This issue of TidBITS goes straight for your synapses, with essays on whether Apple and Be have a future together and the increasing complexities involved in maintaining a Mac. Adam weighs in with a glowing review of Web Ninja, Tonya writes about the new sixth edition of the Macintosh Bible, and we bring you news about Internet Config 1.3, Netscape Navigator for Cyberdog, OpenDoc 1.1, and numerous personal Web servers.
In the U.S., it's Labor Day, which most people here celebrate by not working, and I certainly hope they're enjoying themselves. We've sided with the rest of the world by painting the storm-battered trim on our house, releasing DealBITS, and publishing TidBITS
Internet Config 1.3 -- Peter Lewis and Quinn have released Internet Config 1.3, their public domain Internet Configuration System that centralizes a number of your Internet preferences, such as your email address and preferred Web browser
Netscape Navigator for Cyberdog -- Following through on public musings, Apple and Netscape jointly announced last week that Netscape plans to develop a new version of Netscape Navigator that supports Cyberdog and OpenDoc, and (perhaps more significantly) that Apple will distribute as Cyberdog's default Web browser and as part of the Mac OS
OpenDoc 1.1 Available -- As of late last week, Apple has made the final version of OpenDoc 1.1 freely available. Unless you're a developer or one of the brave few already building your life around OpenDoc parts (now called Live Objects), version 1.1 is primarily useful for bug fixes and for running Cyberdog 1.1b3, also available for free from Apple
Personal Server Wars -- The battle for putting a low-end Web server on your desktop is heating up. In addition to ResNova's Web for One (see TidBITS-337) and rumors of Apple's plans to build a Web server based on Maxum's RushHour into the Mac OS, Quarterdeck has released a beta of Personal WebSTAR, a personal Web server based on its popular WebSTAR server software
Prompted by a report last week in the Wall Street Journal, rumors are flying through the Macintosh world that Apple Computer is negotiating with Be, Inc., and possibly pursuing the BeOS as a replacement for Apple's Mac OS 8.
Be, Inc., headed by former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee, introduced the PowerPC-based BeBox computer in October of 1995
Peachpit Press recently released the sixth edition of the Macintosh Bible (ISBN 0-201-88636-7), and this version continue's the book's ten-year tradition of providing a friendly guide to the Macintosh universe
No, it's not a badly dubbed karate flick. Web Ninja is a little utility written by Bill Tudor and distributed as a MacUser Exclusive, which means it's free, but can only be downloaded from MacUser's Web site.
I've looked at almost every bookmark manager available on the Web (see the four-part series of reviews beginning in TidBITS-323), and although Web Ninja offers some of the same kind of functionality, it's not precisely a bookmark manager
I have an interesting and puzzling feeling about being a Mac owner that I want to share and about which I would value your opinions. I believe I am a happy and productive Mac person - a convert from the world of the Apple II - because I was able to leave behind almost all of my knowledge of computers and computing with my Apple II and concentrate on getting real, creative work done with my very first Mac