The Final Order

The Final Order

Last month I let you know of my Macintosh victory over Intel in getting iMacs as the standard school computer. Now for the rest of the story… I was all set to present the iMac and G3 all-in-one purchase plan to the school advisory committee. I had gathered up all sorts of additional material and was in the process of arranging for an iMac to be on hand running Virtual PC when my principal let me know I needn’t worry. It turned out that since the money was donated for a specific purpose, i.e. technology, we could skip the advisory committee and go right to ordering. This was too good to be true!

That night I went home and downloaded the school pricing list from Apple and became immediately confused. Where was the G3 all-in-one? Puzzled, I got back on-line and went to Apple’s Education Store… no all-in-one there, either. So, when all else fails, call the 1-800 number. Sure enough, Apple had discontinued the all-in-one due to the need for additional assembly lines for the iMacs. This was unfortunate, because the all-in-one had been a surprisingly good seller for Apple to analysts (not myself, as schools love one-piece designs). However, Apple was offering a G3 desktop 266 w/ 1720 monitor for the same price, and that sounded just fine to me. The only exception being it had no internal modem and I didn’t want extra pieces hanging around. Oh, well. After presenting the change to the principal, I went about creating a purchase order for three iMacs and a G3 Desktop package.

After a few days passed, the idea of the desktop machine just wasn’t settling right. The issue of available desk space was gnawing at me. But, the only way to project computer images on screen was by the G3, as the iMac lacked any video output capability. Luckily, the “insanely-great” daily email gave the answer. A company called Griffin Technology http://www.griffintechnology.com had solved the problem. They have developed the iPort, a $70 device that allows for both video and serial output. The following email explains how it works:

Dear Mark,

The iPort does not plug into the mezzanine slot, rather it uses pass-through cables to connect to the the iMac’s motherboard. The iPort requires a control panel to run. From there, just load your printer/device drivers and select them via the chooser.

Regards,

Jason Litchford
Griffin Technology

Bingo! Once again third-party developers had picked up where Apple had left off. That was the first piece of good news. A few days later the new Apple school pricing list came out. The iMac was being offered in a 5-pack and bundled with the IMATION SuperDrive for $5,995. This means the SuperDrive was being thrown in for free. What a deal! Without further delay, the purchase order was rewritten and faxed. So, by the time you read this I’ll be wallowing in the fruits of victory!!!

Yeah, right, Bill
I thought only Presidents were pathetic under oath, but along comes Bill Gates with the I can’t recall; I’m out of the loop defense. Give me a break, Bill. You’ve spent the last ten years gloating, pushing, advertising your “genius” label. Telling all of us that you have the road map for the information age. Remember, The Road Ahead, that book you wrote… naw, probably not. You were a little too busy building a “house” that was big enough to hold your ego.

Why can’t you just tell the truth, say something to the effect of:
Business is ruthless. If you want to survive in a fast-paced industry, you use whatever leverage you have to guarantee your survival. Whatever deals or persuasion it takes, you’ve got to do it…

At least you would be telling the truth, instead your demonstrating to everyone, but most importantly your child, that lying is ok. Maybe you’re hoping that your offspring will never hear and comprehend what you said. Don’t bet on it.

It’s kind of ironic that the thing that Bill Gates is trying so hard to keep together will probably be broken up by his own words. Either that, or all the “smoking gun” memos left behind from the various companies he tried to dominate. Well, readers, it looks as if we have something Bill doesn’t: INTEGRITY.

For a Buck a Day…
When things are going good the ideas never seem to end. The iMac for $29.99 a month sounds like a winner. It’s the second part of the NC concept. The truly affordable computer. I hope there is an ISP deal involved to keep the complete price with Internet access for under $50 a month. I know my principal is seriously looking at it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a version with a printer for $5-10 more in the not so distant future.

Until next month, enjoy the turkey, everyone.

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Mark Marcantonio
markm@mymac.com

Websites mentioned:
http://www.griffintechnology.com