Guys, The last "issue" of PowerPC news was posted today. It's a pretty darned sad story, if you ask me. It seems the publisher has 2 reasons that they are no longer going to produce PowerPC News:
1. They tried the free-information on the web using advertisements for financial support and they don't feel it's worth it. The main company is in the business of selling information. For instance, you can subscribe to Unigram€X for one year for a mere $785. And if you pay another $150, you can even have access to the WWW version and use their search engine! Wow. *sarcasm mode off*
2. When they started the publication in 94 (week after the first PowerMacs shipped), they thought the PowerPC would shake the world, or at least turn the tables on the computer market. The editor's final assessment is that this did not happen by any means, but the PowerPC group merely spurred greater development from Intel (these guys were mostly VERY heavily NT-oriented and they're now very bullish on the Pentium Pro chip, as you'll see if you read the "article"). They think IBM has all but completely abandoned their processor (by stopping development of OS/2, nixing the PowerPersonal division, and kinda nixing the 620, among other things) and that things now depend entirely on Apple's system and the upcoming PPCP, running MacOS. Needless to say they're not convinced Apple will pull it off or even survive.
I must say they made a lot of good points in the article regarding the demise of the PowerPC line. I've been pretty down for a while, too. It seems that Apple is just WAY too deep in the muck to ever get out, much less return to former glory, especially with MacOS 8 slipping further and further behind. Late '97 is now being quoted for the release date in most articles. I honestly feel that if Apple can't get the product to market before then, they are without a doubt dead in the water. Not because of Windows (although by that time the new revision of Windows 95 including full 32-bitness and the new version of NT with the W95 interface will both be out and going strong), but because of themselves. They're falling farther and farther behind, and with all the negative press, there's no way in hell Apple will be able to sell any machines to any new customers (re: non-Mac users already), so they're destined to fall unless something drastic happens soon.
Gloom and doom, Wintermute
Long live Apple (I love my 7500 and haven't had any problems with it....I'll probably use this system for several years...hopefully by then Apple with either be riding strong again, gaining marketshare, or I'll be able to afford that SGI Indy I've always wanted!)
