Macs take on Vegas - By Matthew Rothenberg, MacWEEK.com (online at http://news.excite.com/news/zd/991119/09/macs-take-on)
When does this Mac turn back into a pumpkin?
Forgive me if I sound a little skeptical; however, after years of being poor relations at the annual Comdex PC fest in Las Vegas, my Mac-centric colleagues and I were stunned by the smooth way the Mac slid into a respectable minority slot at the 20th gathering this week.
During my brief walking tour of the Las Vegas Convention Center, I spotted Macs in more booths than at any Comdex I can recall. Similarly, the volume of product announcements that included some mention of Mac compatibility easily beat out Comdexes past, and plenty of others -- including assorted MP3 developers and 3D card maker 3dfx -- hinted broadly that Mac announcements were on the way.
So how did Apple manage to orchestrate this year's rise from Comdex oblivion? It didn't -- at least, not in any direct way. Indeed, the company once again sat out the event -- presumably on the eminently sensible assumption that no amount of hooplah at its booth would compensate for its bit part in the week's proceedings.
Instead, the Mac was propelled to its current position -- if not of leadership, then at least of relevance -- by two primary factors: Apple's foresight in some key areas of marketing and technology and the high-tech community's disenchantment with platform-specific applications in general and Windows in particular.
On the most immediate level, the polychromatic sprinkling of Macs and compatible peripherals reflected the assimilation of the company's design philosophies by the consumer tech market. As demonstrated at other shows staged around the world since the advent of the iMac, bright colors and translucent plastics are now essential window dressing for any hardware vendor with even a hint of consumer ambition.
But beneath the skin, Apple's timely adoption of new-wave connectivity standards such as Intel's Universal Serial Bus and Apple's own FireWire opened up new vistas for a company that has historically been isolated by I/O choices such as the Mac-only Apple Desktop Bus. Many vendors at Comdex were quick to note that supporting the Mac became a vastly easier decision when the Mac's rising market numbers were paired with the minimal effort of creating software drivers for devices that can connect to multiple platforms.
Speaking of platform politics, the Mac also got a serious boost from other initiatives aimed at unhooking end users from dependence on Windows. Keynote speakers such as Linux visionaries Linus Torvalds and Bob Young as well as Sun CEO Scott McNealy drove home the point that the industry may be entering a post-Windows phase. While that era can only be accelerated by Microsoft's recent legal travails, the main reason for this tectonic shift is technological: Browser-based, platform-independent applications are loosening the shackles binding third-party developers to a single platform. (Witness the rise of Vignette's browser-driven Story Server publishing system, which this very column will be processed through on its way to posting.)
Although it wasn't there to capitalize on the new trends like Red Hat or Sun were, Apple gained valuable mind share -- even in absentia. Whether that's the result of clean living or just dumb luck, the company shouldn't hesitate to parlay its newfound cachet with a crowd unused to giving it credence.
Matthew Rothenberg is director of online content for Mac Publishing LLC, which publishes MacWEEK, MacCentral, Macworld and MacBuy.
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