Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!jk3t+
From: jk3t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan King)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Death by Windows
Message-ID: <Qaa9g6G00WB8MBephE@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 9 Jul 90 14:56:06 GMT
References: <2354.269881d3@csc.anu.oz>
Organization: Psychology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 46
In-Reply-To: <2354.269881d3@csc.anu.oz>

pfr654@csc.anu.oz writes:
> Lots of posters to this and other Mac newsgroups are Mac evangelists 
> (including me).
> 
> I think that unless Apple does something drastic, that the Mac will die 
> (death by Windows). Mac sales are probably going through the floor right 
> this minute!

Funny.  I remember reading recently that the May sales of Macs were
*up*, much to the surprise of analysts everywhere, and the price of
Apple's stock has gone up about 10% since the Windows announcement.
These are not generally accepted corporate death signs.  Of course,
the whole market could turn sour for them pretty quickly, as it has
happened to others in the field, but I don't see any evidence for this
now.

> People with limited $$ (isn't everyone in this boat, from home users to 
> corporations) will be buying a 'nice' interface for less money if they get 
> a PC. These people are NEW COMPUTER USERS and don't know/understand or care 
> about the finer details of lots of the discussion going on about win 3 vs 
> Mac.

Another funny thing is that most of the people I know who are raving
about Windows are people who already own a pc.  I'm sure Windows will
sell plenty of machines, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the
pcs sold to naive users are sold through dealers, where the potential
savings are less than elsewhere because these first time buyers are,
well, naive.  

> Apple's advertising is good, but it has to be followed up by cheap macs.
> 
> Suggestion: a cheap modular Mac, able to do colour, based on 68000 or 
> 68020: to compete head-on with clone makers.

Personally, I'd abandon the 68000 altogether if I were Apple.  It will
end up being such a royal pain trying to write innovative operating
systems that will be useful on both 68000s and 68030s that I don't
think Apple can stand to do it next time.

> *====*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*
> Phil Ryan                                         
> ANU Department of Physics and Theoretical Physics 
> Canberra, Australia                               
> pfr654@csc.anu.oz.au   phone:(61 6) 249 4678   fax:(61 6) 249 0741

jking