(note: This is the print version of a story that appeared online on Internet.com.)
It was at the Mac World conference in Boston a year ago that Steve Jobs, a
co-founder of Apple and now its spiritual leader, first announced a $150-million
software development alliance with Microsoft [see "Apple Mulls Future With
Microsoft," Aug. 11, 1997]. Some Mac users at the time regarded the pact as a
deal with the devil, but that feeling was less evident last week among
conference-goers when Jobs announced Apple's plans to bundle Microsoft's Internet
Explorer and Outlook Express with the iMac.
"I use IE and I like it," Jobs said. Jobs, who showed up unexpectedly at the
conference, also said the iMac would include a 56-Kbps modem rather than the
33.6-Kbps unit originally planned. Other Internet-related items bundled with the
new machine include connection software for EarthLink, version 4.0 of America
Online's software, and Netscape Communicator 4.05.
Microsoft, seemingly determined to win more friends among the Mac community,
announced a Mac-specific upgrade to its browser, Internet Explorer 4.01, that
will be bundled with the iMac.
New features in IE 4.01 for the Mac include Web archiving, a feature that lets
users save Web site content into one file. A new Tabs feature will allow users to
keep the results of their Web searches in one pane of the browsing window
simultaneously with the content of the pages they select from the results, a
feature already in the Windows version of IE 4.0.
Ben Waldman, Microsoft general manager for Macintosh products, promised that
Microsoft will no longer port its applications from the Windows environment to
the Macintosh platform, but will be building its Mac applications "from the
ground up."
Also at MacWorld, Apple showed a preview of its OS 8.5 operating system software,
expected to be released later this quarter. Jobs called it "the most important
release of the Mac OS yet."
Mac OS 8.5 will include Sherlock, the code name for a new feature that adds the
ability to search the Internet to the "Find File" function. Several search
engines — AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos, and Excite among them — will be included as
checkbox options in the new feature. Another update, OS 8.6, is expected in early
1900.
Jobs also said the first developer's release of the Mac OS X Server (pronounced
"ten"), will be released during the first quarter of 1999, with a full release of
OS X scheduled for the third quarter of 1999. The new OS will use much of the
foundation of the Rhapsody OS that has been under development by Apple, but will
be more compatible with existing Macintosh applications, the company said.
13 July, 1998
UPDATE: Apple Builds Hope Around New Net Products
By Arik Hesseldahl
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