Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!mit-eddie!mit-amt!snorkelwacker!spdcc!xylogics!world!madd
From: madd@world.std.com (jim frost)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Profit motivations (was: Re: Xerox sues Apple!!!)
Message-ID: <1989Dec20.042854.24256@world.std.com>
Date: 20 Dec 89 04:28:54 GMT
References: <6767@tank.uchicago.edu> <1989Dec17.112127.27333@me.toronto.edu> <14960@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <4574@ur-cc.UUCP> <37366@apple.Apple.COM> <1930@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Organization: Software Tool & Die
Lines: 36

davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes:
>  Apple has a firm committment to PROFIT, and makes IBM look positively
>benevolent by comparison.

Only if you look at IBM's small change, which is its PC market.  IBM
deliberately slowed the AT because a fast AT might have chopped into
System/36 sales, which at the time was among IBM's most profitable
areas.  They took a beating in the PC market for it, but hell they
sold /36's for a couple of years longer than they might have.

If you look around now you see IBM shifting away from the standard PC
viewpoint right back to what they did in the past -- fairly smart
terminals which do much of the processing locally to unload large
centralized processors.  IBM wants PC's to be the next 3270.

Apple, big and arrogant as it is, doesn't even compare.

BTW, I was of the opinion that the Microsoft/Apple lawsuit was
supposed to slow down Microsoft.  Looked pretty hard to win but every
day that Microsoft spends dealing with Apple and not selling Windows
is another bunch of Apples out the door.  And if they did win, so much
the better.  Pretty shrewd business work even if it is pretty nasty.

I consider the Xerox suit to be similar -- Xerox looks to be saying
"yo, all these suits are ridiculous".  $150 million is to get the
attention of the common man -- it's certainly only a hand slap
considering the profitability of the Mac.  And if it shows people that
Xerox can be inventive, so much the better.

Neither lawsuit seems to be particularly bent towards the necessity of
winning, but more of an overall strategy or publicity statement.

Big picture, people.  Always look for the big picture.

jim frost
madd@std.com