Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!ANDREW.CMU.EDU!jm7e+ From: jm7e+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU ("Jeremy G. Mereness") Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Apple supporting the Apple // line Message-ID: Date: 15 Sep 88 21:13:35 GMT References: <8809141215.aa09913@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 58 No sale, mister. Brint Cooper writes... > 4. Meanwhile, Apple sees that the IIgs is not the >machine to capture the imagination of the commercial, technical, and >business marketplaces. Not even a IIgs+ can do that. Subjectively, in >the mind of the buyer, it is still the computer of the elementary >school. Without a product having an independent product image, Apple >cannot compete with IBM, Compaq, and clones. Hence, the Mac line. >There seems to be no conflict between the potential customer bases for >the two lines, except for the occasional home buyer or the adult who >wants to buy a computer but doesn't know why or which. The computer >seller will steer such a user to a machine that will provide maximum >satisfaction to the user and maximum profit to the seller. What's wrong >with that? Neither Apple nor IBM are subsidiaries of Consumer's Union. As far as consumer's union is concerned, the computer industry and the auto industry are similar in that they must support the cutsomers who buy their products. How would you like it if Ford sold you a car and stopped making parts for it the following year? The Apple // has a huge amount of potential. It is not, as you seem to imply, a machine that is limited in its capabilities or has reached its last limits. Western Design Center has chips in the works that would make the // into a parallel processing machine (the 65c825) as well as a 65c832. All of these are compatible with the present gs and would continue the line and the open-architectured environment of the // series. Therefore, it becomes very frustrating to those of us who have the computers to see Apple restraining that potential because of a "Marketing Idea." As a student in engineering, I do not credit the logic of breaking a machine's legs to keep sales up. Further, how long will this "safe zone" work for Apple? True, Apple has the education market in the bag. For now. They want to do the same for the University market. But what will happen when educators want more power? When the want their machines to interface with their administrative mainframes and workstations? You say the GS+ will not excite anybody. If that is true, that is Apple's fault for deliberately downplaying the machine. But the GS+ will STAND ON ITS FEET when compared to other contemporary machines, which is what can be expected from Apple as a computer company. I think educators will begin to think about this as the // line fals farther and farther behind. And IBM is not standgin still. They are inching their way into Apple's hold of the educator's market. That hold wil surely decay, if it is not fed somehow. I'm sorry about this, but I loathe people and companies who find a safe niche and then rest on their laurels and do nothing until something inevitably kicks them out Capt. Albatross jm7e+@andrew.cmu.edu ============ Apparently hoping in vain for a GS+... (*sigh*) disclaimer: These opinions are mine and will remain so until more intelligent or insightful or informed people are kind enough to show me the error of my ways because in the barbecue of life, a mind is a terrible thing to baste.