Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!tank!gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu
From: gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Why is Apple pushing CD-ROMs? (was Re: A/UX V2.0 questions)
Message-ID: <8124@tank.uchicago.edu>
Date: 27 Mar 90 19:37:49 GMT
Sender: news@tank.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Lines: 27

>In article <33521@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> lange@lanai.UUCP (Trent Lange) writes:
[...] 
>| Surely Apple could either contract with Canon or some other optical
>| manufacturer to sell their own optical drives, or at least bless
>| an optical standard for the Mac and distribute their CDs on it.
> 
>They already do bless an optical standard: CD-ROM.  And while they could
>come out with their own erasable optical drive, I don't think they will.

I agree with most of what you said Mike, but have to disagree here.  It's quite
probable that Apple will come out with an optical disk (or some other large
capacity read/write medium).  The new Canon OD drives under development are
rumored to be 20 ms access time.  That sounds improbable, but in all likelihood
they'll be quite fast.  One of the reasons that Next can offer the OD
technology so cheaply is that some of the controlling hardware is built in to
the Next.  I'd look for Apple to do something similar with OD or some other
technology in the next coupla years.

Robert



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= gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to =
=            		         * all my opinions are *  compute"         =
=                                * mine                *  -Kraftwerk       =
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