MailBITS/29-Aug-94

The quote of the week goes to Bill Gates, who was paraphrased in a MacWEEK article in the 22-Aug-94 issue as saying that no company has produced more titles for Power Macs [than Microsoft]. This is indeed true, but only on the planet Stiltspah, where Power Mac-native versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, and FoxPro have been shipping for over three years. [ACE]

LISTSERV Reminder -- Just as a quick reminder, you can subscribe to TidBITS via an Internet mailing list (yes, this works for people on America Online, CompuServe, and so on). To subscribe, send email to <listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu> with this line in the body of the mailfile:

SUBSCRIBE TIDBITS your full name

The corollary to this piece of information is that to change your subscription from one email address to another, first send the SIGNOFF TIDBITS command to <listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu> from your old account, and then subscribe again using the instructions above from your new account. In other words, there is no "change subscription" command. If it's impossible for you to sign off from your old account, I can do it for you, but frankly, if you can work with the automated LISTSERV program, I'm sure it enjoys the task more than I do. [ACE]

Submitting to TidBITS -- I just ran into a situation that I feel bad about, and I hope this note might help matters in the future. Someone sent me email about a product he had used and liked, and several issues later, Mark independently wrote an article about the same product. This guy justifiably felt a little miffed that we'd ignored him, and I don't like hurting people's feelings. The problem is that I get a lot of mail, often well over a hundred messages a day via the Internet. I also get mail via CompuServe and America Online (but would prefer not to - please use the Internet gateways if you can) that I check less frequently. If someone sends me a message telling me about a new product, or some new Internet resource for Mac users, or something like that, it's likely to be filed away for future reference. We are currently talking about new ways of storing away all the information that comes in via email, but for now, we're more likely to use information that already resembles a MailBIT or article (it helps especially if you check both sides of any issues and include contact information and especially email addresses). It's also a good idea to ask first about article ideas, just to make sure there's no duplication of effort. [ACE]

Display Card 24AC software is now available for Power Mac users; version 1.2 of the video card driver supports Power Macintosh. Version 1.1 was compatible with Power Macintosh hardware, but ran slowly because it was 680x0 code running in emulation. The update can be found on AppleLink, eWorld, and other online services. [MHA]

ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple SW Updates/

Joshua Weinberg <joshuaw@panix.com> writes to say that he purchased System 7.5 for $99 last Saturday at CompUSA in New York City. Although he noted that the CompUSA folks said they had gotten System 7.5 in ten days early, it sounds like it will be available for the masses soon. Talk to your friendly local dealer or other purveyor of Macintosh software. You might also ask your user group - we've heard rumblings about user groups selling System 7.5 cheaper than the stores, reportedly for $49. [ACE]