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From: jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Retailer drops Mac
Message-ID: <11190@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Apr-86 00:19:33 EST
Article-I.D.: amdcad.11190
Posted: Wed Apr  2 00:19:33 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Apr-86 01:28:46 EST
References: <1605@sdcsvax.UUCP> <2972@amdahl.UUCP> <12825@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler)
Organization: AMD, Sunnyvale, California
Lines: 49
Keywords: Incompetence Obselesence Shoddy Sears

In article <12825@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Lawrence J. Mazlack) writes:
>As Apple offers truely shoddy support and abandons users when they come
>out with new iron (think about what happened to Apple /// and Lisa users),
>a sane business would have to think awfully hard before buying something
>other than DEC or IBM (maybe ATT&T or HP).

Interesting, pick two examples of your choice:

Apple II: seven years of straight support, upward compatibility, and growth.

Apple ///: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

Lisa: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

IBM PCjr: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

HP25: Was replaced by the HP26. Some effort was made to maintain compatibility
between the machines, but only if you didn't exploit most of the upward
expanding and newer options of the HP26.  The HP26 was later replaced by the
series 200, which was not offered with HP25 compatibility.

Ford Edsel: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

IBM PC: five years of growth. But is it compatible with the RT? To some
extent.  Like the HP26 is compatible with the HP25.

Macintosh: The Mac+ is compatible with the Mac512 is compatible with the
Mac128.  True there are some gotcha's, but there are compatibility gotchas
between the IBM PC and the IBM PC XT and the IBM PC AT.  There are even
compatibility gotchas between the IBM PC monochrome and the IBM PC color.

IBM 1620: I learned to love it. It's been dropped. :-)

ASR33: Workhorse of the industry. It's been dropped.

Apple's made mistakes. Dropping the Lisa before a true replacement was
available is undoubtedly one of them. Pricing strategies is another
(sometimes). [I went and got my 3.1/5.2 OS/finder upgrade today. Cost $4,
because I had to buy a disk to put it on.] [I went to buy my IBM PCDos
upgrade last year. Cost $70]


-- 
 Jim Budler
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
 (408) 749-5806
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