Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!apple!claris!krazy From: krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Why, why, why? Message-ID: <9164@claris.com> Date: 23 Mar 89 18:08:14 GMT References: <8903222336.AA13007@crash.cts.com> Organization: Claris Corporation, Mountain View CA Lines: 87 > Just in case this supposed article does not make it to me in a timely > fashion, I would appreciate someone reposting the message of doom, if > in fact it does make it to MacWeek. It did. I did. >>> My example of Softswitch was to demonstrate what could be done with the >>> Apple //GS's hardware. [...] > >> There are no Andy Herzfelds for the GS, that's why. If Herzfeld hadn't >> been around, the Mac might be in the same dump the GS is in now. > >> [Oh Lord. Look at the flames coming. Where'd I leave that asbestos suit?] > > Jeff, can you expand on this analogy -- then we'll talk about flames. :) As far as the Mac is concerned, there have been two REAL hackers, IMHO: Andy Herzfeld and Bill Atkinson. Atkinson, of course, is the author of the original MacPaint, HyperCard, and most of B&W QuickDraw. Herzfeld was around from the beginning of the Mac project. He wrote Switcher, then Juggler (which later became MultiFinder). He wrote an INIT called QuikerGraf (sp?) which doubled the speed of the original 8-bit color QuickDraw on the Mac, after he left Apple. Apple bought it from him and included it in later systems. I've often wondered whether Switcher/MultiFinder was planned or if Herzfeld just DID it. I honestly suspect the latter. Originally, Herzfeld was on the Apple II team, but Jobs pulled him to the Mac. Kinda makes me wonder..... I suspect that there are hackers/programmers with the perseverance and the ability to make the GS multitasking, even if it's only with a Switcher. But it would take a LOT of cooperation with Apple. I know a few people here at Claris who might be able to pull it off. Maybe David Lyons could do it (David? You listening?). >> Apple doesn't push AppleII's at universities. > > The problem there, as I see it, is that hackers (in general) are a dying > breed in the collegiate atmosphere. There are CS majors that I know who > have no idea how to do anything outside what they have been taught, and > I am talking about upwards of 75 people who I have been involved with in > certain projects. More often than not, 'they' are amazed how much an > un'learned' person, such as myself, can learn from simply being interested > in what one is doing. People like Don Lancaster seem a dying breed in > some parts, and quite frankly, the reason that the Apple II does survive > is that some of the more ingenious people simply can't afford to by a > Mac II with $2000 video cards. Jeremy is a classic example, IMHO. > Hmm... I don't know. Most of the people I associated with in my compsci classes were hackers. Most of them ended up working at StyleWare. Scott Lindsey is the hackerishest person I know. (Who else would put up with the MPWIIgs C compiler/library quirks just to put rogue on the GS, and then rewrite what he can't work around, WITHOUT the benefit of library source?) Hackers aren't gone by any means. [Maybe that's why I'm dissatisfied with the IIgs. I stopped hacking on it and started programming. Hmmm...] I know what you mean, though. I know lots of people for whom programming is "just a job". I think there are too many people in computers just for the money. It's a damn shame that computers are "respected" now; the capitalists have taken over!! > ... In a way, the lack of _apparent_ initiative on the > part of Apple is humurous. They make a machine that is kin to a > mercy product in the eyes of the majority of the market analyst and > then the thing goes on to outsell almost all other PC's in its class. > Yet, because of the seemingly lack of support from the parent company > the machine is dying in the software and third party industries. > The only thing that I can figure out is that there must be one helluva > number of Apple II loyalists left in the world. But, it is hard to > believe that they are going to stay that way forever if the machine > does not start coming up to at least average market specs. Kids, can you say "marketing"? Sher. I knew ya could. >> On the other hand, it may be too late. c)^K > I'm really starting to like you, Jeff! :) Me too. ;-) -- Jeff Erickson \ Internet: krazy@claris.com AppleLink: Erickson4 Claris Corporation \ UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!krazy 415/960-2693 \________________________________________________________ ____________________/ "I'm so heppy I'm mizzabil!" -- Krazy Kat