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MacHoliday: Inexpensive Gifts©1994
By Michael C. LaBossiere

As a reader of the LEU you probably have friends and relatives who are also Mac users or at least computer users (if not, pass a copy of this article along to a friend or relative). Since the holiday season is here, many people are looking for gift ideas. Since this is the LEU, the focus will be on computer related gifts that do not cost a lot of money.

One of the perennial problems gift buyers face is knowing what to buy a computer user. Even computer users often face a challenge in picking out a viable gift for another computer user. One area in which it is hard to go wrong is in the area of consumables. The basic idea is that some computer related items get used up (or filled up) and hence a computer user can always use more. On the plus side, such gifts will almost always be useful and are often relatively inexpensive. On the minus side, such gifts can be a bit too practical. Gifts in this area include boxes of floppies, disk storage cases, CD-ROM storage cases, inkjet cartridges, disk labels, printer paper, and so forth. 

Other items that are useful gifts are practical items such as dust covers, mouse pads, security systems, surge protectors, keyboard covers, wrist support pads, glare shields, storage device (for paper, etc.). Being practical, such gifts might be the computer equivalent of a pair of socks or underware. Fortunately, some of these items (especially mouse pads and dust covers) are available in a variety of interesting styles. There are Star Trek, Star Wars and various cute and custom mousepads, car mouse covers, and other such items that would make interesting gifts. Various non-computer but  weird or cute things that can rest on a monitor (those weird trolls things, for example) are often popular. For example, I have seen people who have had little devil horns glued to sides of their monitors. These items tend to be relatively inexpensive and can add a nice personal touch to a person’s computer system.

PowerBook users can be fairly easy to buy for. There are lots of nifty gadgets available for PowerBooks and many PowerBook users tend to be gadget fans. On the low end of the price range (less than $20) are custom trackballs. These come in a variety of colors and designs. For example, there are some that look like big marbles, others that look like pool balls, and even some that look like eyeballs. These can be very cool gifts. Portable surge protectors ($12-30) are also good gifts for PowerBook owners, especially if they travel a great deal. Accessories like batteries, chargers, security kits and car adaptors are more expensive, but can be good gifts. Most PowerBook users can never have enough batteries and everyone should have a security kit. Carrying cases also make very good gifts for PowerBook users. These cases range in price from $30 to close to $300, which enables you to find a gift that matches your budget. Most PowerBook users wouldn’t mind having two cases. For example, some users like to have a small case for short trips and a larger case for extended travel. There are also several software packages (such as CPU, and PB Tools) that are designed specifically for PowerBooks. 

In a similar vein, Newton Owners tend to be even more fascinated by gadgets than PowerBook users. There are some Newton software packages that cost under $40 and some are as low as $20. There are also more expensive items, such as other programs, battery packs, fax modems and so forth. A Newton itself makes an interesting gift, since it is something that most low end users would never think of buying on their own. Of course, they tend to be a bit expensive.

One very promising gift area is that of software. The remainder of this article will be dedicated to low priced software gifts.

If you can program (even with HyperCard or SuperCard) a personalized application can be a very nice gift. Such gifts are unique, personal and are “hand made.” On the minus side, they can take a great deal of time and effort (which might not always be appreciated...). Another nice “homemade” gift is a personalized holiday greeting. For example, a nice HyperCard or SuperCard stack/project/standalone can make a very nice gift or card. If you have access to a scanner (or know someone who has one), it is possible to create electronic photo albums or greeting cards. If your computer has a microphone, sounds can be added to such stacks, such as a holiday greeting. Personalized QuickTime movies, animations, sounds, graphics, and so forth also make nice gifts. They are personal and “hand made” which can make them valued gifts. Since such gifts can be sent via online services and the internet as files, they are often ideal gifts for faraway friends (such as people in other countries). 

One very economical gift idea is to give someone a collection of freeware software. The software is free, so the price is great. This gift idea is a good one for people who do not have access to the internet or other online services (or who have to pay for such services). A gift of shareware is also a very economical gift. In most cases, shareware can be freely given to people. As with freeware, this is a nice gift for people who do not have online access.  Another nice gift is to pay the shareware fee for some of the software. One way to do this is to send a collection of shareware along with a “gift certificate” (basically a promise to pay for some of the shareware the person chooses to use). There are some great pieces of shareware out there that would make excellent gifts.

Many people (myself included) believe that the holiday season should be fun. This view often extends to the gifts, too. In the final part of the article, I’ll discuss some fun software that is relatively low-priced. I'll be focusing on programs for young adults/adults since I really don't know that much about what children like these days (except Barney and Power Rangers). Each program will presented in the following format: Name, Type, Requirements, Typical Street Price,  and a brief description. Please note that most of the information was gathered from catalogs and not from direct experience (I can't afford to buy all that stuff...).

Name:Maniac Sports
Type: Interactive sports CD-ROM 
Requirements:CD-ROM drive, 13" color monitor, 4MB RAM, 2.5MB free hard drive space, System 6.0.7 or higher.
Typical Street Price:$29.95
Description: This is CD-ROM for people who are into sports that are a bit dangerous, such as bungee jumping, sky diving, rock climbing and so forth. The CD-ROM includes seven interactive sports adventures as well as information about the sports. Also ideal for the computer chair athlete.

Name: Dinosaur Museum
Type: Dinosaur Software
Requirements: 4MB of RAM, hard drive, color monitor, and System 6.0.7 or newer.
Typical Street Price:$39.95
Description: Presented in conjunction with the Smithsonian, this software provides a virtual visit to a dinosaur museum. It features 3-D exhibits, a dictionary, and other features. A cool gift for any dinophils.

Name: China: Home of The Dragon
Type: History of ChinaCD-ROM
Requirements:2MB RAM, System 6.0.7 or newer, CD-ROM Drive, color monitor. 
Typical Street Price: $15.95
Description: This CD-ROM features the history, culture, and people of China. Includes photos, illustrations, and maps. For $16, it is hard to go wrong.

Name: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Type: CD-ROM interactive adventure.
Requirements: 2MB RAM, System 6.0.7 or newer, CD-ROM, and a color monitor.
Typical Street  Price:$21.95.
Description: A 100MBs of narration, pictures, and animation set in Jules Verne's classic science fiction masterpiece. 

Name: Axis GameCheater/Gravis Game Pad Bundle
Type: Cheating software, joystick hardware.
Requirements: Mac
Typical Street  Price:$39.95
Description: This bundle consists of software for cheating on games and a joystick for the Mac. 

Name: The ChessMaster 3000
Type: Chess game
Requirements: Mac/CD-ROM version requires 4MB RAM, color monitor, system 7 and a CD-ROM Drive.
Typical Street  Price:$25.95/$34.95 for the CD-ROM version
Description:  A high quality chess game which features 2D and 3D perspectives. 

Name: Pax Imperia
Type: Space Conquest Game
Requirements: 2MB of RAM, System 6.0.7 or newer, hard drive.
Typical Street  Price:$39.95
Description: This is, quite simply,  the best space strategy game I have ever played. It can support up to 16 human/computer opponents. A great game.

Name: Space Madness
Type: Space Combat Arcade Game 
Requirements: 2.5MB of RAM, System 6.0.7 or newer, color or grayscale monitor.
Typical Street  Price:$29
Description: A fast and furious space combat game. Similar to Maelstrom in some respects, but it places the emphasis on ship combat as opposed to asteroid blasting. Lots of fun.

Name: Spin Doctor
Type: Arcade Game
Requirements: Color Monitor
Typical Street  Price:$19.95
Description:  A challenging arcade game in which you try to navigate through an obstacle course.

Name: Super Maze Wars-2 Pack
Type: Network Combat Game
Requirements: Mac LC II or higher, color monitor.
Typical Street  Price: $19.95
Description:  A high quality network combat game. Rated as the best network game by MacWorld in 1993.

Name: Hellcats: Missions at Leyte Gulf
Type: WWII Air combat game.
Requirements: 3MB RAM, Hard Drive, not compatible with the Mac Classic, Plus, SE or Portable.
Typical Street  Price: $21
Description:   Control a F6F Hellcat fighter through 8 WWII scenarios.

Name: Harpoon Classic CD
Type: Naval Combat Simulator
Requirements: 2MB hard disk space, System 7 or newer, color monito (16 colors+), CD ROM drive
Typical Street  Price:$29.95
Description:  Harpoon is based on GDW’s naval combat game and is the most realistic ship combat simulator available to the public. This CD includes every Harpoon product to date. It is the best naval combat game I’ve ever played. A good present for people who love challenging war games.

Name: TacOps
Type: Tactical Combat Simulation.
Requirements: Mac Plus or newer, 2MB of RAM for B&W and color system 6, 4MB of RAM for Color and System 7.
Typical Street  Price: $40.95
Description:  This is an extremely accurate tactical combat game that pits US combat forces against Soviet style opposing forces. 

Name: Spectre VR
Type: Network combat game.
Requirements: Mac Classic or newer, 2MB of RAM with System 6.0.7, 4MB of RAM with System 7.0 or newer.
Typical Street  Price:$39 ($49 for a LAN Pack, $45 for the CD version)
Description:  The latest version of the classic net combat game.

Name: Pathways into Darkness
Type: 3-D, 1st Person adventure/combat.
Requirements: System 6.0.5 or newer, hard drive, color monitor.
Typical Street  Price:$39.95
Description:  A high quality action/adventure game in which you try to save the world from an alien demon. Lots of action and virtual violence. Challenging and fun.

Name: P51 Mustang Flight Simulator
Type: Air combat game.
Requirements: Mac
Typical Street  Price:$15.95
Description:  Control a P51 Mustang against Me109s. Can also be played against another person on a network.

Name: PT Boat Simulator
Type: PT boat combat simulator.
Requirements: Mac
Typical Street  Price:$15.95
Description:  PT boat combat game.

Name: SimCity 2000
Type: City Simulator
Requirements: 68020 based Mac or better, 4MB RAM, Hard Drive, Color Monitor.
Typical Street  Price:$39.95
Description:  The famous city simulation game.

Name: Eat My Photons
Type: Space Combat Game
Requirements: 68030 Mac or greater, 2.5MB RAM, System 7 or later, 4.5MB of Hard Disk space.
Typical Street  Price: $39
Description:  A arcade style space combat game.

Name: U-Boat
Type: Submarine combat game.
Requirements: Color monitor, 4MB RAM, hard disk.
Typical Street  Price:$37.95
Description:   Command a U-Boat in the North Atlantic.

A Modest Proposal 

Don’t you wish that somebody would give you the real lowdown on Extensions and Preference files?

It’s getting worse. My System Folder just keeps getting bigger, more cluttered, and more confusing. I’ve complained about this before, but the situation is deteriorating. For instance, after installing the new Photoshop 3.0, I found two new folders in my System Folder which take up a full megabyte of my shrinking hard drive. I have no idea of the purpose of these new residents (squatters?), and their ugly, DOS-like names do nothing to help or reassure me. When I bought my QuickTake 100 camera, it installed six new items in my System Folder. My Extensions folder currently contains 70 items (including a number of fold-ers), and my Preferences folder, at 169 items(!), must surely contain more files than I have applications. What is all of this stuff? Where did it come from? What does it do? Most importantly, do I really need it?

A Modest Proposal
I would probably feel less frustrated if I knew what all of this stuff was. Sure, if I try out a new game called Destructo and later find files called “Destructo Prefs” and “Destructo High Scores,” I know I can delete them when I trash the game. But does anybody know what the Record Button is, or whether TTY Tool or Serial Port Arbitrator are necessary to the proper functioning of my “user-friendly” computer? I have an idea that I think would help to restore confidence, and maybe sanity, to this situation. What if every Preference file and every Extension had a permanent text resource attached to it—a straightforward description of the item’s function and what it belongs to. This text resource would show up in Get Info boxes. For Extensions, it would even show up in extension managers like Now Utility’s Startup Manager and Conflict Catcher. 

Of course, Apple would have to lead the way in a crusade to put pressure on developers to conform to this idea, and it would not be a trivial task. Perhaps Apple could announce now that System 8 would not allow new files to be added to the System Folder that do not contain this resource. That would solve the problem of new extensions and prefs files, but how about all of those that are already in there? That problem is a little harder, but not insurmountable. Apple could request information from all Macintosh developers, collect that info into a database, and then provide a utility disk that could examine your System Folder and attach the requisite resource to all files.

Does Apple have the clout? Apple managed to encourage many developers to include balloon help resources in their products, so the precedent has been set. The new policy would have to have some real teeth in order to convince recalcitrant developers to get with the program. If the utility found a file without the required resource, it could post the following notice: “Warning! This file does not conform to Apple guidelines for product development. Use it at your own risk.” If the developer of the questionable file can be ascer-tained, the utility could list the company’s customer support telephone number—or perhaps the company president’s home phone number? I hope that Apple will consider this proposal. If you think this is a good idea, why not photocopy this page and mail or fax it to Apple? The time is running out; your hard drive is filling up. 

Jim Alley 
The Savannah Macintosh Users Group

____________________________________
The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:

Jim Alley
320 East 54th Street
Savannah, GA 31405