Apple Claims That Industry's Fastest ...

Computerworld - ... workstation will ship next month when its dual 2.5-GHz G5 processor Power Mac hits the streets. Indeed, the box's specifications are impressive. The $2,999 Power Mac has half a megabyte of L2 cache, handles up to 8GB of RAM and pushes data in and
out of the G5s via a 1.25-GHz bus. All that makes for a blazingly fast machine. That's why it uses a closed-loop liquid coolant system to keep your desk from catching fire. Fans don't cut it. But fastest in the industry? IDC's Roger Kay advises that you "take all vendors' performance claims with a grain of salt." Still, he says, speed matters, particularly in markets where Apple is strong, such as publishing and video editing. Can the power-laden Power Mac boost Apple's dwindling market share? Probably not, observes Kay, "but you can say that its share loss can be stabilized."
Momentum Shifts to Notes ...
... as Exchange cools. That's the view of Steven Birchfield, president of Automation Centre LLC in Tucson, Ariz. His company adds workflow tools to both e-mail systems, and he's sensing a shift in IBM's favor. "Lotus Notes will gain a little bit of market share in 2005," Birchfield forecasts. He says that in the past nine months, he hasn't seen one company move from Notes to Exchange, a common phenomenon in recent years. But he has seen a handful move in the other direction. Birchfield recalls that Microsoft Corp. initially wooed top Notes developers and paid them millions of dollars to port their products to Exchange, which he gladly did. But unlike some, Birchfield didn't abandon Notes. That was a wise move, since IBM has apparently adopted Microsoft's approach and is bringing Exchange vendors to the platform. Birchfield's advice to new customers of his TrackerSuite for Lotus Notes and TrackerOffice for Exchange isn't to swap platforms, but to "leverage the skills and experience you already have in-house."

The new Apple G5 is hot to trot.