Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!agate!shelby!neon!Pescadero.Stanford.EDU!philip
From: philip@Pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: New Macs
Message-ID: <1990Jun7.184945.21374@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 7 Jun 90 18:49:45 GMT
References: <1076@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA> <90150.063514DANSEGLI@UCF1VM.BITNET> <1990May31.164019.28906@agate.berkeley.edu> <25411@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System)
Reply-To: philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 41

[lots of MacWeak rumours about various "new" models, including Apple II
compatibility, etc.]

It occurs to me that Apple's biggest problem is that they've drowned
the Mac's original simplicity in a whole lot of unneccessary variations.
Consider (I hope this is all right...):
o where screen memory is put
- part of main RAM (SE and Plus)
- part of main RAM (only slightly different) or NuBus card (IIci)
- special video RAM (SE/30)
- NuBus card or special slot (IIfx)
- NuBus card (IIcx, IIx)
o slots
- none (Plus)
- NuBus (all II models)
- special slot 1 (SE)
- special slot 2 (SE/30)
- special slot 3 (IIfx)
o keyboard / mouse
- old Mac (Plus)
- adb (all others)
What I believe is called for at this point is 2 things: collapsing as many of
these variations as possible into 1 consistent standard, and broadly lowering
the price of the range to make it more realistic by the standards of PCs and
low-end workstations. Maybe NuBus isn't the best solution for some purposes,
but SOME standard ought to be chosen for ALL slots (even if it may be
implemented with varying degrees of performance on some models). The way
memory is allocated for screens could also be done in a consistent way (e.g.,
assume NuBus is the standard for all machines: screen memory which is
physically allocated somewhere else could be implemented as a virtual NuBus
card). Of course, "well-behaved" applications don't need to worry about this;
I'm thinking more in terms of the difficulty of writing and maintaining
system software (where's System 7?), as well as the cost of designing and
supporting multiple cards for screens and other add-ons.

Never mind the detail - the point is Apple's range is becoming a mess,
and yet another round of new models (with presumably the Plus disappearing
and everything else staying the same) is no solution.

Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.edu