X-no-Archive:yes
I wasn't going to say anything about this issue, but two things prompted a
comment from me. The first was Alfredo using my name. The second was my
surprise at the complexity involved with setting up the iMac on the
Internet. Alfredo explains that he had to set up the addresses for the
router and the IP address of the iMac. I know, from painful experience
that Macs do not use DHCP. You have to keep track of their IP addresses
all the time, which is a pain if you have several on a network.
I would have thought Apple would have rectified this issue and would have
installed DHCP or something similar whereby the newly installed system
would be served a proper IP address and all the other information required
for it to access the Internet, without Alfredo's or anyone's intervention.
I am forced to conclude this is not the case. If this had been true, the
setup time from start to Internet access would have been cut by a minute or
two and no prior work would have been needed.
Alfredo, if I were you I would submit an SR or whatever Apple calls it, to
get this issue fixed. After all why does a Mac have to be more difficult
to setup to get to the Internet than a Windows 95 or NT PC. :->
BTW, one of the PC Week's columnists waxes eloquent about the iMac in this
week's issue. It sounds like a neat machine. We would consider getting
one, but it appears it is too difficult to setup on our TCP/IP network. I
sure hope Alfredo can straighten out Apple on this issue.
Kind regards,
Denys. . .
Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP America, Inc.
(800) 323-8863 (281) 288-7438 Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com www.hicomp.com
-----Original Message-----
From: F. Alfredo Rego [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, 14 August, 1998 12:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: I may be breaking some NDA or another, but...
As an Apple Developer, I signed (many moons ago) some non-disclosure
agreement or another. I am sure Joe Geiser, Denys Beauchemin, and other
Microsoft developers have done the same with Microsoft (for different
reasons? :-)
Part of being a developer is that you can order hardware (and software) at
a nice discount (with a limit on the number of units, of course). The same
goes for HP.
I am going to risk losing my NDA status here and having Apple kick me out
for being overly enthusiastic and not being able to keep my mouth
(fingers?) shut, but I would like to disclose something which perhaps I
should not mention until early on August 15th. But I can't resist, even
though I am furiously finishing a bunch of stuff before a deadline this
weekend and I should keep my focus straight and narrow. In an attack of
irrepressible irresponsibility, here I go :-)
FedEx dropped a colorful and beautifully designed box today (yes, today,
*TWO* full days before the iMac debuts at the stores). Just for kicks, I
asked my 12-year-old son to go for it (I had seen the "simplicity shootout"
movie at Apple's web site and some of you -- who are connected to TV -- may
have seen it in some ad or another). My son was able to have the whole
thing out of the box and connected to the Internet (via our Adager trunk
line at home) in 6 minutes flat (granted... I had prepared the necessary IP
addresses for our router, the IP address which I assigned to this machine,
and so on, so he could just type these pieces of info into the iMac's
Internet assistant).
Bottom like: The iMac kicks butt, just like MPE users do!
Problem: My wife immediately appropriated the iMac (she loved its sleek
design and solid feeling, as well as the great resolution of its screen).
We didn't get into discussing the G3 chip that powers it (and that
reportedly eats Pentium-II chips for lunch, according to Apple's chefs),
but she could see that her PhotoShop tasks took a quantum jump and that's
all she cared about :-)
Solution: I'll have to buy a few iMac computers via the retail channel for
a little more than a thousand bucks a piece, to outfit my family and to
replace the original "developer" iMac... Oh, well... You can't win all
your battles :-)
_______________________________________________________________
The following item (hopefully) doesn't break any NDAs with HP:
_______________________________________________________________
Today was like Christmas for me, because my HP3000 918DXs also arrived
(complete, with all kinds of documentation). The HP3000 took a couple of
minutes longer to set up than the iMac, but the HP3000 still beats the
competition. And it worked right out of the box. True plug-and-play. Way
to go, HP!
I'll stuff the HP3000 (just the main box, sans UPS, etc.) into a hard-shell
Samsonite suitcase (surrounded by underwear and a few "Proposition 3000"
shirts) and take it along on my trip as checked baggage. In the past, I
used to send a bigger HP3000 via FedEx ahead of time. I'm looking forward
to taking the new one along as baggage, with my trusty Mac PowerBook as the
console (via the Mac's serial port) and as my working "terminal" (via the
Mac's Ethernet port).
The difference between men and boys...
_______________
| |
| |
| r | Alfredo mailto:[log in to unmask]
| e | http://www.adager.com
| g | F. Alfredo Rego +1 208 726-9100
| a | Manager, R & D Labs Fax +1 208 726-2822
| d | Adager Corporation
| A | Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000 U.S.A.
| |
|_______________|
|
