Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!caen.engin.umich.edu!sol.engin.umich.edu!billkatt
From: billkatt@sol.engin.umich.edu (billkatt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac pricing and the future of the Mac
Message-ID: <422352d9.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu>
Date: 20 Mar 89 15:26:00 GMT
References: <12101@reed.UUCP> <12708@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Sender: netnews@caen.engin.umich.edu
Reply-To: billkatt@caen.engin.umich.edu (billkatt)
Organization: Computer Aided Engineering Network (CAEN), University of Michigan
Lines: 65
Sender:
Followup-To:

In article <12708@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Peter.G.Merchant@dartmouth.edu (Peter Merchant) writes:
>In article <12101@reed.UUCP> wab@reed.UUCP (Bill Baker) writes:
[valid complaints about Apple's pricing deleted]
>>The most disturbing trend I've seen in the Mac line is planned
>>obselesence.  Why no PMMU in the MacII?  Why code a 4meg memory
>>limitation in the SE ROM's?  Apple must have been working on the IIx
>>at the same time as the II and seen the value of virtual memory.  For
>>that matter, why limit the II to 8 meg?  The memory fiasco with the
>>IBM PC line should have shown to everybody the stupidity of memory
>>limitations.  How much memory can a 68000 address?  A 68020?  A 68030?
>>Why design in limitations...unless you want to later remove those
>>limitations for a hefty price.

How dare you make accusations when you don't know anything about the
situation.  If you really had any knowledge about what you are complaining
about, then you would make this accusation.  There is no PMMU in the Mac II
because the 68851 was not available when the Mac II came out, it was only
available in sample test batches.  The 68551 (68451?) was available, but it
sucks.
The 68000 can only access 16 Megabytes of space because there was not a DIP
package big enough to bring out more than 24 pins of address lines.  And, as
it says in Inside Mac III... "In the Macintosh, this is divided into four
equal sections.  The first four Mb are for RAM, the second four Mb are for ROM,
the third are for the SCC, and the last four are for the IWM and VIA."  Apple
did this because back in 1984 when the Mac was designed, it was absurd to
think that someday this design would need to access more than 4Mb of RAM.
By comparison, IBM assumed you would never need more than 640K.  So Apple
could SAVE them and you money by not decoding the upper lines in ROM, SCC,
and IWM/VIA.  When the SE was made, it had to be designed the same to keep
compatibility.  In the Mac II, they stretched it a bit, and split it 50/50
between RAM and I/O and ROM.  Apple did come up with an arcitecture which can
support more than 8Mb, the Mac II.  When switched into 32-bit mode, it can
access far more than the 128 Mb you can put on the motherboard (with 16Mb
SIMMS).  The current OS doesn't run in 32-bit mode because that breaks things
like CDEFs.  Rumour has it that the next system runs in 32-bit mode (and
breaks a LOT of software).

>>Remember the Model T?  Henry Ford only made a few bucks on each
>>T, but he sold millions of them.  VW turned out cheap Bugs like
>>hotcakes and made a mint.  The Mac was supposed to be the same kind of
>>deal.  The Beast Jobs wanted to put a Mac in every home...and he was
>>right, John.  Control the market and the profits will come, billions
>>more.  Look at Bill Gates and DOS.  Put a Plus with a SuperDrive on
>>the market for under $500 and they'll sell like Hula Hoops.  Charge a
>>reasonable price for upgrades so that a user can buy into the Mac line
>>for a fair price and stay current with new development at a bearable
>>cost.  In short, stop trying to screw every possible dollar out of the
>>Mac market and you'll eventually make a lot more money.

Try telling IBM you would like and upgrade from your PS/2 model 30 to a Model
70-A21 (25 Mhz 80386).  They will laugh in your face.  First of all, they don't
do upgrades, you just chuck your old machine.  Second of all, the 70-A21 is
currently out of production because of design flaws.


+----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Steve Bollinger      | Internet: billkatt@sol.engin.umich.edu             |
| 4297 Sulgrave Dr.    +------+---------------------------------------------+
| Swartz Creek, Mi. 48473     | "My employer doesn't take my opinion any    |
+-----------------------------+  more seriously than you do."               |
| "You remember the IIe, it   +---------------------------------------------+
| was the machine Apple made before they decided people didn't need         |
| machines with big screens, color, or slots."                              |
|                                 - Harry Anderson (from NBC's Night Court) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+