Changing The Past, Knowing The Future, 47 And 27.

By Kate MacKenzie | Wednesday, December 13, 2006 | Home » Forum Topics »

Past And Future There’s just 27 days before Steve Jobs’ keynote address at Macworld 2007. What will the future bring?

Meanwhile, with 47 days until Microsoft’s Vista release, history gets rewritten. By Microsoft.

First, the future. Apple’s plate should be full of delicious goodness at Macworld in January.

As with previous events, Apple isn’t providing many details of new products for 2007. We know about iTV but don’t know what it will be called or what it will do.

But I want one. Does Apple know how to market gadgets, or what?

Everyone is expecting a view of Mac OS X Leopard, and perhaps a shipping date. What else? iPods are new already. Ditto for MacBooks and MacBook Pro models.

The MacPro and Xserve are new, so don’t expect revisions, but expect more iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07.

How about the so-called iPhone? Or a larger screen, wireless iPod. Or, a Mac tablet. How about an ultra thin 12-inch MacBook Pro?

How can Apple improve on the iMac? Or the Mac mini? See the problem Apple faces?

We’re worse than selfish children on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa.

The Mac future will come soon enough. It’s just 27 days away. As to the past, Microsoft Windows Vista honcho Jim Allchin seems to enjoy rewriting history.

What? Say it ain’t so. Forbes Magazine reports on an email Jim wrote a couple of years ago to Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer which said if he wasn’t working at Microsoft he’d buy a Mac.

That’s a damning admission from Windows top guy, and praise for the Mac. It’s also very embarassing for Microsoft, so Allchin had to rewrite history, which he did in the Vista blog.

More humorous than Allchins retreat of the facts were comments posted after his revisionist view of his email rant to Gates and Ballmer. My favorite?

”“Windows Vista has turned into a phenomenal product, better than any other OS we’ve ever built and far, far better than any other software available today.“Yeah ... just like Windows XP was the “Most secure OS ever” a couple of years back. How did that work out? “Let me set the record straight.” Care to set the record straight when you testified in the DOJ trial that revealing source code (APIs) could damage National Security and threaten the War effort in Afghanistan? And then when Linux became popular, suddenly Microsoft found the “Shared source code” religion and it was OK to share code with Russia and China? No National Security implications there. Or was that taken out of context too? After all you were only under OATH in a federal court! If the DOJ had any balls (or wasn’t paid off by political contributions) someone should be in prison for either Perjury or Treason. Take your pick. Then again, lying at the drop of a hat seems to be a prerequisite of Microsoft managment. “We had nothing to do with funding SCO.” - and Richard Emerson, Ken Lustig and Tivanka Ellawala mysteriosly spoke to Baystar on their own. Ballmer’s and Gates played the “plausible deniability” card. I wonder if Jim Allchin knew about the SCO deal? Want to set the record straight on that? And Ballmer’s latest “undisclosed liability balance sheet” or whatever comments regarding Linux. Disgusting, despicable morally and ethically bankrupt monopoly. Which also makes buggy, malware infested bloatware. Maybe others should take your advice and buy that Mac.”

That was a rant, too, but it seemed to balance the scales, even if for a moment. Microsoft can’t change the past, not matter how hard they try. Apple? They’re changing the future now. It’s 47 days before the Vista launch. It’s 27 days until Macworld 2007. What do you think the future will bring?

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Classy Mac360 Photo By Kate MacKenzie | I'm a 15 year Mac user from Brooklyn, New York. I used Windows Vista for a whole year and lived to tell about it. My personal site, PixoBebo, is all about Apple. Follow me on Twitter.

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