Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!mintaka!mit-eddie!bu-cs!mirror!prism!rob
From: rob@prism.TMC.COM
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Profit motivations (was: Re: Xerox
Message-ID: <206900151@prism>
Date: 21 Dec 89 14:34:00 GMT
References: <42854@<1989Dec20>
Lines: 39
Nf-ID: #R:<1989Dec20:-4285400:prism:206900151:000:2113
Nf-From: prism.TMC.COM!rob    Dec 21 09:34:00 1989



>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. 

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

   I have no love for IBM's product-line protectionism (the AT was the best 
known example, but there are numerous others), but Apple has engaged in this,
too. The early Macs were crippled in various ways to prevent them from 
competing with the Lisa. Sadly, most companies do this at times.

   Fortunately for users, this policy is self-defeating. It almost killed
the Macintosh. IBM's refusal to upgrade the AT was the beginning of its
long market share slide in the PC world (the early PS/2's, all of which 
were deliberately limited in one way or another, hastened this decline). 
And the trail is littered with the bones of minicomputer makers who, to 
protect existing product lines, refused to introduce desktop machines. 

>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.

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

   Probably true. Lots of the lawsuits filed these days are Fear,
Uncertainty, and Doubt lawsuits. (Some others, as Ashton-Tate has freely
admitted, are meant to bankrupt small competitors with legal fees). 

   The success of the Apple suit against Microsoft is questionable, though. 
Apple is given such a small chance of winning (most of the case has already 
been thrown out) that few people take it into account when making purchases. 
Windows is selling like crazy, and is gaining momentum every day (to the 
point, ironically, that IBM and Microsoft are worried about its effect on 
yet another product that has been crippled in the name of product-line 
protectionism, OS/2).