Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!apollo!nelson_p@apollo.uucp
From: nelson_p@apollo.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Lawsuit, standardization, etc
Message-ID: <3bc1d906.44e6@apollo.uucp>
Date: 29 Apr 88 19:27:00 GMT
Sender: user@apollo.uucp
Lines: 32
To: comp.sys.ibm.pc@news



>Things Apple did before IBM
>---------------------------
>Graphical user interface
>Mouse
>32-bit architecture
>3-1/2 disk drives
>Built-in video, disk drive controllers, clock chip, etc.
>OS capable of addressing large amounts of memory
>Multitasking
>
>Things IBM did before Apple:
>----------------------------
>Open architecture (not even this if you count the Apple II...)

  I assume that by 'open architecture' you mean that PC's have an
  expansion bus and that the physical, electrical, and timing info
  on the bus is made public so anybody can make boards to plug
  into it.  

  If so, then IBM is responsible for another MAJOR innovation that
  greatly benefitted the industry and that you have overlooked:
  THEY ALLOWED THE EXISTENCE OF (FUNCTIONAL) CLONES.
  
  The whole reason why you can buy a PC-type computer for about
  half the price of a similarly equipped Mac is that Apple allows
  no competition.  All of Apple's innovations are really neat 
  but if you can't afford them then it's academic.  Engineering
  types sometimes forget that sales and marketing innovations are
  just as important as technical ones.   

                                           --Peter Nelson