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Monday, July 15, 2002 |
QuickTime Broadcaster 1.0 arrives as well
In addition to the arrival of QuickTime 6.0 this afternoon, MacNN and others note that Apple posted QuickTime Broadcaster 1.0, a free broadcasting solution for Mac OS X users.
11:15:27 PM 
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Apple rolls out QuickTime 6
Apple releases QuickTime 6. The company makes public the final version of its digital media software, marking a stand-down in a dispute over licensing fees. [CNET News.com]
3:27:32 PM
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Palm sync capabilities for Entourage X
Microsoft has rolled out an initial version of the hotsync conduits for moving data between Entourage X (which is only available as a part of the Office v. X package) and Palm Desktop 4.0 for OS X. Microsoft Handheld Synchronization for Entourage X requires that you first install the Microsoft Office v. X, Service Release 1.
Update: I am reading that some people have run into problems with the new conduit for Entourage. Specifically, some users have seen the memory on their Palm fill up rapidly after running the hotsync with Entourage. I cannot test this here, so if you are seeing problems, send me a comment...
11:12:56 AM
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GraphicConverter bumped to version 4.4.3
GraphicConverter 4.4.3 (Updated 7/15/02) - ($30 shareware) The Swiss Army Knife of graphics programs adds support for MacGhostView format and fixes bugs with resolution detection with some Photoshop files among other things in this latest update. If you can't afford Photoshop, get this program. I use it extensively with my digital photos, and since I stopped using iPhoto a couple of months ago, it is also my photo storage and organization tool of choice. I simply cannot say enough nice things about this program.
10:48:57 AM
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Let the squabbling begin
So much for a love-in between Apple and Microsoft at this week's Macworld Expo in New York. MacCentral points out the growing discontent with its article OS X adoption rate draws fire from Microsoft, Corel. The premise: Microsoft is upset that Apple is not selling more Mac users on using Mac OS X. The real story: People are not running out and spending $499 each to buy Microsoft Office v X. Microsoft wants to blame Apple for not helping sell its overpriced software.
As a slew of readers have written in response to the MacCentral story, I think the real issue is the price of Office. I don't buy Microsoft software unless absolutely required to do so. It just isn't worth the price of upgrading. This is especially the case when alternative programs with MUCH smaller price tags can open and save files that are compatible with Microsoft's applications. Among the options, ThinkFree Office ($50) and AppleWorks ($79) can each work with files from Office applications, and their price tags are tiny in comparison with Office. There are even more options to replace individual Office applications, like Mariner Write 3.0 ($69.95) which was announced this morning with the ability to read and write Word documents.
The truth of the matter is that Microsoft is making itself less and less relevant on the Mac. The arrival of Mac OS X must have looked like a huge opportunity to pad the sales of MS products with all new versions being sold to Mac users, but everyone is not ready to fork out the huge price tags that MS wants for its upgrades, and in addition the arrival of OS X has led to innovation in software development and the arrival of many competing programs.
Microsoft does still hold the edge in many software categories, but if many Mac users are like me, they are phasing out the use of MS programs and looking at fully capable alternatives. It's about time...
More fuel for the fire in a CNET story this morning titled Microsoft tries to steal Macworld Thunder:
"Still, sales have declined steadily through the release of Office v. X. Between August 1997 and August 2001, the number of Mac Office users declined from 8 million to about 3.5 million, according to Microsoft.
While sales may be falling, analysts point out that not all the blame should fall on Apple. Microsoft, for example, cuts lucrative deals with Windows PC makers for carrying Office XP Small Business Edition, while Mac users must pay as much as $300 or more for Macintosh Office."
8:44:20 AM
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Adobe teases Photoshop Elements 2.0
According to a story on MacCentral this morning, Adobe has announced a new version of Photoshop Elements, the basic image editing program with a subset of the tools available in the full Photoshop application. Photoshop Elements 2.0 is being teased to ship in the third quarter of 2002, and MacCentral says it is "Mac OS X compatible." Adobe offers more information about Photoshop Elements 2 on this page.
7:54:40 AM
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Mariner Write 3.0 for OS X arrives
Mariner Write 3.0 (Updated 7/15/02) - ($69.95) The final release of Mariner Write 3.0 brings support for reading Microsoft Word documents as well as on-the-fly spell checking and the ability to export to PDF. The upgrade for OS X users costs $25.
- Mariner Software also unveiled a free utility for converting Word documents to Rich Text Format documents, called DocDrop. DocDrop also has a Classic version.
7:39:56 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Rob McNair-Huff.
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