Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!taniwha!paul
From: paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Why is Apple pushing CD-ROMs? (was Re: A/UX V2.0 questions)
Message-ID: <552@taniwha.UUCP>
Date: 28 Mar 90 17:28:31 GMT
References: <22775@topo.UUCP> <-286499949@hpcupt1.HP.COM> <858@ashton.UUCP> <1134@vector.Dallas.TX.US> <7409@goofy.Apple.COM> <33521@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <0LF#BW_@rpi.edu>
Reply-To: paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell)
Organization: Taniwha Systems Design, Oakland
Lines: 38

In article <0LF#BW_@rpi.edu> mketch@pawl.rpi.edu (Michael D. Ketchen) writes:
>In article <33521@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> lange@lanai.UUCP (Trent Lange) writes:
>| Why is Apple pushing CD-Roms and not Erasable Optical drives?
>| 
>| If I were Apple, I'd be *embarrassed* trying to hawk this limited,
>| expensive, and dead technology when NeXT sells optical drives that
>| can do everything CD-Roms do and "a whole lot more."
>
>The reason is that CD-ROM is a cheap, efficient way to send large amounts of
>extremely non-volatile data to just about anybody.  You can buy all the Adobe
>fonts on a CD-ROM and then pay to have the ones you need unlocked.  Companies
>like Microsoft can package large quantities of software (ie. Microsoft Office)
>into a nice little bundle with lots of room for bells and whistles that just
>wouldn't get added in a floppy distribution.


There is another important issue here - manufacturing capacity. There is a 
whole other industry out there building CDs - this drives the media cost
through the floor. There are big factories set up to take a digital tape
or disk and press them out by the thousands. And it's cheap - did you know
that they already make CDs for less than vinal - the record companies are
making a mint since they can get away with charging you more (think about
it - they have a legal monopoly - no one else can come out and release
a competing copy of the Stones at a lower price - I think Nader could win
lots of friends with a price fixing suit here :-).

You can spin CDs for under $2.50 each (plus mastering costs - in the $1000
range) for quantities around 100 units - the only catch is that not every
machine has a CD drive in it - so you can't depend on it. Think about all
the really LARGE applications that are not practical with 50 floppies
you can just bet that 1 of them is a dud ....

	Paul
-- 
Paul Campbell    UUCP: ..!mtxinu!taniwha!paul     AppleLink: CAMPBELL.P
"The current plan is to replace the flag with one with alternating vertical
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the country's system of government ..."