David H Dennis

The Real Danger to Microsoft

I like to have paper manuals for my software, so I will buy it from the Apple Retail Store, which still has boxed versions.

However, when I bought iWork, I ripped open the package, checked out the manual and typed in the serial number to activate the demo I had already downloaded.

I will be doing that with Aperture, too.

Guess it's time for a MacBook Air, if it only didn't have a tiny screen. I wonder what the new MacBook Pros will be like.

D

Microhoo: Tech Megamergers Rarely Work Well

Those who promote this merger do it with fizzy generalities. The truth is these companies have virtually no chance of working together successfully. If I were Ballmer, there's no way I would ever even think of contemplating doing such a crazy, cruel destructive act as taking over Yahoo.

I'd like to see antitrust considered. Microsoft and Yahoo overlap in a huge number of businesses and there's no question this is a highly anticompetitive move.

I'm normally very much against antitrust enforcement, but desperate times call for desperate measures :-(.

D

Defending Apple's MacBook Air

I agree with most of what you've said, but want to add that the Air is plenty powerful for what most people want to do. It wasn't too long ago that people were editing video and doing advanced special effects on PowerMac G5s, which are about the same speed as the Air.

Any web, email, word processing or spreadsheet user is not going to notice a difference in performance between the Air and even a current MacBook Pro.

I think the fuss is mainly about jealousy and desire. Those of us who will buy MacBook Pros will be unhappy there's a system in Apple's line that will produce more admiring glances. Those of us who will buy MacBooks miss the cool lines of the Air.

But if there are people who are jealous of this thing, and its price is not miserable, I'm sure there are even more people who will buy it. I need the big screen of the MacBook Pro, but it it wasn't for that I might well get one. I last used my PowerBook's optical drive a couple of months ago, and for that I could easily use remote drive, and I strongly suspect many others are in the same boat.

D