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From: ba0k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Brian Patrick Arnold)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Chill Out
Message-ID: <sb1v=La00UhWA2kPMK@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 1 Oct 90 21:19:19 GMT
Organization: Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 40


To everyone fuming mad at Apple and Claris over HyperCard 2.0's release:

THINK.

Let's all have our concerns, but the recent responses by members of THE
HYPERCARD DEVELOPMENT TEAM and of ITS MANAGEMENT have both essentially
said that "the press release and MacWeek were misleading and there's
nothing to worry about".  Dang it, call me a fool, but even with their
disclaimers, I trust these people MUCH more than I do a sheet of paper
with an apple in the corner or a rag like MacLeak.

It's good to be in a camp with so many concerned people and I'm sure
both Claris and Apple appreciate it at one level, but frankly I find
jumping on the bandwagon of mistrust for Apple and Claris to be ignorant
and stupid.  An increasing number of responders didn't have the brains
to figure out there will be only one binary version of HyperCard which
was recently confirmed, so I wonder how effectively these "concerned
individuals" will be able to interpret much else.  It's starting to look
like people will be demanding clarifications on clarifications for a
while and dang it I'd like to see more of us come to our senses, THINK,
give management a little credit, and maybe get on to more worthwhile
problems.  The future of HyperCard is definitely a worthwhile problem,
but it's clear from the HyperCard team itself that most of us ought to
wait for the next official announcement before jumping to any more
conclusions.

I personally look forward to real documentation and real programming
tools from Claris in the $50-100 range.  In the past, I have needed to
plunk down $20-30 for decent HyperTalk books and $50-100 for decent
HyperTalk programming tools, so I can't see what problem I'd have paying
Claris to receive quality support for such an important product that has
never really had quality support extended to developers.  Are so many of
us ignorant enough to forget that HyperCard 1.x.x has never had decent
free documentation, decent free programmer's tools and support?

Does anyone have problems besides "wanna-be-Apple/Claris-managers who
know what's best for all of us" that they'd like to have answered?

- Brian