Gservo
24th January 2003, 02:44 PM
EPHRAIM SCHWARTZ
THE WINTER edition of Macworld Conference & Expo has
come and gone, but it
has left some lasting impressions.
Apple introduced a version of the PowerBook with a huge
(by notebook standards) 17-inch landscape display.
Literally, it's the same size as the piece of glass
used in the iMac. The wide-screen PowerBook has a 1GHz processor and a nice backlit keyboard with photo-sensitive sensors that brighten the alpha and numeric portion of each key as the light grows dimmer.
The unit is made from anodized aircraft-quality
aluminum, but -- I'm sure much to the surprise of the
adoring audience hanging on every word of Steve Jobs'
keynote on opening day -- it doesn't actually fly.
However, it does have wireless capabilities, both
integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
The only puzzlement is the version of IEEE 802.11x
Apple chose to deploy -- not 802.11b, the most widely
used 11Mbps standard on the 2.4GHz band, or the
up-and-coming 802.11a standard, running at 54Mbps on
the 5.1GHz band. Instead, Jobs proudly announced Apple
will use 802.11g, which technically doesn't even exist.
I say that because G is still in committee and has not
been ratified. So how can we designate it as 802.11x,
IEEE's name for wireless Ethernet?
The choice of G is especially surprising because Apple practically owns the education and higher-education markets, which, according to most of the university IT people with whom I've spoken, are moving to A. IEEE 802.11a is incompatible with G.
G, as Jobs correctly pointed out, is backward
compatible with B but runs at the faster 55Mbps rate.
But many say G won't make it. Companies will move from
B to A and skip over the interim technology, which is
coming out well after A.
It's certainly good to innovate, as Apple has done time
and time again. And it is also nice to go your own
way, but this time I think Apple has made a mistake by
veering too far off the highway. When I raised these
objections to Apple folks, they basically said, "pish
posh," or words to that effect, telling me G will be
ratified and become the ubiquitous standard. We'll
have to wait and see.
Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to hear from IT folks and
users on what their companies and institutions are
doing and planning.
Universities to become national brands
Want a degree from Harvard, but you can't move to
Boston? Distance learning will change that. At
Macworld, I met with Steve Bannerman, president of
Caststream in La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
Caststream's technology can transmit live streaming
video and audio simultaneously to thousands of
locations literally scattered around the world.
Cornell University uses Caststream to serve up classes
to students in Qatar.
Just as the combination of the American highway system
and the trucks that rumble across it helped create
national brands where once there were only local
companies serving local needs, wireless will help
create national universities.
Mark my words.
THE WINTER edition of Macworld Conference & Expo has
come and gone, but it
has left some lasting impressions.
Apple introduced a version of the PowerBook with a huge
(by notebook standards) 17-inch landscape display.
Literally, it's the same size as the piece of glass
used in the iMac. The wide-screen PowerBook has a 1GHz processor and a nice backlit keyboard with photo-sensitive sensors that brighten the alpha and numeric portion of each key as the light grows dimmer.
The unit is made from anodized aircraft-quality
aluminum, but -- I'm sure much to the surprise of the
adoring audience hanging on every word of Steve Jobs'
keynote on opening day -- it doesn't actually fly.
However, it does have wireless capabilities, both
integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
The only puzzlement is the version of IEEE 802.11x
Apple chose to deploy -- not 802.11b, the most widely
used 11Mbps standard on the 2.4GHz band, or the
up-and-coming 802.11a standard, running at 54Mbps on
the 5.1GHz band. Instead, Jobs proudly announced Apple
will use 802.11g, which technically doesn't even exist.
I say that because G is still in committee and has not
been ratified. So how can we designate it as 802.11x,
IEEE's name for wireless Ethernet?
The choice of G is especially surprising because Apple practically owns the education and higher-education markets, which, according to most of the university IT people with whom I've spoken, are moving to A. IEEE 802.11a is incompatible with G.
G, as Jobs correctly pointed out, is backward
compatible with B but runs at the faster 55Mbps rate.
But many say G won't make it. Companies will move from
B to A and skip over the interim technology, which is
coming out well after A.
It's certainly good to innovate, as Apple has done time
and time again. And it is also nice to go your own
way, but this time I think Apple has made a mistake by
veering too far off the highway. When I raised these
objections to Apple folks, they basically said, "pish
posh," or words to that effect, telling me G will be
ratified and become the ubiquitous standard. We'll
have to wait and see.
Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to hear from IT folks and
users on what their companies and institutions are
doing and planning.
Universities to become national brands
Want a degree from Harvard, but you can't move to
Boston? Distance learning will change that. At
Macworld, I met with Steve Bannerman, president of
Caststream in La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
Caststream's technology can transmit live streaming
video and audio simultaneously to thousands of
locations literally scattered around the world.
Cornell University uses Caststream to serve up classes
to students in Qatar.
Just as the combination of the American highway system
and the trucks that rumble across it helped create
national brands where once there were only local
companies serving local needs, wireless will help
create national universities.
Mark my words.