Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!rutgers!gatech!purdue!decwrl!ucbvax!ANDREW.CMU.EDU!jm7e+ From: jm7e+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU ("Jeremy G. Mereness") Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Future of IIgs Message-ID: Date: 26 Jul 88 14:47:27 GMT References: <8807241256.AA23216@crash.cts.com> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 29 I have posted and mailed a few things regarding the furute of the //gs. My biggest point above all is that, despite disbelief in many "respected" computer circles, the // family and its processor family, the Western Design 65xx/65xxx series, has not reached its technological limit. There is great potential for the micoprocessor, because the die-hard designer at Western is setting his sights right now on a 32-bit 65832 (pin for pin compatible with the 65816) that would compare admirably with the 68030, and a 65825 parallel processor. Truly! Read the interview in last month's Open-Apple newsletter! This guy has ambition! The article even went on to envision Apple supporting two, high-end pc lines utilizing two distinct technologies; a RISC environment supporting UNIX on the Mac, and parallel processing on the //. Why not? The potential is there! The problem is Apple must get on the stick and start exploiting these resources NOW, before competition from IBM and compatibles on the high-end and Amigas on the low-end (though not low-end in performance) squeeze the // out of a market. It is fortunate that the Apple // has a strong foothold in schools (though not in universities, which is important for development) but IBM has announced that it is now focusing effort to get its 8088 based machines into the K-12 market as well. The present GS cannot compete performance-wise with these machines. The // line is not finished, but it must prove itself and do so soon. The delay in getting good staff and attention for the // frustrates me and reminds me of a time when Apple made similar mistakes in the Apple /// (a good machine in its own right), the Lisa, and even the first Macintoshes. You see, the nly thing the //GS has going against it is not technology, compatibility, or potential market; it's time.