Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!usenet From: gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: How to write to Apple Message-ID: Date: 20 Jun 91 01:15:46 GMT References: <54119@apple.Apple.COM> Lines: 63 Nntp-Posting-Host: eclipse.its.rpi.edu bc@Apple.COM (bill coderre) writes: > gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu writes: > |>Seriously, how can more memory capability be a significant hassle?? > | > |More memory won't be a hassle. But 32-bit Cleanliness, when many > |major programs still aren't 32-bit Clean, can cause headaches. Think > |of the guy who manages a network of Macs in an office... > | > |And, -right now-, the advantages of 32-Bit Cleanliness are a bit > |nebulous. Really, how many people in your office/environment use more > |than 8 MB? Would you want to try to convince the purchasing > |department to shell out a few thousand dollars to upgrade the ROMS of > |20-30 Macs on the strength of "Well, it'll let everyone use more > |memory"? The advantages of 32-Bit Cleanliness are long-term. The > |people who control purchases and budgets very frequently see only the > |short-term - or, even when they see the long-term, they are forced to > |respond only to short-term needs. > > I just wanted to thank Jim Gaynor for a well-reasoned article > explaining some of the problems caused by an upgrade process. There > are people who will be hit hard by an upgrade -- especially mac > site managers -- by the expense, complexity, and compatibility > problems. The well-reasoned article suffers a bit by acting as if a ROM upgrade is somehow different than any other upgrade. All the problems mention above do indeed exist, but they exist just as much if the company goes out and buys brand new machines (or Apple upgrades for old machines). If you can't convince your purchasing department to upgrade the ROM's for 20-30 machines, then you will have no trouble at all if Apple supplied a ROM upgrade. You won't own the new ROM's, so they can't very well introduce new problems for you. What the well-reasoned article is really saying on that point is that some people don't need the new ROM's, which is certainly true. That's not the question however. The question is: For those people who *DO* need (or at least think they need) 32-bit addressing, what options is Apple giving them? Right now the option is to buy a new Mac, or an Apple upgrade that changes your old Mac to a newer Mac. This is particularly annoying for people who bought a Mac based on an Apple claim that those Macs *would* support the extra memory once the operating system could handle it. The operating system can now handle it, but the claim made by Apple (on the machines with "32-bit dirty" ROMs) turns out to be meaningless. What I'd like to see is a well-reasoned article explaining how buying a ROM upgrade (should one exist) is different than the same person going out and buying a new Mac in order to get the clean 32-bit addressing. I'm assuming a person will not get a ROM upgrade (should one exist) unless they feel they need 32-bit addressing. Another assumption I'm making (which may be flawed) is that any ROM upgrade would just provide the same ROM's that are in a Mac IIci (or any of the 32-bit machines). I don't expect Apple to come out with a brand new ROM which would be different than all the ROM's that currently exist. As such, the ROM's should not introduce any compatability problems other than those which would occur when a person buys a Mac IIci. - - - - - - - - Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@rpi.edu or gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu ITS Systems Programmer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy NY USA