As the Apple Turns: Scene 3476: Can't Get Our Palms On It (12/27/01)

Can't Get Our Palms On It (12/27/01)

Great Aunt Gertrude, we never thought we'd see the day-- but it's finally out! Well, sort of. It's just a public beta, so it's not really out, out. And your odds of successfully downloading it before the next Ice Age arrives currently look pretty slim, since at broadcast time the server on which it resides was being flooded with a torrent of so much pent-up demand from long-suffering users that it makes the Slashdot effect look like a dripping faucet by comparison. Still, in at least some sense of the phrase, "it's out," and for that we're supremely grateful to faithful viewer Victor Agreda, Jr. for delivering the good news.

Oh, did we forget to mention what "it" is? "It" just happens to be Palm Desktop for Mac OS X, baby. That's right; as Palm puts it, now there's "one more reason to upgrade to Mac OS X!" That may be laying it on a little thick, since it's not like Palm synchronization doesn't work in Mac OS 9 anymore, or anything like that; indeed, as far as we can tell (and, seeing as our download of the software is currently progressing at a blazing 83 bytes per second, we won't be able to test for ourselves until sometime next year), we're going to be better off sticking with the Mac OS 9 version of the software for a while, yet-- conduits for Vindigo, AvantGo, etc. still need to be ported to Mac OS X before this is going to do us a whole lot of good. Still, while syncing via Classic has actually been working halfway decently, it's nice to see some concrete evidence of solid Mac OS X support coming from Palm's direction.

Then again, maybe "concrete evidence" isn't quite the right term-- it won't be particularly concrete until we manage to download and run this alleged new software, probably sometime in the year 2525. Say, have we ever told you about our brilliant plan one day to announce some fantastic piece of utter vaporware, hype it to the stars until demand is through the roof, and then finally announce its availability by sticking some large and appropriately-named file of garbage on a slow server on a 14.4 kbps dialup connection, thus proving that it "shipped"? Everyone figures the server is just on a hideously overloaded T3, nobody's able to download a copy, and the few that do and find they can't run the software just assume that the download got corrupted. Pay off a few reviewers to claim they've used the product and love it, and voilà: actual shipping vaporware. It can't fail!

Not that this applies in any way to Palm Desktop for Mac OS X, of course-- probably. We'll know for sure any eon, now. 2% of 13312K and counting.

Whoops, connection lost! Guess we're starting again. Wheeeeee!! (Thank heaven for almost-certainly-unauthorized mirrors...)

SceneLink (3476)

And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors

From the writer/creator of AtAT, a Pandemic Dad Joke taken WAYYYYYY too far

The above scene was taken from the 12/27/01 episode:

December 27, 2001: Apple backpedals; its retail stores are now expected to lose money in fiscal 2002. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs once again made $1 for running Apple for another year, and Palm finally releases a Mac OS X version of its desktop software (sort of)...

Other scenes from that episode:

3474: About That Profit Thing... (12/27/01) Attention everybody who heard Apple's original prediction that Apple's retail stores would be profitable right away and immediately snorted in utter disbelief: your pessimism, while perhaps unattractive, was right on the money...
3475: 200%? Now THAT'S A Raise (12/27/01) Faithful viewer Paul pointed out another juicy little nugget extracted from the murky depths of Apple's 84-page 10-K form: as reported by ZDNet News, Steve Jobs's regular annual salary for fiscal 2001 was, once again, a dollar...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


	As an Amazon Associate, AtAT earns from qualifying purchases


	DISCLAIMER: AtAT was not a news site any more than Inside Edition was a "real" news show. We made Dawson's Creek look like 60 Minutes. We engaged in rampant guesswork, wild speculation, and pure fabrication for the entertainment of our viewers. Sure, everything here was "inspired by actual events," but so was Amityville II: The Possession. So lighten up. Site best viewed with a sense of humor. AtAT is not responsible for lost or stolen articles. Keep hands inside car at all times. The drinking of beverages while watching AtAT is strongly discouraged; AtAT is not responsible for damage, discomfort, or staining caused by spit-takes or "nosers." Everything you see here that isn't attributed to other parties is copyright ©,1997-2024 J. Miller and may not be reproduced or rebroadcast without his explicit consent (or possibly the express written consent of Major League Baseball, but we doubt it).