Help: <http://www.lists.apple.com/evangelist.html> or <evangelist-info@public.lists.apple.com> ===========================================================================
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 09:35:38 -0800 From: Guy Kawasaki <Kawasaki@garage.com> Subject: !! - Macintosh Computer Instructors Needed
This action item is from:
Scott Schaefer, smschaef@techknowsphere.com
Job Posting - Summer
Summer job posting
Three prestigious northeast summer camps seek Macintosh based computer instructors to serve as counselors for the upcoming season. supervise children seven to seventeen in computer rooms housing fifteen to twenty five workstations. knowledge of MAC OS 8.5, basic programming, Internet navigation, graphic design, databases and desktop publishing preferred. Macintosh & Mac Clone repair knowledge a plus Good knowledge of the following applications would be helpful:
- -Adobe Photoshop - -Adobe Illustrator - -Macromedia Freehand - -Quark Xpress - -Adobe PageMaker - -HyperStudio - -HTML - -GoLive Cyberstudio - -Mac Based Web & File server admin Seasonal salary commensurate with experience.
Please contact:
Larry Siegel United Camp Association at P.O. Box 770086, Coral springs, Fl 33077-0086 or call 1-800-634-1703. Email admin@frenchwoods.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 14:03:13 -0700 From: Guy Kawasaki <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: The Final Message
In the past two years Apple has experienced a stunning turnaround. This is due to many things including the steadfast loyalty of Apple's customers--and EvangeListas are the most steadfast of the steadfast.
The original purpose of EvangeList was to counteract the negative news about Apple and Macintosh, and I believe that EvangeList has served its purpose--fantastically, as a matter of fact. So after discussing what we should do with EvangeList with the folks at Apple, we've decided to retire the list.
There are now many other sources of Macintosh and Apple information and enthusiasm. Apple itself has a biweekly mail list that covers topics such as new product info, software updates, third-party info, special offers, invitations to seminars & events, and customer stories. You can sign up for this list at:
<http://www.apple.com/hotnews/subscribe.html>
If you'd like to keep in touch with what I'm doing, please sign up for my new mail list. I promise low traffic, interesting messages, and conflicts of interest. :-) It would be great to keep in touch with all 40,000 of you...a 40,000 member list is an extremely powerful thing.
Thanks for your years of support for Apple and Macintosh--and me personally. It's been a great ride and a stunning proof of the power of the people! My best wishes for continued happiness and success.
Sincerely,
Guy Kawasaki, who is and shall remain pure Macintosh
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 13:50:31 -0700 From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com> Subject: Digital Guy Gets the Second to Last Word
This fond farewell is from:
The Digital Guy <mailto:evangelist@apple.com>
About 5000.
Someday, if they ever release the Alpha Geek edition of Trivial Pursuit, that would be the answer to "The number of postings by John Halbig, AKA 'The Digital Guy'". Under the category "obscure footnotes", of course.
After that many postings, endless comments, and occasional bouts of foot-in-mouth disease, I get the second to last word on one of the wildest trips I've ever taken, on the Internet or off: The EvangeList. Guy, of course, gets the last word -- I get to break the news to you, mere seconds before that message. I have no doubt that by tonight my G3/266 (beige) will melt down under the sudden onslaught of e-mail telling me, Guy, or Apple why shutting down the list is a dumb idea.
The fact is, while I was mentally composing this e-mail, I realized that most of the major reasons for this list's existence had, in one way or another, become moot. For example, here are various subject lines from the some of the most common complaints about Apple's condition over the last 2 years, 4 months:
- - Apple needs a Modern OS.
I was a QA engineer for Copeland, Apple's attempt to create a "Modern" OS. Nearly 3 years of my life went into that project. The QA team for that project consisted of some of the best, most twisted minds in the testing world...which sometimes made me wonder why *I* was there. :)
When Copeland was killed off, I was seriously depressed. Being put on OpenDoc afterwards, which was also killed, made me even more so. In a way that was what landed me this job -- QA was beginning to be less than fulfilling, so I was looking around to see what the Next Thing was.
So Apple bought NeXT (arguably the single most important act of then CEO, Gil Amelio). Now that OS X Server is released, and 8.6 is due in mere weeks, 8.7 soon to follow, and OS X by the end of the year, Apple's OS strategy is finally a compelling story again. Which leads us to...
- - Apple's Leadership Sucks.
So after the Next purchase, one of my first comments to fellow Apple employee's was something along the lines of "It won't be long until Steve takes over again". They told me I was nuts. Now that Steve has held the CEO position the second time longer than Gil Amelio, and has proven he can make the tough, un-popular decisions in order to keep Apple focused on success, including a complete re-work of the board, I think we can check this one off the list.
- - Apple's Advertising is BOR-ing.
Well, yeah, it was. I honestly don't recall much of Apple's old ads. Hiring back Chiat-Day was something a lot of EvangeListas BEGGED Apple to do. When Apple actually did, we (finally!) started seeing ads that people wanted to download as entertainment. My favorite: "Burn, Baby, Burn" with the Toasted Intel Bunny Person, Though it got tough competition from the SuperBowel Ad ("You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave...").
- - All the other complaints...
Apple's consistently making money, sales are up, revenues are up, developers are getting a clue that they should develop for the Mac again, or new developers are realizing that other's shortsightedness is an opportunity for THEM, and Apple products are "cool" again. Even journalists who were anti-Apple are either admitting they were wrong, keeping their mouths shut...or insisting they were still right, even as Apple proves them wrong (you know who they are!).
In short, all the fun things I used to do on the 'List to counter a lot of these complaints just aren't relevant anymore. The risk here is that we look just as silly as some of these analysts and journalists who keep harping on the idea that Apple is REALLY dead, and why won't Apple just DIE already?
The last thing the EvangeList was good for was a source of Mac information. When it first started, mailing lists were hard to start, maintain, or find. Now, with places like OneList <http://www.onelist.com> literally anyone can start a Mac related list on any niche they'd like. Do a search on "Macintosh", and 65 lists are returned. Pull out the lists that deal with cross platform issues, and you still have over 50...and that's only the lists run out of OneList.
Also, there's already some people stepping up to the plate to give EvangeListas a new place for general list mail. They were kind enough to whip up, with literally no advance notice, the following announcement:
"Do not despair as this last issue of Evangelist goes to press. For all members of the Evangelist there is great news! One of the leading names in the Macintosh community has agreed to pick up the banner and continue the valuable service provided by Evangelist over the past years. We welcome existing members to join the new list by sending a message to:
john@privlex.com
"We expect to keep all that is good about the Evangelist while adding features that will make it an even more valuable place for Mac users to gather. Please be assured that we respect your privacy and the names from this list will be used solely for distribution of information to list members.
"Welcome to the new Evangelisters!
"Please check the web site in about a week (it is in the process of being set up , but is not quite ready yet) at:
<http://www.evangelisters.com>
"for the latest news, including the names of some of the people who will be moderating the list."
[I'll probably be popping up there myself, so you can still have plenty of opportunities to bend my ears.]
MacSurfer <http://www.macsurfer.com> and the Ultimate Macintosh <http://www.ultimatemac.com> are great examples of how much the pro-mac press and resources have grown in the last couple of years.
So in a weird way, we're a victim of our own success -- there's no way you can satisfy the needs of so many subscribers over the long term. The result is that a lot of people went out and started more focused lists, web-sites, and other resources. There's a saying about being a jack of all trades, but master of none -- since our primary purpose was to sound the rallying cry, and we accomplished this, the only thing to do is to go out on top.
I'll miss this list, and everything about it. Even the complaints about my abuse of the English language were well taken (I've taken better care of my "its" and "it's" and spelling, if only because I would get a dozen e-mails haranguing me if I goofed. :). All of you have been great, and your enthusiasm and passion is perhaps the single most important element of Apple's current success.
There's a bizarre Irish toast I heard once that doesn't seem to be a blessing until you really think about it.
"May the best things in your life become the worst things in your life."
'Nuff said.
John Halbig The Digital Guy April 15, 1999
------------------------------
End of EvangeList Digest V1 #1404 *********************************
