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From: gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Loss of Mac's 20%... the Mac's
Message-ID: <70400019@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 8 Jul 90 19:51:00 GMT
References: <52331@<1990Jul8>
Lines: 39
Nf-ID: #R:<1990Jul8:52331:m.cs.uiuc.edu:70400019:000:1913
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Jul  8 14:51:00 1990


by doner@aerospace.aero.org (John Doner):
| Do that, and they won't be around for the long run, or if they are, we won't
| care.  The money for all that R&D, developing and improving user interfaces,
| innovative software like Hypercard, etc., let alone the hardware, has to come
| from somewhere.  

What a load of horsesh*t.  First, it is evident that Apple squanders a
lot of bucks on "image advertising", not on user interface R & D.
Have you watched any TV lately?

Second, it is apparent to me (being a former network software
developer), that Apple is blowing a lot of money on LAN software, 99%
of which, home & education users cannot take advantage of, and will
probably never take advantage of.

Third, many user interface breakthroughs arise in new application
software, not from some user interface bozo in a think tank.  Is
Hypercard the last piece of application software Apple will develop?
Then you can kiss user interface innovation GOODBYE.  I'd like to hear
you mention a "user interface breakthrough" Apple has made since 1987.
(Knowledgeable net readers know that most of the Mac II ROM
innovations were copied from other systems).  In fact, if we discount
tear-off menus, we can go all the way back to 1985.

Fourth, it is apparent that personal users are still being milked to
fuel Apple's push into the business market (i.e. some large fraction
of every SE purchase is probably spent on postscript printer support,
appletalk / appleshare upkeep, IIfx design, developer support for
high-end Color Retouch & CAD programs, etc. etc. etc.)

Don't kid yourself that high macintosh hardware revenues is being
spent on "The Rest of Us" as Apple used to say.  It's being spent on
"The Rich of Us", e.g. business users.


Don W. Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801      
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies