Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!agate!web-2e.berkeley.edu!labc-4da
From: labc-4da@web-2e.berkeley.edu (Bob Heiney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple's APDA: G'bye Amateurs & Fans
Summary: Keep the faith, Apple!
Message-ID: <19791@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 1 Feb 89 19:00:45 GMT
References: <sXtTiQy00WB3IbtGJS@andrew.cmu.edu> <15740@mimsy.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 30


*** FLAME ON ***

I'm an amateur programmer, and I've been with MPW since it was beta
at APDA.  I paid $178.00 for the original beta release, and it was an
incredible buy; I got a powerful shell environment, a super assembler,
and a great Pascal compiler.  I bought IM through APDA at a discount.
I felt encouraged and supported as a non-professional programmer.

Today, it costs about $400 to purchase a similarily configured MPW 3.0.
Yes, I realize it's better than MPW 1.0.  But, how many amateurs are going
to shell out $400?  It would have been too steep for me.

I'm very disturbed by the seeming greed of Apple with APDA products.
Amateur developers sometimes go professional.  Surely the more
programs that are written for the Mac, the better off the Mac is.
Therefore, Apple should be actively supporting developers by offering
Inside Macintosh, MPW, and all other Apple technical resources either
at cost or at a *small* profit.  It is utterly silly that I can buy IM V1
for about $19 in Berkeley, and have to pay $24.95 plus shipping and handling
to get the same book from an organization purporting to *aid* developers.

So come on Apple, don't forget your roots.  Don't forget Steve
Wozniak.  Don't tell me that Apple has to be a beast like IBM.  Don't
tell me that innovation like Wozniak's can't succeed anymore.  That
spirit is out there still, and Apple can gain by encouraging it, just
as Apple can lose by pricing amateurs out of the best development
system for the Mac.

*** FLAME OFF ***