Best & Worst Of The Web - July 31st, 2000

There are lots of great articles, and some really bad ones, on the Internet. Though we link to all of them at MacOS News Around The Web, some of them deserve special mention here. Most of what we will mention within these pages will be among the best, but on occasion we will talk about articles that are so bad or so wrong we just have to say something. Consider them mini-editorials on our part about things we think you might also be interested in.

Best [6:00 PM] Applelinks: The Warp Core - Why Some Companies Hate Their Customers
John Martellaro, always one of our favorite Mac authors, delves into the way that Apple and Microsoft treat their customers. In particular he talks about how some companies like Microsoft like to blame their customers for their own behavior. Our favorite quote from this piece:

When the practice of commerce is viewed as a war, and winning at any cost is called for, then any practice whatsoever to deal with customer problems can be justified, even if it ends up causing grave inconvenience to a certain percentage of customers. But since Microsoft has a monopoly market position, there is really nothing one can do about their tactics.

A very good read. Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


Best [6:00 PM] Applelinks: The Farr Site - Frito Pie and Chrome
The mercurial John Farr offers a very fun piece about a car show he went to and Appleis new product line. Though we almost included a passage about Scandinavians and Germans buying up the first run of the G4 Cube, we selected this as our favorite quote instead:

Thatis right, nobody likes to look at pretty girls or baseball playersi butts anymore. We all like bland, generic stuff. We want all our computers to look like hunks of putty and our cars to look like 3-week-old bars of soap. What a load of old SCSI cables.

You go John! A good read. Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


Best [6:00 PM] MacWeek: The Network Manager - X on X, at last
John C. Welch offers his thoughts on just why Tenonis announced X Windows is a good thing for Mac OS X. He points out that this will be a huge bridge to the rest of the Unix world, and that will have a very positive impact on the Mac world. Our favorite quote from this piece:

A good read. Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


Best [6:00 PM] Register UK: Join the Navy, hack the world
The title should say it all, but for those who might not be as obsessed with Uber-Geek culture as this editor, we will explain. At Defcon, a hacker convention, the Feds have been trying to recruit some folks to work for the government. Our favorite passage from this piece:

This yearis iMeet the Fedi session at Defcon in Las Vegas became something of a government recruiting opportunity as US Assistant Defense Secretary for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Arthur Money appealed to an audience composed largely of ubergeeks, h4x0rz and wannabes to earn proper livings, get haircuts and dress like adults whilst contributing to Uncle Samis never-ending struggle against the digital Forces of Darkness.

A very interesting read. Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


You can find these links, and lots of other links for Mac and Tech Industry stories, at MacOS News Around The Web.