I don't think this was a waste of time at all. In fact, I was thrilled to read about exactly who made some of these predictions. Especially the analyst who based his "projections" on a false rumor.
Accountability is a good thing. All the "pass-through" journalism, where sites simply take what other sites say and post it themselves, can easily obscure the source.
I did think the thing about the apostrophe was a bit over-the-top, though.
The article, on the other hand, contains no Apple-bashing at all. More likely the article was voted up by the same people who voted up the other rumor articles leading up to the announcement.
It's a shame the $800 laptop rumor was wrong, with PC laptop prices dropping and APPL prices rising that OSX tax is getting to be a big differential. As a developer I couldn't use windows because there's no decent shell or vi or any of the tools I've spent the past couple decades using. OSX on the other hand is a UNIX variant that also runs Photoshop, which to me is the best of all worlds. I might consider one of the dell laptop OSX86 hackintosh ideas now that's maturing.
Its better to be wrong with Mac rumors, less chance of getting sued.
Gruber was a bit harsh on the rumor sites. They're just driving page views, much like he wants and is probably trolling for with his analysis. The new macbooks were a long time coming and I'm glad they're finally here. My aging powerbook is in need of replacement and I never really like the current macbooks that much. My student budget can't quite afford the macbook pro, so new macbooks was an exciting announcement.
The first thing I'm going to do over x-mas break is install XP on my mac, but the Orange Box and play through half life 2 and the 2nd installment. I've been wanting to, but lacking the computer to do so.
