Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!apple.com!chewy
From: chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Inside Macintosh: Will we ever see a revised, updated edition?
Message-ID: <7257@goofy.Apple.COM>
Date: 19 Mar 90 17:59:23 GMT
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 61
References:<14532@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <7202@goofy.Apple.COM> <2878@castle.ed.ac.uk> <7248@goofy.Apple.COM> <10854@hoptoad.uucp>

In article <10854@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) writes:
> Add it up.  Without giving away the developer price for Apple's player,
> which is officially confidential, the cost of a developer subscription
> and an Apple CD-ROM drive is almost precisely ten times the cost of a
> printed set of Inside Macintosh.  (The CD is free to subscribers.)

True, but Inside Macintosh isn't all that's on the two CDs that we've 
mailed to date.

> As for all the other benefits of the developer program, the hardware
> discounts are indeed very good provided you're planning on buying
> enough equipment every year to make up the $600 subscription fee.

Actually, the intent of the Partnership program is that the developer will 
easily make at least his/her $600/year back in software sales, even if 
there are no other benefits accrued (which there should be).

> And as for the mailings, I've talked with other developers about them, 
and
> we all agree that at least three quarters is instant circular file
> material.  Pretty hefty price for junk mail.

This might be good material to feedback to Developer Programs.  As it 
stands, a lot of people have their hands in the mailings, and they're 
geared toward multiple groups of people--marketers and engineers, to name 
just the two most obvious distinctions.  When I was at a third-party house 
before starting at Apple, we threw out all of the marketing stuff but kept 
the technical stuff--and this was pre-CD-ROM.

> Yes, it's the cheapest on the market for deveopers.  However, look at
> what you get for an audio CD player that's five times cheaper.  You
> can't even *buy* an audio CD player without an autoloading disk drawer;
> but the retail price $1100 Apple CD-ROM player doesn't have one -- it
> has a universally criticized cartridge loader.  For $250, you can buy a
> good audio CD-ROM carousel changer; this is four times cheaper than the
> retail price of the Apple CD-ROM single player.

Fair enough.  I know a lotta folks are using the Toshiba drive or whatever 
they can afford for a CD-ROM player, and that's fine (MacDTS has even 
helped Toshiba get their CD-ROM driver right).  No one's forcing anyone to 
use an Apple CD-ROM, and for what it's worth I personally hope that we go 
to a different OEM at some point soon.  In the meantime, given a 
properly-written driver, our CD-ROMs should work on your drive just fine.

> I think CD-ROM has great potential, but people are going to have to face
> facts.  It's not going to be significant until the drive prices drop.

Here, here.

__________________________________________________________________________
                                Paul Snively
                      Macintosh Developer Technical Support
                             Apple Computer, Inc.

1st Choice: Paul_Snively.DTS@qm.gateway.apple.com
2nd Choice: CHEWBACCA@applelink.apple.com
Last Choice: chewy@apple.com

Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that I believe 
what they believe, or vice-versa.
__________________________________________________________________________