Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!e260-3d.berkeley.edu!c60c-3aw
From: c60c-3aw@e260-3d.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Apple II manuals
Message-ID: <18236@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 13 Dec 88 19:07:57 GMT
References: <8812112236.AA17022@crash.cts.com>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 41

In article <8812112236.AA17022@crash.cts.com> pnet01!pro-sol!pro-ascii!pro-newfrontier!rs.miller@nosc.mil writes:
>  Unfortunately, SOME of us are not as hardware and software inclined as you
>are.  The market has changed since the late 70's.  Nowadays, most people who
>purchase a computer are not inclined on learning how to program it: they just

Why not throw all the manuals in?  The original Apple // was sold with
the "idiot" manuals as well as the "techy" manuals.  They weren't formatted
as "nicely" (severe sarcasm), so they were only about 50% as big.

>want something to 1) entertain the kids 2) help Johnny with his homework
>3)help me run my business 4) help me straighten out my books, etc.  I used to

The Apple // was sold for a LOOOOOONG time as a VisiCalc machine.  Sounds a
lot like the above... nowadays, Apple is pushing the Macintosh for the
higher education market (i.e., college students).  Apple want's Johnny to
do his homework on a Mac...

[stuff removed...]
>About 8 out of 10 support calls I received the end user DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW
>TO TURN THE COMPUTER ON!!! Mind you, these are people with B.S. in Education,
[more stuff removed...]

Good.  Give them a clear, concise, 10 page manual for how to turn the power
on and off (that's about what you get with any of their overpriced
peripherals).  If Apple doesn't think we want to program, why give us an
Applesoft manual with the computer?  Why not sell it as a two-volume set
for $50 each?

>Randy
>rs.miller

A side note... there were some rumors that Apple had decreased the speed of
the //gs+ because of pressure from 3rd party developers making accelerator
boards (hello, AE?)  I hope this isn't true... a faster speed made somewhat
standard would at least double the software market; most developers really
can't develop some products (esp games) because they are just too slow...

-- 
fadden@zen.berkeley.edu [crashed]
c60c-3aw@widow.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden)
"If the //gs+ is everything it's cracked up to be, I'll shut my mouth for
 a while..."