Wocherückblick im Schnelldurchlauf

Vergangene Woche herrschte im fscklog ungeplanter Leerlauf, der sich -wie schon in den Kommentaren erwähnt- aus meiner Zeitknappheit in Verbindung mit ziemlicher Nachrichtenflaute zusammensetzte (ein paar Kurzgeschichten schafften es wenigstens ins MacOrama). Ab heute sollte der fscklog-Betrieb in gewohnter Weise wieder seinen Lauf nehmen, es folgt ein knapper Abriss der interessantesten Ereignisse aus vergangener Woche.

Apple bewirft Creative mit einer zweite Gegenklage: «Apple filed its latest suit in a district court in Texas last Thursday, claiming Creative has infringed at least three of its patents -- one that involves displaying data on a computer, another for editing data using a portable media device, and the third for the creation of icons to organize files on a computer. Apple is seeking cash damages and a court order to prevent further patent infringements, according to U.S. court documents seen by Reuters.»
Das WSJ (zitiert bei iLounge) stöberte in den Gerichtsakten und legt dar, dass Creative recht problemlos Teil des iPod-Hypes hätte werden können: «“Creative says in its suit that Apple CEO Steve Jobs approached a Creative employee at the January 2001 Macworld trade show and praised the Nomad, Creative’s first MP3 player. The two discussed a possible meeting, and Mr. Jobs ‘indicated Apple wanted a smaller version’ of the Nomad… The next month, according to the suit, Creative executives met again with Mr. Jobs. The suit says Apple proposed that Creative either license its technology to Apple, or spin off its portable media-player business into a separate company in which Apple would invest. Creative, however, declined Apple’s proposals. In October, Apple introduced its first iPod.”»
Weiterer juristischer Hick-Hack droht dem iTMS aus dem nördlichen Europa. Neben Norwegen regt sich auch in Dänemark und Schweden Widerstand gegen die 'Terms&Conditions' des iTMS: «"iTunes' terms and conditions are illegal in all three countries," Swedish Consumer Agency spokeswoman Marianne Aabyhammar told AFP Friday.»
«"We want to resolve this without closing down our operations in Scandinavia," the Apple spokesman, Fredrik Hallstan, told the Web site, Forbruker.no. The site said he would not comment on whether Apple had discussed allowing iTunes music files to be used on non-Apple portable players», so die NYT. Es betrifft allerdings nicht allein Apple, die momentan nur das prominenteste Ziel bei digitaler Musik sein dürften: «”The terms, both technical and written ones, are not unique to iTunes. Many other companies employ similar ones. We anticipate that the Ombudsman will also pursue these, initially the music shops mentioned in our complaint», so Forbrukerrådet.
Zugleich kam es in den USA verstärkt zu Anti-DRM-Protestaktionen, unter anderem vor mehreren Apple Retail Stores: «The "Defective by Design" protests are not aimed at Apple in particular, but at what the Free Software Foundation sees as a growing trend toward legal restrictions that bind digital content to particular playing devices. "This isn't intended to attack Apple and its innovations, but really to draw attention to the existence of DRM technologies, and how they restrict what consumers can do with their music," says Ted Teah, who maintains a directory of free software for the Free Software Foundation in Cambridge Mass.» Business Week.

Das MacBook wird mit überwiegend positiven Artikeln in zwei US-Printschwergewichten eingedeckt. Das TIME Magazine macht es nicht nur zum Gadget der Woche, sondern bespricht ebenso wohlwollend: «The MacBook is a powerful and affordable option, especially for people who are uncertain about their Windows future. The next version, Vista, might be a success, but with a MacBook you can hedge your bet. You get a computer that runs both Mac OS X and Windows XP today, and even appears to meet the minimum requirements for Vista once it gets here. Dell and HP should be very worried indeed.» Walt Mossberg gibt sich für das WSJ moderat positiv: «There's a lot to like about the MacBook. It's a very good choice for anyone considering a Mac and operating on a tight budget. Like the other Intel-based Macs, it can even run Windows alongside Apple's own Mac OS X operating system. But it is missing some key features that are standard on Windows-based laptops, and it is heavy compared with its closest Windows competitor.»

Im Gegensatz zu den USA konnte Apple in Europa kräftiger wachsen als der Gesamtmarkt: «New data from the analysts at IDC shows the company continues to make gains. "In the UK and Western Europe, Apple shipment growths outperformed the overall PC market in both notebook and desktop form factors in Q1 2006," observed IDC senior research analyst Michael Larner.» Macworld UK.

Die Gerüchteküche schlief letzte Woche ebenfalls nicht gänzlich, so wurde über einen recht naheliegenden Quad-Mac Pro spekuliert: «In speaking with AppleInsider, people familiar with the Cupertino-based company's plans have affirmed that the Mac Pro will indeed employ chips from Intel's forthcoming architecture. However, it's still unclear precisely which processors these will be. That's because, just like the Power Mac G5 Quad, these people say Apple and Intel somehow plan to wedge two high-end dual-core chips into some Mac Pros.» Laut macosXrumors soll in 10.5 das gemeinsame Bearbeiten von Dokumenten (über ein Netzwerk) vom System direkt ermöglicht werden: «Actually, the concept of collaborative document may be integrated into a new dedicated framework. Much like Apple has made image effects easy with CoreImage and powerful data indexing available throughout the OS with Spotlight. If Apple indeed makes of it a software API, it will allow third party developers to implement collaborative documents on their own applications very easily.» Die bisherigen Gerüchte über 10.5 Leopard wirken allerdings noch ziemlich zusammengeschustert.