, dragging out a lawyer to look into the matter when harm is being touted as a good thing. This in fact I did to a member of GeoCities that ended his opening paragraph with "email-bomb them, spam their guestbooks, and hack their sites". That's an open, outright no-no. Of course most minds that are this pubecent, don't have clue-one that they're violating global internet guidelines as well as GeoCities terms of service. Within 2 days of notifying the service provider that they've provided me and my attorney with an easy-money opportunity, by sponsering such activities, the offending site was cleaned-up. Make note, it wasn't shut down. That wasn't my intent. My intent was to insure that I specifically wasn't going to be the target of some petty amaturish suggestion that infringes on my 1st ammendment rights. It took 2 days for the e-mail to get the author to remove the offending line, and restore my rights. But this kind of crap is going on every day. And believe-you-me, it's far too easy of a money maker to turn my back on. But why should I have all the fun - and potential profit? If you see a site that mentions hacking other sites - particularly mine - feel free to send a little note to their sponser/ISP and mention that you have legal council (I'll set you up if you wish) to seek damages if blattent advocacy for hacking is not removed within a few days of your e-mail. Don't scoff, Terms of Service agreements are contracts. Violations of those contracts, only mean 5 figure easy-money settlements for you and me. I only allow a few days because some small ISP operations take weekends off. Don't advocate shutting them down, because that's just what you're taking a stand against. But feel free to do your part to clean up the internet from people who are outside of the logic loop. The site you'll save may be your own. And mine - hey let's get real here...

January 19
MacWeek again mentioned slipping marketshare against a backdrop of developers that are chashing in their chips and are getting out of the action. Much in the same way Amiga developers flocked away from Commodore about a decade ago. Then again, this isn't the most fair of comparissons because the Amiga never really got enough serious applications to be ever considered a serious contendor. WordPerfect, Microsoft's wares, no Adobe - nada one. So apart from a few niche applicaitons for video and 3D rendering it never really had much of a developer base to protect it from fate. And in this case fate was actually pretty quick to judge against it when the user base never got an excuse to use anything worthwhile. But this is the same problem that is growing by leaps and bounds for the Mac. Before it was a matter of trying to keep unique software that brought equity to the Apple OS. Now, they're fighting against a tide of developer migration that is taking blunt notice what improved market-share really means. Before it was an aside to hedging all your bets. Now people like Adobe have claimed more than 60% of their sales from the Windows market. New migrant developers aren't just making side-bets anymore, they're cleaning up. It won't be long before they notice that their continued support of a dying platform is little more than a charity loss for the tax people. That's what's happening now, and you only have to look at the Amiga to find out how long a platform has to survive when the majority of the productivity applications have gone away. Of course, the only fly in this ointment is Microsoft's stance in all this. They know captive sales when they see it. But I don't doubt that Apple could sue them into changing their minds on the situation eventually. After all, were talking about Apple right?

January 20

Well the biggest news of the day for me is that I've now been on the planet 30 years. A good decade beyond Apple, and I'll probably see them fold before I turn 32. One example of this is their current stance against their only few niche markets they have. Digital Video. Even though Avids have been playing well on NT workstations in Hollywood, and SGI works great for integrating into most professional broadcast suites, most small and medium size post-production houses still use Macs to integrate non-linear digital video editing into their operations. At least they did until now. Now, with the current slot configuration of their G3 lines, they've spat in the eye of one of their die-hard corner supporters. To do AVID you need 6 slots, and even though break-out boxes have been used in real-estate battles in the past, they cut into your I/O rates. And in video, that's most of the battle right there. For AVID users to make the leap into the new line of Macintoshes as the older one's they presently used get phased out, they're going to need those slots and that I/O all in one shell. As it stands, MacWeek is claiming that this market isn't really that important in a perverse display of dammage control. But the fact is that they are an important market and one that would keep them from loosing even more marketshare than they already have lost. Because here's the real dirty secret with Apple, and why they're doomed. Their marketshare is shrinking not just because Wintel users are expanding, not because the developer base is migrating, not because Apple lacks price-competitive systems, but because their current user-base is shrinking. And Apple is solely responsible for it. They've done everything possible to alienate their current users. From eliminating their basic services and technical support, to ignoring what their current user base demands. And when the user-base shinks, market-share and sales shrink. One typical example of this change of user attitude is available for viewing at this site from a group of frustrated Mac users that have had enough. And as the market share errodes it's sure to inspire more sites and more animosity from people that could previously put up with this shit from Apple. But no longer can.

January 21

One syndrome that I wondered about in the past, schools pandering to Apple's marketing schemes instead of reality, have larger repercutions than I imagined. It turns out that not only are adults acting like kids debating the merits of operating systems rather than what reality and the workplace dictates, but it seems that the kids don't even LIKE Macintoshes anymore. Oh sure, we've all seen Apple's tact on the matter, that kids crave and religiously love Macintosh computers - but after watching and e-mailing teachers on the matter it seems that a case could be made for the opposite. I've suspected as much, from the "youngish" websites claiming that "Macs suck", to the obvious fact that Macs don't have very many games available for it. Granted, games isn't the end-all, be-all of why you should get a computer. But if your demographics place you under the age of 18, it's pretty much a requirement. Hey, I still recall myself why Apple II's sucked compared to Atari 800's and Commodore 64s. It wasn't because Reader Rabbit was better on Commodore than Apple, it was because a shitload of funstuff like Jumpman, Defender, Spy Hunter and other brain-candy was available to while away the hours in suburban hell. So with a userbase of gameheads quite comfortable with the intracacies of Windows 95, much in the same way command-line OS'es of the last 15 years were just a turn of the key to entertainment, you can bet these kids don't give a rats-arse about the Mac. But now, it's public. These kids not only want to use a computer that the rest of the world uses in their offices - which means a decent job with Windows experience, but they want to continue to have fun on the computer of their choice. And that choice isn't Macintosh. Not anymore anway.

January 22

Talk about sad, now we've got one of the biggest battle of the geeks going on. Last week, I mentioned Dvorak's column bashing the Mac - or at least, predicting the obvious. Well, he's followed it up with observations of all the spam and general flames that he's gotten as a result. And hey, I'm well aware of his traffic. I've been fool-baiting Mac users on his site for the last 2 weeks. Well it looks like Don Crabb has gotten in the act fool-baiting him with Mac advocacy anti-bashing stirring up sentaments away from his own blattent brand of Apple bashing that his ratings are known for. So in the middle of this clash of the nerd-titans is really just a readership ploy of the 3rd degree. Of course I've already tipped my hand to my motives in the why section of this site, but they're punting from a yardline of credibility (ok, I admit it, the Super Bowl is on now, and I've been typing during the commercials for the last hour). But of course the mac-suckers are falling for it all the way. How predictable can you get. Of course the fact that I'm not getting paid for doing the same thing brings just a twinge of jelousy. Just a twinge.

January 23

Weeeeel, Microsoft just released their financial figures to stockholders and the SEC, and I thought I'd mention them to the chargrin of the MacJihad to show what a real company that is NOT in danger of going out of business looks like. Here's the skinny. 1.3 billion dollars profit off of 3.59 billion in sales. Hows that 45 million tasting now Steve? This is what seperates the DOJ inquires from the boys. The fact that Microsoft with thier MASSIVE overhead, mega-mergers, and general monitary wierdness can still make over a quarter profit off of their sales is a testimony to good corporate mojo. This is the stuff that serious corporate contenders are made of. This is why Microsoft is still hiring bodies to fill the trenches like mad, while Apple is trimming the fat faster than a liposuctionist. But don't take my word for it, these are the numbers that the SEC call religion. The difference is that Apple can only post a profit, however meager, only on the heels of major corporate reshuffling and slush funds, while healthy companies post profit in spite of major growth expenditures. This is the difference between companies that have their shit together compared to companies that have user-paperweights in their immeditate future. But don't take my word for it. The numbers speak for themselves.

January 24

Speaking of SEC numbers, Apple disclosed some more for Ruetters to chew on. It regarded their marketshare for their investors. In this case, their marketshare slipped again as a result of their 33% sales slide from the same quater a year ago. We're now looking at 3.1 percent worldwide down from 5.2 percent, and domestically you've got a slide from 6.6 percent down to 4.3. Now we're in business! Oh ya, you've got yer-numbers right here baby! We're fadin' fast! I mean come-on, how low can we go? I mean sure the rest of the world doesn't give a rats-ass about Apple anymore, but we're talking shrinkage on par with retail stores during the LA riots with the installed user base! Forget rats from a sinking ship, they're heading for escape pods now. What I really want to know is how insignificant do these numbers have to be before even the staunchest mac-diehards see the writing on the wall. 2 percent? 1.2 percent? Seriously, the MacJihad are looking pretty deluded now, but wait another quarter when the numbers fall even further. They'll look like Packer fans at the Super Bowl in the 4th. Ok, hey - I was wrong about the AFC upholding the 13 year loosing streak. But since I live in Denver, I do in fact suffer from a little hometown boosterism. Suddenly grown people wearing foam-rubber cheeses on their heads look a little sillier don't they? Ah. No real point to any of this writing now, I'm just in a good mood watching total chaos break out around me at my favorite watering hole. Yep, life is good.