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From: cca@pur-phy.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: APDA - any satisfied customers?
Message-ID: <936@pur-phy>
Date: Tue, 24-Nov-87 19:41:36 EST
Article-I.D.: pur-phy.936
Posted: Tue Nov 24 19:41:36 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Nov-87 14:07:22 EST
References: <1228@runx.ips.oz> <7943@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Organization: Purdue Univ. Phys Dept, W.Lafayette, IN
Lines: 41
Summary: This is Apple policy, not APDA.

> ACtually, the thing that really gets me is that they are not and do
> not plan to sell Hypercard.

Apple won't LET APDA sell HyperCard.  I believe Apple is doing this to
keep their dealers happy.  The general policy is that Apple won't sell
anything through APDA that you could buy at a dealer (MacWrite,
MacPaint, MacDraw, HyperCard, etc.).

> Also, another really ludicrous point is the Apple MWP.  If I
> understand the APDA ads correctly, you buy MPW for $200 or $150.
> However, to really do anything, you need to buy the compiler for
> another $150 (or so).  How STUPID!!!  They should at least charge a
> little more for MPW and then give you a choice of the languages.

Again, this is Apple's doing, not APDA's.  APDA just duplicates the
disks and documentation that Apple sends them.  They get no say in how
the pieces to MPW are bundled.

On this one, I agree with Apple.  What if you don't want one of
Apple's compilers?  There are several other compilers out there that
run under MPW.  I don't want to pay for a compiler from Apple if I'm
not going to use it!  Writing a compiler to run under MPW means that
the writers don't have to worry about also writing an editor, or
linker, or any of the other things that come with a programming
environment.

As an aside, MPW does come with a very nice assembler, so it can be
used without a compiler, if you're an assembly hacker (I'm not).

> The nice thing is that they are selling Multifinder for 17.50.  That
> may make membership worthwhile ($20 + $17.50 = $37.50 instead of
> $49)

Read the catalog entry for this.  The Multifinder package from APDA is
not the same as the one the retailers sell.  The one from APDA
contains info useful to a developer, which you don't get with the
dealer version.  The one from a dealer contains the "user manual",
which you don't get with the APDA version.  Of course, whether you
actually need the "user manual" is for you to decide.

Charlie Allen		cca@newton.physics.purdue.edu