[macintologist]

I swear this is one of the best videos I've ever seen.

Watch as Steve Jobs shuts down the stupid Mac fanatics who boo like a bunch of spoiled children! Praise Steve!

Link! (OPTION-CLICK to avoid problems) 10.3MB .mov H.264 Quicktime 7 required!

[macintologist]

Btw, this took place in 1997!

[macintologist]

Now, I'd like to talk about meaningful partners. Apple lives in an ecosystem, and it needs help from other partners. It needs to help other partners. Relationships that are destructive don't help anybody in this industry as it is today. So during the last several weeks we have looked at some of the relationships. One has stood out as a relationship that hasn't been going so well, but has the potential to be great for both companies. I'd like to announce one of our first partnerships today, a very meaningful one, and that is one with Microsoft.

I'd like to take you through this. The discussions actually began because there were some patent disputes (laughter/èŒÇ¢). I know. Rather than repeating history, I'm extremely proud of both companies. They have resolved these differences in a very professional way. This hasled to an overall relationship which we're announcing today. It's got several parts to it, and we're extremely excited about it.

The first part of it is a patent settlement cross-license. The two companies have reached a full cross-license agreement for all patents that exist and for patents that are filed within the next five years.It has been a very serious patent settlement.

The second part of this is that Microsoft is committing to release Microsoft Office on Macintosh for the next five years. They are going to release the same number of major releases as they release on Windows during that time. They're targeting to have their first release out near the end of the year. It might slip a few months in the next year, but they're working real hard on it. It looks very, very good.

Internet Explorer
Next, we have taken a look at browsers out there, and Apple has decided to make Internet Explorer its default browser on the Macintosh. Since we believe in choice (laugher, applause/èŒÇ¢Ç∆îèéË), we're going to be shipping other Internet browsers on the Macintosh as well. Users can, of course, change their default should they choose to (cheers, applause/äÖç—Ç∆îèéË). But we believe that Internet Explorer is a really good browser. We think it's going to make a fine default browser.

Java. We are going to be collaborating with Microsoft on Java to ensure that we can get the best from each other and ensure that there's compatibility between our virtual machines. We think that will serve everybody's interest.

And lastly, Microsoft is making an investment in Apple. Microsoft is buying $150 million worth of Apple stock at market price. These are non-voting shares. And they've agreed not to sell them for at least three years.

So this means that Microsoft is going to be part of the game with us as we restore this company back to health. They will have a vested interest in that stock price going up. We're going to be working together on Microsoft Office, on Internet Explorer, on Java. And I think that it's going to lead to a very healthy relationship.

So it's a package announcement today. We're very happy about it, we're very excited about it. I happen to have a special guest with me today via satellite downlink, and if we can get him up on the stage right now.

---------------------------------------------------------

Bill Gates

Some of the most exciting work that I've done in my career has been the work that I've done with Steve, on the Macintosh. Whether it's the first introduction or products like Excel, these have been major milestones. It's very exciting to renew our commitment to the Macintosh. We have over eight million customers using Microsoft software on the Macintosh. We make it very easy for people to use Macintosh to take their documents and work with all kinds of machines.

We're very excited about the new release we're building. This is called Mac Office 98. We do expect to get it out by the end of this year, and we've got some real exciting features. It's a product that's going to require no set-up. It's going to be an easy transition from past versions, and I think it's going to really set a new benchmark for doing a good job of performance and exploiting the unique Mac features. In many ways it's more advanced than what we've done on the Windows platform.

We're also excited about Internet Explorer, and we've got a very dedicated team that's down in California that works on that product. The code is really especially developed for the Macintosh. It's not just a port of what we've done in the Windows environment.

So we're pleased to be supporting Apple. We think Apple makes a huge contribution to the computer industry. We think it's going to be a lot of fun helping out. And we look forward to the feedback from all of you as we look forward to doing more Macintosh software. Thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------
Steve Jobs

Right now we're shepherding some of the greatest assets in the computer industry. And if we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of a few things here.

We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win Microsoft has to lose. For Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us, that's great. Because we need all the help we can get. And if we screw up or we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault. It's our fault. So I think that's a very important perspective. I think, if we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we'd better treat the company that puts it out with a little bit of gratitude. We like their software.

So, the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I'm concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy and this is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry to get healthy and prosper again.

He totally PWNED the Mac fanatics!!

[Randman]

I have QT7 Pro and aren't seeing any vid.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by Randman

I have QT7 Pro and aren't seeing any vid.

Option-click the link. Don't load it in the stupid QT plugin which is horrible and doesn't let you fullscreen.

I always option-click movie links if possible.

[CKr]

It had no sound when I actually got it to play. It says it's searching for movie data, then can't find it.

[macintologist]

Huh? I swear it plays perfectly, even after I download it myself and play the downloaded copy.

[mdc]

mine too. searches for movie data, then brings up an error.

[willed]

Didn't work in the browser plugin, so I downloaded the link to disk. It came up with an error and then gave up. I've got Tiger and QT7

[euphras]

Got it to play after two error messages but it plays without sound (Tiger aboard)

[macintologist]

Could this be some kind of bug in QT 7?

Sealbolo made a little H.267 movie of his office

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lounge/256360/my-first-h-264-quicktime-movie/#post2526430

There was no sound in the clip. Is this a wider problem??

[euphras]

i have 10.1.5 as my second OS on my machine. I´ll check and report....

[macintologist]

I figured out the problem!

I encoded the Video only, and then when I added the audio, I didn't Save As Independent source or whatever.

I'm gonna re-do this

[Diggory Laycock]

I get the "searching for movie data" dialog - then "file (MacWorld Boston 1997#blah) not found"

I downloaded via option-click.

[demograph68]

I've seen that here some time ago. Hopefully, it will quell the annoying anti-Gates talk that goes on here.

(Video no worky)

[demograph68]

page not found

[macintologist]

It works now!

[wdlove]

It worked for me. Thanks for the link it's awesome.

[ZXspectrum]

Originally Posted by macintologist

I swear this is one of the best videos I've ever seen.

Watch as Steve Jobs shuts down the stupid Mac fanatics who boo like a bunch of spoiled children! Praise Steve!

Link! (OPTION-CLICK to avoid problems) 10.3MB .mov H.264 Quicktime 7 required!

that's so funny...where did you get it???

[Eug Wanker]

Excellent. Nice encoding job too. H.264 rocks. Only 13.6 MB, but 8 minutes and 39 seconds long.

Watch as Steve Jobs shuts down the stupid Mac fanatics who boo like a bunch of spoiled children! Praise Steve!

Yeah, some of the Mac zealots really do get tiresome.

[macintologist]

Yea, h.264 is rocking my world more and more everyday. Now if only the H.264 in ffmpegx was more refined

I love the final part by Steve Jobs. I swear, after Apple, he has to run for president. He could get everyone to vote for him using that reality distortion field of his.

The people booing is actually some comedy gold for me

[mitchell_pgh]

This move saved Apple. Apple was imploding in 97' (even I considered switching) and this gave developers (and more to the point users) the carrot they needed to continue using Macs during the transition from OS 9 to OS X. If Office would have been discontinued in 97, I would be typing from a Windows box.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by macintologist

I love the final part by Steve Jobs. I swear, after Apple, he has to run for president. He could get everyone to vote for him using that reality distortion field of his.

Reality distortion field???

Apple was DEEP in the red in 97 with quarter after quarter of losses. They had finally given up on a failed OS, Windows had released Windows NT4 (which was technically light-years ahead of OS 8). Without such a guarantee from a major player, many of us would have been FORCED off the platform...

This was on the fringe of the internet age... and it was very hard being a Mac user. Limited hardware and software choices, an archaic OS (single user, no protected memory, no multiprocessing), and ever cheaper PCs (literally 1/4th as much in many situations)

[willed]

Where was the funny bit?

Good work by Steve though. I think that's one of the most important things he did with the company.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by willed

Where was the funny bit?

Good work by Steve though. I think that's one of the most important things he did with the company.

I think that move only got bought more time for Apple. If they wouldn't have innovated... they still would have failed. I think it was a brilliant "quick fix" on Steve's part... but not the most important. The most important IMHO was OS X.

[gururafiki]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

The most important IMHO was OS X.

Yes it was. Even another year of OS9 would have crippled the mac platform, and Apple would have been sucked up by some other x86 manufacturer/developer.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by gururafiki

Yes it was. Even another year of OS9 would have crippled the mac platform, and Apple would have been sucked up by some other x86 manufacturer/developer.

I also think Steve was able to cast his RDF to get us through 10.0 and 10.1. I thought they were good, but they weren't mainstream IMHO. He's good.

[Zimphire]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

Reality distortion field???

Apple was DEEP in the red in 97 with quarter after quarter of losses. They had finally given up on a failed OS, Windows had released Windows NT4 (which was technically light-years ahead of OS 8). Without such a guarantee from a major player, many of us would have been FORCED off the platform...

This was on the fringe of the internet age... and it was very hard being a Mac user. Limited hardware and software choices, an archaic OS (single user, no protected memory, no multiprocessing), and ever cheaper PCs (literally 1/4th as much in many situations)

Yes I remember, Can anyone say Performa and NUBUS?

Ugh.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

I also think Steve was able to cast his RDF to get us through 10.0 and 10.1. I thought they were good, but they weren't mainstream IMHO. He's good.

10.0 was unusable. 10.1 was usable but very beta-ish throughout its entire lifetime.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

Reality distortion field???

Apple was DEEP in the red in 97 with quarter after quarter of losses. They had finally given up on a failed OS, Windows had released Windows NT4 (which was technically light-years ahead of OS 8). Without such a guarantee from a major player, many of us would have been FORCED off the platform...

This was on the fringe of the internet age... and it was very hard being a Mac user. Limited hardware and software choices, an archaic OS (single user, no protected memory, no multiprocessing), and ever cheaper PCs (literally 1/4th as much in many situations)

I agree. We should be grateful to MS to a degree. Pre Jobs return, Apple was in dire straights. I worked in a electronics store as a 17 yr old and nobody would touch those things. It was considered a joke for people to even consider it when in the store.

Anyway, I wonder how important Office still is to the mac. It probably still is for compatability's sake or atleast in people's minds.

[ManOfSteal]

I was hoping for some "Steve kung-fu hustle"...but I'm still happy with the video. Thanks!

[CharlesS]

We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win Microsoft has to lose. For Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us, that's great. Because we need all the help we can get. And if we screw up or we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault. It's our fault. So I think that's a very important perspective. I think, if we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we'd better treat the company that puts it out with a little bit of gratitude. We like their software.

So, the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I'm concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy and this is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry to get healthy and prosper again.

And then the Switch campaign came out...

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear

Anyway, I wonder how important Office still is to the mac. It probably still is for compatability's sake or atleast in people's minds.

Very important. Office v.X and 2004 have been pretty good (minus a few bugs) and have helped convert many people to the Mac OS. I have helped a few people switch in school and none of them would have done so without this familiar app.

[Link]

Wow wow wow.. Microsoft responsible for Apple still existing? BS! They bought a tiny bit of stock, It wasn't even more than 100 million (which compared to what apple had EVEN THEN was pathetic), non-voting shares too..

Steve Jobs saved apple.. not Bill Gates, and to reiterate this, Apple was worth at least $2 billion at the time, so $150m was a drop in the bucket, not to mention at the amount they were losing money they could have blown through that $150m easily.

This was strictly PR.

*edits again*

Admittedly, their commitment to keeping office going was a worthy one, that helped, but didn't single handedly change a lot.

[macintologist]

For Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us, that's great. Because we need all the help we can get. And if we screw up or we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault. It's our fault.

Spoken like a true capitalist

[xi_hyperon]

Originally Posted by Link

Admittedly, their commitment to keeping office going was a worthy one, that helped, but didn't single handedly change a lot.

You're right. If MS had dropped Office at that point, things *would* have changed quite a bit for Apple's prospects. For the worse.

Any Mac user who's worked in a corporate environment at that time (such as myself) would tell you the same.

[Krypton]

I'm reading 'Infinite Loop' at the moment, and have just got to the last few chapters where Steve returns - so this ties in quite nicely with that.

It's a great book btw, and reveals a lot about Apple that isn't reported in the press a great deal: e.g. the buy out attempts by Sun, IBM and Motorola etc.

[macintologist]

Is it possible to buy tapes of all the keynotes? What if I was doing an Apple documentary and I wanted to license this material. I'm sure it would be possible no?

If there was a kickass Mac documentary, about Apple history and SJob's return, and it was hailed in the Mac press, would y'all buy it?

[Randman]

Can get most, if not all, the keynotes for free online.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Originally Posted by Link

Wow wow wow.. Microsoft responsible for Apple still existing? BS! They bought a tiny bit of stock, It wasn't even more than 100 million (which compared to what apple had EVEN THEN was pathetic), non-voting shares too..

Steve Jobs saved apple.. not Bill Gates, and to reiterate this, Apple was worth at least $2 billion at the time, so $150m was a drop in the bucket, not to mention at the amount they were losing money they could have blown through that $150m easily.

This was strictly PR.

*edits again*

Admittedly, their commitment to keeping office going was a worthy one, that helped, but didn't single handedly change a lot.

Your statement here is what's BULLSHYT

show me numbers and apple's financials in 1996-98 to support this or shut up

your rationalization of how healthy Apple was is completely unsupported beyond your recollections

[willed]

Originally Posted by Link

Wow wow wow.. Microsoft responsible for Apple still existing? BS! They bought a tiny bit of stock, It wasn't even more than 100 million (which compared to what apple had EVEN THEN was pathetic), non-voting shares too..

Steve Jobs saved apple.. not Bill Gates, and to reiterate this, Apple was worth at least $2 billion at the time, so $150m was a drop in the bucket, not to mention at the amount they were losing money they could have blown through that $150m easily.

This was strictly PR.

*edits again*

Admittedly, their commitment to keeping office going was a worthy one, that helped, but didn't single handedly change a lot.

No.

The key to the MS deal was the vote of confidence that this gave to Apple. Much longer in its situation and the creditors would have been calling in the debts and the banks wouldn't have been lending any more money. $150 million is a lot whichever way you look at it, but its main impact was to make people realise that Apple was still viable. Office for Mac is also, of course, essential. I acknowledge the brilliance of Steve, but if Apple had gone bankrupt ten even he wouldn't have been able to out-innovate everyone!

[Krypton]

Originally Posted by Apple Pro Underwear

Your statement here is what's BULLSHYT

show me numbers and apple's financials in 1996-98 to support this or shut up

your rationalization of how healthy Apple was is completely unsupported beyond your recollections

In 1997 Apple was down to less than $200 million in cash reserves - almost too low to bail the company out if something else disastrous happened along the lines of the previous PowerBook recalls.

[macintologist]

Also don't forget that at the time M$ was in the middle of their anti-trust lawsuit. Being able to say "We bailed out our competition and promised to develop Word for them" was one way they benefitted from this deal.

[ReggieX]

If you don't want people to stream the movie, ZIP it up and make them download it.

[Eug Wanker]

Yep. If it wasn't for Microsoft, Apple would likely be dead.

Mind you, Microsoft definitely benefitted from this too. The lawsuit was settled, and looked good in the process. And they made money off their stock investment and continue to make money off Office.

[hayesk]

Originally Posted by Krypton

In 1997 Apple was down to less than $200 million in cash reserves - almost too low to bail the company out if something else disastrous happened along the lines of the previous PowerBook recalls.

Uhm... no. That's not even close. Apple had over a billion. I did a quick google on "Apple cash reserve in 1997" and I got a couple links claiming $1.2 billion at the end of their fiscal 1997. I also remember scoffing at the press on an almost daily basis. The Apple/MS "alliance" was a well crafted publicity stunt that benefitted both companies in PR only. The so-called "hemmoraging" losses during were mostly write-offs and not operating losses. Sure they needed some financial fixing, but it was nowhere nearly as bad as you say. Gil Amelio, who took a lot of flack, should be credited, as he put their financial house in order, making way for the visionary-type CEO - i.e. Steve Jobs.

Also, Apple sold over 3 million Macs that year if I remember correctly. Apple was not in dire straits, it was mostly a PR fiasco.

[Krypton]

Originally Posted by hayesk

Uhm... no. That's not even close. Apple had over a billion. I did a quick google on "Apple cash reserve in 1997" and I got a couple links claiming $1.2 billion at the end of their fiscal 1997. I also remember scoffing at the press on an almost daily basis. The Apple/MS "alliance" was a well crafted publicity stunt that benefitted both companies in PR only. The so-called "hemmoraging" losses during were mostly write-offs and not operating losses. Sure they needed some financial fixing, but it was nowhere nearly as bad as you say. Gil Amelio, who took a lot of flack, should be credited, as he put their financial house in order, making way for the visionary-type CEO - i.e. Steve Jobs.

Also, Apple sold over 3 million Macs that year if I remember correctly. Apple was not in dire straits, it was mostly a PR fiasco.

Ok I concede I was a little way off, but right in principle:

1996: $592 million in cash
1997: $1.3 billion in cash

Over 1996-1997 they lost something like $2 billion+

[ReggieX]

$1.2 Billion at the end of the 3rd quarter, 1997

[xi_hyperon]

Originally Posted by ReggieX

$1.2 Billion at the end of the 3rd quarter, 1997

Well, if they did indeed lose around 2 billion in '96-'97, then 1.2 billion wouldn't have lasted long, assuming the rate of loss was constant of course.