http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/hal.html

Apple has started it's Y2k campaign which will be heating up with major advertising during the Superbowl and throughout the year. The url above is a new page that contains a new spot ad on Y2k. It's a direct ad about y2k...no puff and no soft sell. You need Quicktime 3.0 to view the ad on the above url although the page does provide this brief description,

"Based on a timely topicthe millennium bug, that ticking time bomb triggered by antiquated software codethe new Apple ad stars the most sinister computer villain of all time, the HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey."

It's a fun ad but actually has very serious copy with an interesting prediction about the economy. I'd give them two thumbs up but I'm biased.

Mike ====================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 06, 1999

Answers

Just in case you can't view the video, the words, "global, economic disruption" are part of the copy... quite a prediction.

Mike =================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 06, 1999.

Great call, Mike!

Our ad agency (a Mac shop, naturally) just had a great laugh watching this! I try to get a little awareness thing in there once in a while, and this certainly did the trick! It also helped answer that question I get asked, "What do we need to do to prevent OUR computers from having problems?" Answer - "Not too much..."

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 06, 1999.

They probably just debuted this at the MacWorld convention going on in San Francisco as we post.

Did you also know that Steve Jobs just introduced the next line of "color coordinated" iMac's?? Something for everyone.

Love my Y2K compliant Mac! Now at 10% market share and reclimbing the Microsoft mountain.

Diane, Silicon Valley

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 06, 1999.

I wish I was at MacWorld...

Color coordinated, y2k compliant iMacs, yep, saw them on the web page. I'll have a better chance of getting one now that there is a "grape" one. My wife just loves purple!

Actually, you should check out the new G3 Mac Tower enclosure... very, very cool.

Man, I wish the world wasn't gonna end soon : )

Mike ===========================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 06, 1999.

Actually, one of the prevailing myths about Y2K (besides the one that it can be fixed), is that Mac users have nothing to worry about. The following article by Jim Lord is a good one, and a lot of it applies to PCs, too.

Macintosh Users In The Dark On Y2K

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 06, 1999.

Yep, Jack. It's true.

I've got one of our design machines set exactly two years ahead. It's been that way for months. No-one has noticed. No problems reported. I do, however know that our bookkeeper's QuickBooks application is not compliant and the upgrade is not available yet. Our fiscal year starts in October, so I'll be able to do it this summer. She already told me that if she had to, she could do everything by hand.

I wish I was at MacWorld too. I used to go every year, and go to all the parties after. Great fun! I think the first time Moscone Center opened was for MacWorld in '89 or '90 and my company at the time set up a booth. Those were heady days for the Mac community!

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 06, 1999.

From the Apple page:

Apple solved the Year 2000 problem 15 years ago with the introduction of the Macintosh, a personal computer that could handle internally generated dates correctly all the way to the year 29,940. But experts fear that non-Macintosh information systems could interpret the year 2000 (represented in date fields as 00) as 1900; the resulting meltdown could threaten the underpinnings of the Information Society.

According to Information Week, the tab for the Year 2000 software fix will hit $600 billion. Had IT professionals realized back then that Apple technology was immune to the millennium bug, they might have succumbed to temptationand saved themselves a bundle in the process.

----end quote----

What is this about how "Apple solved the Year 2000 problem 15 years ago" and then implying that IT professionals could have saved $600B if they used Apple computers???

Obviously, Apple has a very shallow understanding of the y2k problem.

-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), January 06, 1999.

actually Jon... do you really believe that?

No, Apple started using a four date field 15 years ago. At that time, (when the PC industry was just beginning) in order to maintain it's legacy holding, IBM stayed with it's 2 digit year format. DOS followed and the road split from there and the rest is history. PC's still use a two digit format because of legacy code and software. Legacy code is the core problem of y2k.

Apple doesn't have a y2k problem with it's hardware and MacOS. There are software problems just as 'ps' pointed out. I have a version of Quickbooks that isn't going to make it. It is a software product produced for the Wintel world that was ported to the Macintosh. So, it has an inherent Year 2000 problem which is directly attributed to the 2 digit legacy issue. But, all my graphics software will have no trouble if the power stays on.

However, Apple does utilize *other* systems within it's corporate and manufacturing operations. So, no, the Apple Corporation is not itself completely compliant.

Why do you think I said I didn't want the world to end? I want to buy my new G4 running at a gigahertz around the middle of next year.

Mike ==================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 06, 1999.

Jon,

I don't think that little blurb was meant to be a reporting of reality as much as a sales tool. They just wanna sell stuff...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 06, 1999.

Well, at first I figured either Apple has a shallow understanding of y2k or they were being dishonest in a self-serving way, but then I realized if they really understood the magnitude and significance of the y2k problem they wouldn't make the exaggerated claims, at the risk of having to clean the egg off their face next year.

All they needed was to say they solved the hardware/os problems, not try to pass off their product as a silver bullet. More disinformation to trivialize the problem. Their stock should do well in any case.

-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), January 06, 1999.

We love the new Apple ad! It's creepy and a niggling intro.
Apple has always had a great sense of humor in their ads, very iconoclastic. We've been urging Apple to use Y2K built-in compliance to their marketing advantage for several months. They waited until they had the "Rainbow" coalition of gumdrop iMacs to offer all the "buy to fix failure" potential customers ;-D

We posted this to the iMac Bulletin Board the first half of November:
"About marketing the iMac, Apple could boost the zoom by bringing into prominent attention the marvelously convenient easy cost-effective fact that the iMac + all Macs (& most Mac software) are totally Y2K compliant. This will finally be a huge selling point as awareness increases. Did you know that HP, Compaq, & another Biggie (?) (think it was those, don't quote or sue me) just admitted they are right now still selling hardware that is NOT Y2K ready!! Apple will be in a position worldwide to outshine all other computers. Hope they grab the opportunity. If everybody used Macs, we could party for the Millennium without worry.

Surprised Y2K isn't talked about more on this board with cheers of relief. Here's very recent congressional testimony about the devastating impact Y2K will have:
http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/statements/100298powell.html

Maybe Apple will be so busy trying to meet demand they won't want to talk about Y2K, but they should as a public service. Sweet revenge of the long-suffering Mac-ers! "

Oh yeah, we're trying to do our little part to spread the word and raise awareness. But at this point, the upswell of media coverage is sorta doing it for us. Ah, now time to settle back, put our feet up on all dem can'o beans, and watch the drama.

BTW, lotsa really cool stuff was outed at the MacWorld Expo. See:

Apple - Hot News

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia, hugging their iMac and getting ready for another round of FEMA training (lubing up their black helicopter ;)

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 07, 1999.

Apple And The Year 2000

LOL

mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm

-- Ashton (allaha@earthlink.net), January 09, 1999.