Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!visix!news From: amanda@visix.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: May 13th yesterday (was May 13th Today) Message-ID: <1991May19.060709.27755@visix.com> Date: 19 May 91 06:07:09 GMT References: <17937@venera.isi.edu> <52920@apple.Apple.COM> <52923@apple.Apple.COM> <1991May15.205525.19265@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Sender: news@visix.com Organization: Visix Software Inc., Reston, VA Lines: 49 gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Don Gillies) writes: If apple sends every dealer three disks, then every user will get the software for free, and apple will sell absolutely ZERO system 7.0 upgrade kits. I have to disagree with you on this. The 12 (not 3) disks are not the main value in the upgrade kit. If I hadn't had one included in my $800 WWDC fee, I would have bought one at the full $99 price. Yes, I'm a Mac propellerhead from way back (I have a Guy Kawasaki Special copy of Inside Mac, for instance), but it's worth it just for the documentation. Some three *inches* of it. Reading through it Monday night in my hotel room, I found out stuff about System 7 that I hadn't noticed in more than a year of working with beta versions. The new manuals are a tremendous improvement, and gather together a lot of information that used to be scattered about and very hard for non-developers to find. But $99 is too much for a manual, especially apple manuals, which omit critical information like "What are the secret function keys?" or "How do I print a postscript file on a non-apple printer?" or "How do I customize my finder?" Perhaps you should actually look at the new manuals before you pass judgement. I guess the recent hardware price drops were more of a cruel joke than a true shift in corporate strategy. Dropping prices for hardware is a cruel joke? This must be a usage of "cruel" that I am unfamiliar with... I predict that many people will buy 3rd-party manuals or rely on magazines instead of getting the apple documention, because of this shortsighted marketing move. Again, perhaps you should actually look at the new manuals before you pass judgement. I, for one, predict that third party manuals will become much harder to write, because of the increased depth of the Apple manuals. Now, if only application developers will follow Apple's example... -- Amanda Walker amanda@visix.com Visix Software Inc. ...!uunet!visix!amanda -- "Never mud-wrestle with a pig. You get dirty... and the pig loves it!" --Appalachian Proverb