Steve's Scribbles...

Hey PC Week!

Somehow Microsoft and Apple have been confused with each other again...

Wednesday, June 18, 1997

Monday, June 23, 1997: UPDATE: There will be a correction to the PC Week story. See my June 23 entry for more.

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So there's this factual error in a PC Week article that I'd like to alert them to, and I try to e-mail my message directly to the author, mark_moore@zd.com. For good measure, I include the editors' address too, PCW_Web_News@zd.com. Simple, right? Well, I get back an 'Undeliverable Mail' message with the reason:

No route found to server.
Check Server and Connection documents in Name & Address Book.
PCW_Web_News@mailer.zd.com

All right, I think, this must just be a transitory thing. So instead, I go the Web route and paste my message into their Web feedback form at http://www8.zdnet.com/pcweek/forms/newsmail.html

I press the "Send" button and NOTHING happens. It looks like a Perl script is started, but the screen immediately returns to its previous state and there's no feedback to indicate the message has actually gotten through. Hmmm... How do you let someone know their feedback mechanism is broken if their e-mail address and Web form don't work? And does it have something to do with the sound of one hand clapping?

SO! I will re-post my message here and see if I can call someone's attention to it.

Subject: *Microsoft's* FireWire?? In the article http://www8.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0616/16note.html, the following paragraph: Expected to be formally announced in the fall, the new ThinkPad 760 models will support up to 512MB of synchronous dynamic RAM and support Microsoft Corp.'s FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394) bus technology. The notebooks will feature a built-in 10/100M-bps Ethernet port, an ISDN modem and a digital camera, sources said. incorrectly credits Microsoft with the development of FireWire, which is fairly ironic since it's an Apple-conceived technology. See http://www.firewire.apple.com/ for details, including the following statement: FIREWIRE and the FIREWIRE logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. It would be nice if you could correct the online version of the article to be accurate. Also, whoever told you that it's a Microsoft-invented standard needs to give the FireWire site a thorough visit. Thanks for your attention.

As of 6/18/97, the article was still WRONG, but see the top of this page for an update.

I could come up with any number of pithy, annoyed observations on this particular incident, but I think I'll keep it to this:

Even when Apple does something brand-new, Microsoft still gets credit for it.

Hey, thanks a lot, guys.