“Nothing ever stays the same, it’s always gonna change.”
One of my favorite songs of all time is from Tesla’s “Mechanical Resonance” album. It’s called “Changes.” That song is appropriate, I think, for those of us in the Macintosh community.
Changes. Get ready, folks, a new day is dawning. Like it or not.
I am reminded of Darth Vader clenching his fist and saying “You do not know the POWER of the Dark Side! Join me, and we will rule the galaxy…” to Luke Skywalker. Well, in the mythology of George Lucas, Luke resisted and eventually the good guys won. Real life, however, is rarely that simple. And when Steve Jobs welcomed Dar…, I mean BILL Gates at Macworld Boston, everything changed. Just like that.
Changes.
It’s time for us, as Mac users, to embrace these changes. Why? Simply put, you really don’t have any choice. It’s this, or it’s The End. Period.
I know many of you are thinking “Bill is up to something…” and you may be right. But ask yourself this: what does Bill Gates seem to love the most? Money. Now, knowing that, do you think Bill Gates would invest $150 million dollars if he thought he would lose it? “I say thee nay!”, as a certain Norse Thunder God would say. (English translation: No, I don’t think so, either.”)
Larry Ellison is now on Apple’s Board of Directors. Many of you have come to really dislike him in the last few months for his brash opinions and egotism. But Ellison’s Oracle is, after Microsoft, the second largest software manufacturer in the world. Do you think he would have joined Apple, Steve Jobs or no Steve Jobs, if he was not committed to making Apple into a computer powerhouse once again? Of course not; he likes power too much. From what I have read of Ellison in the past few months, his ego knows no bounds.
Changes.
Our enemy is our friend. Isn’t he…?
I want to believe this is for the best. Really, I do. But one key point of
the Apple/Microsoft deal keeps bothering me. “Unrestricted access to both
companies technologies” What technologies does Microsoft have that Apple would possibly want? Internet Explorer? (Spare me…) ActiveX? (Please…) What about Microsoft? What technologies could they want from Apple? Well, heck, their best selling product thus far is a cheap, poorly done direct ripoff of the Macintosh. (They call it Windows, I call it many other things) So I ask you, who benefits from this the most? Apple or Microsoft? (Here’s a hint: if this were a movie, Darth Vader would be going to Yoda for some free lessons.)
All that aside, I must confess that I’m more upbeat about the future of Apple and the Macintosh than ever before. Apple stock is up. They’ve sold a million more copies of Mac OS 8.0 than they projected they would. (We knew the screen snapshots on our Website would help!) The old board of directors is gone. Gil Amelio is gone. MacUser is no more. (Oh, wait, that’s BAD news. Sorry.)
But what I want to know is what YOU think? Write in, and let us know what you think about all of this. Next issue’s letter page will be full of your answers.
Lastly, there’s another song from Tesla that I really enjoy which I think would be a great rally song for Mac users. It goes like this:
“All the rain outside my window, but on and on I know, it’s getting better
everyday. Soon the Sun will shine through my window. When it’s gonna come, you know I really couldn’t say. But I know, it’s getting better, everyday…”
Tim Robertson (publisher@mymac.com)
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