Steve Jobs Keynote speech

at yesterday's Macworld opening day was described in various firsthand reports as routine, with one HUGE exception. He mentioned that Apple will turn a profit during the first fiscal quarter, October-December. This is the best possible news that he could have announced. Apple's stock shot up nearly 20% to nearly $19 a share. The formal report will be released on January 14th. There was no mention of a new CEO, Rhapsody or the Mac OS beyond version 8.1, new Mac models nor the rumored network computer.

Apple released a series of press announcements after Steve jobs' Macworld Expo Keynote speech. Some of them are:

• First Quarter Profit Expected to be 45 million. Apple's stock closed up 19.3% to $18 15/16
• 133,000 PowerMac G3's sold -- best Mac ever, beating the forecasted 80,000 units by over 66%!
• Online store and stores in CompUSA pay off -- I'm surprised about the latter but its good news.
• PowerMac G3 Performance Increased -- fast hard drives and other peripherals to be available through the Apple Online Store.
• Mac OS 8.1 Delayed 'til February. Here's a goodMac OS 8.1 description -- better to get it right.

Here's a complete analysis on NEWS.COM of the events yesterday.

Apple posted QuickTime 3.0b11 on its public servers late yesterday.

From Beverly McRae, " Lari Software Inc. today announced it will preview Electrifier Pro(TM)--the first tool for creating fast, interactive QuickTime(R) 3.0 web multimedia--at Macworld Expo during Apple(R) Computer, Inc.'s QuickTime 3.0 Press Briefing."

"Macintosh software developer AlcoBlom announced today the immediate availability of a Contextual Menu Manager (CMM) Plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. With the plug-in users can click on a hypertext link in a browser window and then choose "Add Link to URL Manager" from the Contextual Menu to bookmark the hypertext link."

From Pat Berry, "Mactell Corporation today announced its new free upgrade package offer for MacOS* system shoppers. Mactell is offering the free G3 upgrade with the purchase of an XB-PRO Series base system through the month of January."

Microsoft Internet Explorer v4.0 for the Mac was released yesterday. Try downloading the Active Installer and using it to download and set up the components you want. It's very easy.

Microsoft has a great demo of Office 98 for the Mac. It requires MacroMedia's Shockwave Reader. I may be eating my words--this office suite looks terrific.