Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!mcgill-vision!quiche!calvin!mikey
From: mikey@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Michael GALLOP)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm,comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: IBM & Tandy == Stupidity!
Message-ID: <3785@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca>
Date: 26 Jul 90 15:17:39 GMT
References: <1990Jul25.210322.4059@cs.utk.edu>
Reply-To: mikey@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca (Michael GALLOP)
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm
Organization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Lines: 40

In article <1990Jul25.210322.4059@cs.utk.edu> wozniak@utkux1.utk.edu (Bryon Lape) writes:
>
>	With IBM's announcement of the PS/1 and Tandy's 1000 RL, it is
>obvious that these two companies do not know what the HELL they are
>doing!  
No, actually, I don't think YOU know what they are doing.
With respect to the PS/1 IBM doesn't care what you, a programmer, 
thinks. The machine is targetted at the, oh about, 50 million houses
out there that can afford a computer but don't have one.
The reason that these houses don't have one is THEY ARE AFRAID OF THEM.
That is why IBM has put the PS/1 in Sears. People want something familiar.

>the matter is, faster machines with more options are available from the
>"no-name clone" competition for the same money.  If anyone buys these
>machines, they probably already own the Brooklyn Bridge. 
No, again IBM is , as we know, a well known name.
When a household puts out $2,00 for a system hen they want reliability.
They also want help.
ACME computers in California simply doesn't have the resources neccesary.

> Why do we users put up with this nonsense?
They don't want users to. They want families to. Big difference.


Personally, I dislike IBM products, but if we as programmers want to 
push for a more computer literate populace, then this is something we should 
look at.
IBM includes a modem. What we should do is help anybody who does buy a PS/1
 learn. We all had to start somewhere too!

Apologies to the original author, I don't want to come across as pompus..
But If we want computer to be available then we can't hope for a SUN 
or a 386 in every house. We have to support a well thought out (for once!)
package for the CONSUMER.

-- 
| mikey@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca | "Life is just a linear Regression to Chaos," |
| Mike Gallop	    	    | "...Poured through a Klein bottle"           |
|        You think my profs know who I am to disclaim me?!??		   |
|"Stealing from one author is plagarism....Stealing from many is research" |