News from Apple

Catching up on more news from and about the mothership:

Mac OS 8 lives! Copland may be dead but its other name - Mac OS 8 - has already been revived. An article in MacWEEK says that Apple plans to label this summer's Tempo release (aka Mac OS 7.7) as Mac OS 8.

Early versions of Tempo are already in the hands of developers and reports have been very positive. In particular, it looks like it will include all or almost all of the Finder interface enhancements that had been originally developed for Copland. For example, here is one particularly interesting tidbit I received from a reader:

"We've all heard about spring-loaded folders, where dragging a file over a folder and pausing for a moment will automatically open that folder in a window. As a companion to that, there is what I call the "magnifying glass" feature. Double-clicking on a folder, and holding down the mouse button after the second click, will transform the mouse cursor into a magnifying glass. The current window will gain a "border" around it. Keeping the button held down, now drag the mouse over any folder, window, or tab. (Note: a tab is what a window or folder becomes when you drag it to the bottom of the screen). Immediately, that folder, window, or tab will open (or switch to the front), just as if it was spring-loaded. This is useful for exploring the contents of a folder without repeated double-clicks."

Sales up Good news for a change. PC Week reports that sales of Mac OS hardware has increased dramatically in the last few months. MacWEEK had similarly reported that sales of Mac OS 7.6 have been going better than expected. Yet another article in MacWEEK points to the positive reaction to and high demand for the new PowerBook 3400 series.

Question: What do Bill Clinton and Apple have in common? Answer: They both want to place limits on clones. As now reported in avariety of online locations, Apple is (mistakenly in my view) considering raising the licensing fee it charges to clone makers. Apparently, it has mixed feelings about the increased success clone makers are having. An article by Jean-Louis Gassée offers an insightful viewpoint on all of this.

QuickDraw GX printing to be eliminated Apple's official press release on this subject (previously covered here) is now available.