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From: zrm@mit-eddie.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple Stumbling (really: I got side-tracked to bad-mouth the 128k)
Message-ID: <7301@eddie.MIT.EDU>
Date: Mon, 2-Nov-87 09:00:48 EST
Article-I.D.: eddie.7301
Posted: Mon Nov  2 09:00:48 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Nov-87 19:59:32 EST
References: <549@auscso.UUCP> <76000032@uiucdcsp> <7504@dartvax.UUCP> <4205@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> <6674@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Reply-To: zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks)
Organization: MIT, EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 43

Lest we forget: When the original 128k Macintosh came out, you were
faced with the following choice: Spend $130,000 on a lisp machine from
Symbolics or LMI, spend $50,000 on a lisp machine from Xerox, or spend
$4,000 on  128k Macintosh and get a computer with a more-polished and
better-performing window system. Those were the choices if you wanted
to buy a computer with a window system to program. Despite Apple's
promises, the Lisa was not programmable, and everything else was
roll-your-own window system, completely ad hoc, and had no hope of
ever developing an applications base.

At the time I was considering taking an IBM-PC, getting some small OS
like XINU running on it, and rolling my own window system. One look at
the Macintosh software architecture convinced me that I ought to spend
my time programming the Mac instead -- what a gem! (Or rather, what a
lot better than GEM!) So before you get up and say how much less
capable was than it could have been, consider that it was capable
enough to embarass some very heavy hitters with its window system
performance, and that, from the beginning, it had a more elegant
software architecture than anything yet created for microcomputers.
From the point of view of a software developer, the Macintosh was
always a superior machine, and now the users are reaping the benefits
of that superiority in the form of measuably more productive tools for
business. 

So why are 128k Macs doorstops? 1) Apple missed the boat on the
economics of disks and memory. 2) Developers couldn't learn to deal
with programming the Mac and dealing with the memory limitations (for
which the toolbox provided tools for dealing with). 3) Users did not
pursue Apple's upgrade path and do not now avail themselves of the
considerable third-party upgrades available. 4) Those damn 400k disk
drives made THE most unpleasant noise I have ever heard come out of a
computer -- not an inconsiderable flaw in a machine that was supposed
the visceral appeal of a Cuisinart, BMW, or Braun appliance.

Any questions?

-Zigurd

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zigurd R. Mednieks
MURSU Corporation	
25 Exeter Street
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 424-0146