Newsletter #468 Preview: A Casual Look at Snow Leopard Versus Windows 7. It’s not unusual to think that there’s never been a Mac OS feature that Microsoft didn’t try to imitate. Of course, this is not to say that Apple is above cribbing a few features from others when it’s appropriate.Take the the Mac’s Help menu or, for that matter, the application switching technique, both of which [...]

Can Apple Succeed in the Enterprise Without Compromise?. One of the accepted factors about the PC is that it is infinitely customizable. While this may be a boon for business, it’s a major pain for MIcrosoft, since they have to make sure that Windows works properly despite the hardware configuration. Indeed, that they succeed even partly might be a miracle, but it is [...]

Can Apple Withstand the Recession?. Unless you are one of those precious (and lucky) few who might be considered in the class of the filthy rich, you know it’s been a difficult Fall. Money is tight, sales are light, and it’s hard to know whether it’s even worth spending large amounts of money for the holiday season.Maybe it’s better just [...]

Will Snow Leopard Arrive with the Snow?. There are fascinating Mac rumors afoot these days, topped with the report that Apple’s next reference operating system release may arrive sooner than expected, perhaps as early as the first quarter of next year.The claim is based on a slide presentation delivered at a San Diego conference last week that featured Apple’s director of Unix technology, [...]

Apple Always Finds a Way to Annoy Customers. You love them, you hate them. The products are great, but some of the marketing and product initiatives are inscrutable. Even though Apple is supposedly doing surprisingly well during this holiday season, despite the economic downturn that may have not bottomed out, I’m sure they’ve also done plenty to upset customers in one way or [...]

Newsletter #469 Preview: Announcing the Night Owl’s Microsoft Death Watch. Do you think maybe I’m being a little too lurid with this headline? As they said in that classic movie, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a…” Well, you get the picture, but in this case, I am quite serious. I think Microsoft is in serious trouble, more so because they are so flushed with [...]

So Where’s the Windows Only Label?. So I was reading the latest issue of Time magazine, when I spied a flashy, somewhat cartoonish ad telling me that “You Need the Speed of Norton 2009.”Do I?Well, when I went to Symantec’s Web site to see just what this spectacular product was supposed to do, I found a link to the advertised free [...]

Apple’s Annoying Policy of Security and Support Secrecy. When it comes to Apple, sometimes you don’t know what to think about some of their long-time behavior patterns when it comes to marketing and support.In taping an interview for this week’s episode of The Tech Night Owl LIVE, author and commentator Kirk McElhearn brought to my attention the fact that Apple, after extolling the Mac [...]

About Apple’s Price Matching Policy. So I recall all those lurid commercials of many years ago from certain high-power electronic retailers promising that they positively won’t be undersold. Of course they had so many terms and conditions in those offers that few people who requested a price match or a refund for overpayment were ever actually compensated for their efforts.It’s [...]

No, I Don’t Need a Netbook. There’s been an awful lot of discussion lately about whether Apple plans to enter the “nascent” netbook market. While the name should pretty much convey the meaning of the product it describes, here’s a common definition (so we get our terms straight): “A small, low-cost, mobile computing device designed for consuming content, rather than creating [...]

Newsletter #470 Preview: Not Everything From Apple Just Works!. Every few days, I see a message floating above the desktop asking if I want to sync something on my MacBook or Mac Pro. It may be something in the keychain, such as login information, or a preference in Mail or another Apple program.That seems well and good, and I’m glad to know the feature, [...]

Another Chapter in the Microsoft Death Watch. At once time, Microsoft could accurately boast of owning 95% of the personal computer desktops in the world. Clearly they would have preferred 100%, but nothing would stop Apple from working hard to make its presence felt.As Apple continues to grow faster than most skeptical analysts expect, the dominance of Windows has begun to erode, [...]

Apple Doesn’t Make Me-Too Products!. What I just wrote must seem so obvious, you have to wonder how anyone could possibly misunderstand the way the company operates, but it’s clear a lot of people do. That’s particularly true for the folks who claim to be experts about technology.Maybe it’s the training. I mean, when my son attended college, he majored [...]

Catch the Latest Episode of The Tech Night Owl LIVE. On this all-star episode, we bring onboard Steve “Mr. Gadget” Kruschen to regale us with a number of great finds for tech gear that offer both terrific performance and reasonably affordable pricing.As a follow-up for our discussion in last week’s episode, security aficionado Kirk McElhearn speaks more about how Apple and Google work together [...]

The Apple Beating the Odds Column. So the story goes that companies with higher-priced gear will most likely fare miserably this holiday season. Yes, folks are still buying lots of high definition TVs, as an example, but they are picking the low-end or smaller screen versions. The expensive models that generate the most profits for dealers and manufacturers may not do [...]