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AOL 3.x problems with Mac OS 8? No.

Bob Patterson found AOL unusually slow after updating to Mac OS 8. When he asked AOL tech support about this, he received the following surprising reply:

"Unfortunately, America Online 3.0 and Mac OS 8 are not compatible at this time. America Online and Apple are working together to resolve this situation but a resolution date has yet to be determined."

Update: Gene Steinberg (an AOL Forum leader) echoed my initial reaction to this: "That's absurd. AOL 3.0 is bundled with the Mac OS 8 CDs. It's definitely compatible, but sometimes tech support people … Read more

Apple Updates

Apple has released several updates in the last week or so. These include: Apple System Profiler 1.2.2 (a newer version than the one that comes with Mac OS 8) 55-6500_Video_Input_Update The 5500/6500 Video Input Update is a system extension that enhances system stability on Power Macintosh 5500, 6500, and Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh models when running video capture applications. MRJ_1.5 Avid Cinema 1.1.4

Post-Expo wrap-up

Three final Macworld Expo items:

BeOS On the last day of the Expo, I took some time to wander around the BeOS booths. For the first time at an Expo, there were some serious third-party applications on display - either released or about to be released - including some stunning graphics and presentation software. It makes you feel as if the BeOS may yet play a significant role in the Mac's future. On the other hand, after spending the better part of a day trying to install the preview edition of the BeOS on my Mac - without success … Read more

Sad Macs book signing

Thanks to those of you who dropped by the Peachpit booth yesterday during my book signing for Sad Macs, Bombs and Other Disasters. I especially enjoyed getting the chance to put some names and faces together - for those of you who had sent me email previously.

The sales of the book also went exceptionally well - Peachpit sold out of the book before I was done signing them! And as long as I am patting myself on the back, I was pleased to see that Sad Macs was mentioned in the show (September 1997) issues of MacAddict ("Sad … Read more

Week-end Updates

Snap-To 2.1 is the just released update of this shareware utility which snaps the cursor to the default button in dialog boxes. It provides Mac OS 8 compatibility.

SmoothType 1.3 is out. SmoothType makes your screen look more like the printed page - using a technique called anti-aliasing. This new version is now Mac OS 8 compatible. Author Greg Landweber writes: "anti-aliasing actually makes Charcoal look good. It also fixes problems drawing text on patterned background such as with many web pages, merges the 680x0 and PowerPCvariants into a single Fat extension, and adds a new snazzy … Read more

Adobe Acrobat correction

Regarding my previous item on Adobe Acrobat Reader:

Acrobat Reader version 3.0.1 still persists on Adobe's ftp site. Reader Bill Justin informs me that Adobe tech support told him that a new 3.1 version is not coming. Version 3.1 was the internal development designation for what was released as 3.0.1.

I apologize for any hassles caused by the apparently erroneous previous report. Not really an excuse, but it has been harder for me to check on items such as this while I am here at the Expo. A similar situation occurred with the … Read more