May 11, 1996

MacOS localized updates of Sys 7.5.3 are available for the following countries:

The Macintosh wins again, against Windows95. In another independent research study, conducted by Evans Research Associates, the Windows95 takes a back seat to the Macintosh, as voice by people who use both Mac and PC systems on a regular basis.

Even though customer satisfaction is still leaps and bounds above the wintel platform, that's obviously not good enough for new Apple CEO and Chairman Gil Amelio, as he announces that Apple needs to renew it's emphasis on quality and customer value, in conjunction with the "repair extention" placed on thousands of faulty PowerBooks, PowerMacs, and Performas.

With the WWDC arriving, Gilbert Amelio will be announcing Apples shifts towards better 3rd party developer support, increased Quality Control by means of product line simplification, and announcement of a "common open platform", amoung other key issues.

The WWDC is being broadcasts over the Internet by means of digetal video and streaming sound. Apple will also transcribe the speech and provide it on the web and IRC will be utilized for some events. For more information, see http://wwdc.apple.com/webcast.

May 5, 1996

Please note, that the past news page has been moved to it's own dedicated page.
Click on the news window above to access this link.

Apple has released System 7.5 Update 2.0 in localized version for the following countries -
Italy
Deutschland

PageSpinner is available from here.

The ever loved disk Image mounting tool, ShrinkWrap, has been upgraded to version 2.0.1.

Netscape 2.0.2 is out now, although thier home page doesn't say anything about it.

April 25, 1996

Well....I'm in the Chicago area now, and the next adventure is unpacking. For those that don't know, I've accepted a job at one of the three Mac-Based ISP's in the USA - Firecraker Enterprises, Inc.

Beta version 2.5b6 of FreePPP is now out. However, it doesn't include the Installer. If you need that, get the Installer from the FreePPP 2.5b4 version.

April 18, 1996

Tower Records and it's music publication PULSE!, announce thier new campaign to educate consumers about the new enhanced-CD's that combine multimedia content with the standard CD Audio soundtrack. In this campain, Consumers need to visit a participating Tower Records location and Try before you buy by using a Macintosh Performa computer system to view the enhanced CD titles. An enter-to-win Sweepstakes is also being promoted, in which customers may registar to win a Performa Macintosh.

With the agreement to work together with the United Minority Contractors Association (UMCA), Apple Computer will be working to reduce computer illiteracy and ownership in the African-American community. And they said only Government cares about Equal Oppurtunity?

After still hearing so many complaints about Netscape crashes, even with system 7.5.3, I'm posting the link for Netscape Defrost. This slick little INIT, by Scott Sykes, patchs the ReadXPRam trap and catches calls to ReadXPRam which are requesting the MachineLocation data structure, and seems to cure about 90% of those nasty crashes.

For those STILL seeking to get the 7.5 Upgrade 2 (7.5.3), Apple Computer is waiving the $13 shipping and handling charge for the update CD-Rom/diskettes. Apple says that demand is so high for this Upgrade that thier servers on the Apple Web site and other mirrors are severaly bottlenecked. Through May 31, the software is available free of charge from (800) 293-6617, Ext.984.

April 17, 1996

For the next 7 days, regular updates here may be a bit quirky, as I will be in the process of relocating from Austin, Texas to Rockford, Illinois in preparation for my new job with the only Chicago-area 100% Apple based ISP, Firecraker Enterprises, Inc. I will continue to update these news pages as often as possible.

Apple releases thier Second Quarter Financial Results.

John Nagle has released Simple PPP. One feature is that it will dial in the background. It is, however, in alpha test release.

Clear Ink has release a HTML checker, WebWebLint, that verifies the HTML syntax. You will need to download thier excellent port of MacPerl in order to use MacWebLint.

April 14, 1996

Are you sick of the all the recent negative media and press that Apple has recieved lately? Director of Internet Marketing, Christopher Escher, shares a very enlightening Fax that was inadvertantly sent to him, from an Editor in Chief of a major publication. If your like us, you'll prolly be spelling a lawsuit too.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted a simple but excellent list of ways you can particapate in fighting (legally) for your freedoms in Cyberspace and on the Net.

Apple Computer, Inc. is the first technology company to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Pacific Design Center, California's largest resource for the design and architecture professions.

WebStar 1.2.5 has been released, enabling WebStar to run on Open Transport. Although this update enables a site to handle over 200 simultaneous connections, this update is not recommended for those still running with MacTCP.

MacWeek has an interesting write-up on the current status of the licensing of the MacOS by Big Blue.

April 12, 1996

After searching for a new site, we finally found one that lived up to our principles of Mac Evanglism Firecraker Enterprises, Inc., a Total Apple based ISP in the Rockford/Chicago area, is our new host for the UnderMac Site. This will increase the response times for the WWW and FTP access times exponentially over our previous server. We should have the domain name pointed to this site in a few days.

April 8, 1996

The Complete Conflict Compendium is an online web based database, listing all known Mac software incompatibilities. You can even add new ones that you've only seen, in order to get help in solving them.

Progessive Networks has released a new version of thier Real Audio Play and plugin, in version 2.0.2.

Latest advances on Apples QuickTime VR tools for Photographers, Graphic designers, and Web masters are covered on the QT web site and the associated press release.

MacWeek's Dale Coleman reviews Iomega's 1 Gigabyte removalable, portable JAZ drive, in this article.

The United Computer Exchange now has a web site, that users looking to find current New and used Mac prices, can search.

Read this very interesting anonymous Email forwarded to MacWeek, from Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki, in which, someone close to Gil Amelio, attempts to describe the plans for Apple, as being outlined by Mr. Amelio.

PC World announces that it picked the Mac OS as the most usable operating system. Check the story at the Always Apple site.

April 7, 1996

We started this news page :)