As you may or may not be aware, Apple is taking a number of steps to move away from its initial statements that it was going to abandon a large bulk of its user base with the coming of Copland. These steps include, Code Fragment Manager, OpenDoc, and Open Transport support for 68k based machines.
All three of these are currently available, although not widely distributed. In the case of Open Transport, most 68k users are wisely sticking to MacTCP. Although Open Transport holds the promise of significantly increased TCP/IP performance for the Macintosh, this has been overshadowed by broken applications and connectivity headaches galore.
However, being a forward thinking little company, we have ready for your use, when you make the plunge, a 68k version of TCP/IP Switcher. Free of all the fat that would come with making a FAT version. Sorry for the pun, but hey, hard drives may be cheap but I still think that you might REALLY need that 14k someday and I sure don't want you breaking down my door, looking for my head, because you didn't quite have enough scratchdisk space to save your Photoshop masterpiece.
-Sean Allen
Infant Software
December 10, 1995
mailto://runt@inch.com
http://www.novaworks.com/staff/sallen/infant
Speaking of being forward looking....
We would like to put in our vote of approval for the six coolest goodies on the block these days:
1) The BeBox.
A real computer. At a real price. At last. Check out http://www.be.com
As an aside, have you noticed that the best Apple minds aren't working for Apple
anymore? Seems they are all at Be, Next, and Power Computing. I wonder why?
2) Userland Frontier
If Apple had real brains, they would ditch AppleScript and Denali and build Frontier into the
core of Copland or Gershwin. This is real power not available on any other platfrom.
3) Userland Clay Basket
Fast becoming the most awesome way to manage a Website. The potential tie-ins with Frontier
boggle the mind. And Apple is doing their best to promote the hell out of inferior products,
no wonder Bill Gates rules the Universe.
4) Live Picture
Its about time someone came along and gave Adobe Photoshop a run for its money. Products like
PageMill only go to show that Abode is getting fat, old and lazy. Live Picture isn't the Photoshop
killer some herald it to be- yet. However, it does take over about 75% of the work you used to do
in Photoshop, and you do it in 50% of the time or less. Give us Kai's Power Tools et al. for
Live Picture and the reign of the glorified Pixel Pushers may finally be coming to a close.
5) Connectix Speed Doubler
After such an awesome product as Ram Doubler, how to you follow? How about with something
even better. Speed Doubler's single best feature is that it replaces the LC68040 emulator that comes
onboard every PowerPC motherboard. Now, here's the sad part. The software emulator is faster
than the one we get from Motorola. I think someone at the old M dropped the ball on that one.
Now, your non-PPC Native programs won't run like they are on an old IIsi, they actually run
as though they were on a PowerPC. Apple should start bundling this with every PowerPC and end
this statement from PowerPC owners: 'Its slower than my Centris 650 sometimes.' And then,
their eyes light up when I say that only about 25% of the Macintosh 7.5.2 Operating System is
PowerPC native. Like I said, if Apple had a brain, every machine would come with Speed Doubler,
so of course, they won't. Anyway, as if the boost in emulation isn't enough, its adds threading
to the file system. To use this feature, you need a machine (PowerPC or 68k) running a System
7.0 or higher with the thread manager installed. What does a threaded file system mean? Well,
you can copy a 5 meg file and STILL USE OTHER APPLICATIONS. Why didn't Apple include this
in System 7.5 instead of giving us Stickies, a Graphing Calculator, and a new Jigsaw Puzzle? Don't
ask me. In the end, a threaded file system is a great boon. Imagine how much fast a database server
will be if one user accessing a file doesn't stop everthing else. My anecdote to prove product worth:
our Webserver started serving pages 20-30% faster after we installed Speed Doubler. 'Nuff said.
6) Claris Emailer
I have to admit I was skeptical. I have been using Eudora lite for a long time, have written a
number of enhancements to make it as good as Eudora Pro, and in general was exceedingly happy.
Then along comes Emailer and wham! I'm going to fork over $80 for an email package, go figure.
Well, Claris/FogCity, you still have some room to improve and a couple areas to catch up to
Eudora on. The lack of Frontier Menu Sharing, Hierarchical Mailboxes, and a couple others is
annoying, but they are outweighted by the scheduled mail/script runs. The ability to get mail
from multiple accounts without having to change any settings and reply to mail with that same
address is a god-send to those of use who have addresses like: webmaster@blah.com. Also, even
though I don't use AOL, I admire the ability to get mail from it should I ever sell out.
And a vote for the most overrated, will sell tons, crappy piece of software.....
Adobe's PageMill....
I didn't expect much, and got even less. Now, that was surprising. Will sell tons because, it says
Abode. If you are really interested in Web Design, even doing one page. Buy Larry Aaronson's
HTML Manual of Style. You'll learn all of HTML 2.0 in the time it takes to get used to the
inanities in PageMill's User Interface, maybe even less. Remember Microsoft Word 6.0? Ok, well
PageMill isn't so loaded with useless featues that it makes the Tortoise look like a speed demon.
PageMill is on the opposite end of the spectrum, so little control, it makes you wonder if Adobe
thinks everyone out here on the Net is an idiot.
What does all this have to do with the 68k version of TCP/IP Switcher?
