MacEdition ProNews January 5, 2001
by MacEdition Staff (feedback)
IBM helps Compaq with screaming Alpha
While those of us in Mac-land sit back and await the 600MHz PPC chips that will propel the G4 tortoise-like into the 21st century, Terry Shannon of Shannon Knows Compaq tells us (via The Register UK) about the latest advances in the Alpha technology. (Chips and Apple? Check out the latest Chip Chat.)
Surely Apple is sitting on the sidelines, pining for such advances, because who else but Big Blue is helping Compaq, copper interconnects and all.
An alpha of a different stripe
“Do you feel lucky, punk? This is bleeding-edge software, and could still have really evil bugs in it.”
No, Apple hasn’t come to its senses and put a warning label on Mac OS X. Try something equally surprising: Java for the Newton. That’s right, Newton.
Waba for the Newton is a stripped-down implementation of the Java Virtual Machine. Now, “stripped-down” in this case is more like the dress code at a Nevada brothel than Casual Friday, but where else are you going to get something like this?
No accounting for taste
Large company, seeks other large companies, for exclusive trysts. Smaller players welcome to look, but don’t touch.
Or something like that when it comes to Microsoft acquisitions. It seems that there’s a company that thinks it may be forced out of business if this acquisition goes through. The company is nervous enough that it claims “‘disclosure of its identity’ could lead to severe economic repercussions.” What? Retaliation?
So the New Year’s over ... Toast Friday!
We’re pleased to announce that at least three people actually read the ProNews segment! That, or talk of alcohol just drives the masses to respond.
For us, Dan Downey decided to describe delightful drink:
- Pyramid Brewery Snowcap (outtasite! hang on tight!)
- Duschutes Brewery Jubelale
- Full Sail Brewery Wassail
- Winterhook (tasty)
He happened to leave out just what computing experience these belonged to, so we’ll just assume the worst. Dan, remember, if you see two keyboards, you’ve had enough.
Harley Jacoubsen dropped us a line, highlighting what we would expect to be a fine addition to any Windows network admin’s collection – Titanic Ice Beer (“Goes Down Well”). Unfortunately, like many of the TCO studies favoring Windows over the classic Mac OS, this is really just the figment of someone’s imagination. Something ironic about a Titanic-related prank from Down Under?
Looking for old ProNews segments? Check out our index at http://old.macedition.com/news/. Do you have news releases or tidbits of interest to the Macintosh professional? Send them to pronewsnotes@macedition.com.