Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!UTCVM.BITNET!MQUINN From: MQUINN@UTCVM.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: A low blow from Apple Message-ID: <9009230839.AA00660@apple.com> Date: 23 Sep 90 06:34:47 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 70 >Our feeling was that the ][c would have probably been a state of the art >laptop with an internal hard drive and hi-res screen and the ][gs would have >been a competitive edge with the 386's of today in price and compatibility. I agree! I've thought this since the Macintosh was intruced! If there was no Mac, then the GS would be MUCH faster and much more powerful than it is now. Heres a few quotes from the November '86 issure of A+... The issue that introduced the IIGS: pg. 60, 1st column, 1st paragraph. "THE MAKING OF THE APPLEIIGS" Jeanne Duprau and Molly Tyson "To the executive staff, the IIx [what the GS was called by the press before it was released] was an insurance policy. If the Macintosh didn't work out, AP Ple would have an alternative machine to position against the IBM PC. As it turned out, the Macinstosh didn't need a pinch hitter, and the 65816 p rocessor chip fell behind schedule. So no one was surprised when the Brooklyn/ Golden Gate project [project IIGS] came falling down like one bridge it wasn't code-named after. In fact, the team leaders were the ones who suggested to the executive staff that the project be canceled. For six months after that, there was no more talk about a 16-bit Apple II, a nd Hillman was reassigned to a more mundane task--reducing the cost of the Appl e II." Here's something on the speed problem: Same magazine and issue. Pg 52. 2nd column 2nd paragraph: "A TECHNICAL OVERVIEW OF THE APPLE IIGS" Gary B Little "I do not expect to see developers of business and productivity software stampe ding to use QuickDraw and the user-interface tools to create Macintosh-like app lications on the GS. The reason is simple: Text-screen operations are much fa ster than graphics operations, and users want speed. The speed differential is particularly great for applications, such as word-processing programs and comm unications programs, that frequently update and scroll the screen. Ease of use is not really an issue, since programs based on the text-based f ile-card metaphor, such as AppleWorks, have proven to be just as easy to learn as those based on the Macintosh desktop metaphor. Obviously, some business app lications will use the super-hi-res graphics screen; they include charting and drawing programs, database programs that work with images rather than text, and word-processing programs that display text as it will appear when printed. Ju st don't expect them to run as quickly as the equivalent programs on the Macint osh do." Here's another excerpt from the previous article that about says it all: "In October 1983, Steve Wazniak, inventor of the original Apple II, made some r emarkably candid statements in an electronic conference on CompuServe. Comment ing on Apple's future plans for the Ii series, he said we could expect to see a new machine by the middle of 1984 that would use "a revolutionary 6502-based p rocessor" and be able to access 16 megabytes of memory directly. He was referring to the so-called Apple IIx project, but, for a variety of r easons, notably the infatuation of the Apple brass with the Macintosh (announce d in January 1984), the project was ultimately scrapped. But now, three years after this initial hint of things to come, Apple has fi nally created a computer that meets Woz's tantalizing specifications: the Apple IIGS. The GS stands for graphics and sound, the two sexy features Apple will use to lure customers from the grasp of Commodore and Atari. In this article, [...and people wonder why the GS is compared to the Amiga!...] I'll explain what makes the GS so special." I also remember reading, in A+, shortly after this issue (I can't find it right now... it's 4:37am) that Apple decided not to make the GS any faster than 2.8M hz because they were afraid that it would compete with the Mac. When I find it , I'll post it. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | | This is your brain... | BITNET-- mquinn@utcvm | | This is your brain on drugs... | pro-line: | | This is your brain on whole wheat.| mquinn@pro-gsplus.cts.com | |____________________________________|_______________________________|