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Apple refreshes product lineup
The new professional G3 system, which replaces the original G3 launched in November 1997, is housed in a translucent blue and clear minitower enclosure with a door that allows for easy access to expansion slots and memory. The system, which is available immediately at retail prices ranging from US$1,599 to $2,999, features the latest copper-based PowerPC processors running at 300MHz, 350MHz and 400MHz.
Catering to the consumer market, Apple announced five new iMacs available for $1,199 at a processor speed of 266MHz that will be available within the next two weeks. They will be offered in more colors: Blueberry, Lime, Tangerine, Strawberry and Grape. The iMacs also feature a 6G-byte IDE hard disk drive; built-in 15-inch display; Mac OS 8.5; 32M-byte SDRAM; RAGE Pro Turbo Graphic controller and 6M-byte SGRAM; 24x CD-ROM drive; 10/100 Base-T Ethernet; 56 Kbps modem; two 12Mbps USB ports; built-in stereo speakers and a USB keyboard and mouse.
Meanwhile, the original bondi-blue iMac remains on sale for a limited time for $1,049. On the software side, Apple unveiled its Mac OS X Server, billed as the company's first modern server operating system which combines the strength of Unix with the simplicity of Macintosh. The operating system is built on the Mach microkernel and BSD 4.4 and includes the Apache HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) Web server and Apple's WebObjects 4 application server for development and deployment of Internet and intranet applications.
It also features NetBoot, a new feature that allows a network of Macs to be booted and configured from a single server and allows the clients to share the same base system and applications stored on the server. In addition, the server operating system includes scalable Apple file services capable of supporting more than 1,000 users and thousands of open files. Users can access files from any AppleShare client over TCP/IP or AppleTalk network protocols and user and group information can be shared among multiple servers. Mac OS X Server will be priced at $999 and is expected to ship in the first quarter of 1999 in the United States and worldwide within a few months after that. It will be available pre-configured on a Power Macintosh Server G3 for $4,999. In a separate announcement at the show, Apple said it has licensed the OpenGL application programming interface and software library from Silicon Graphics Inc. Apple will incorporate OpenGL into future versions of the Mac OS, starting with the next release of Mac OS 8 and the first release of Mac OS X. Also, Apple announced that it is expanding its online store into six European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium. Now, customers in those countries will be able to order Apple software and hardware products directly over the Internet. The sites feature local languages and the Euro currency. They are at: Belgium Store; France Store; German Store; Italy Store; Netherlands Store; and Spain Store. Meanwhile, the Australian site opens today. And beginning in March, Apple will open online stores in Austria and Switzerland. The Apple Store online is already available to users in the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden. Elinor Mills is San Francisco Bureau Chief for the IDG News Service. |
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