Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!husc6!bu.edu!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!matthews
From: matthews@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jim Matthews)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: System software on CD-ROM
Message-ID: <18042@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 28 Dec 89 15:57:22 GMT
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 26

Well, I guess the Mac system software is getting big -- in a mailing to
developers Apple has suggested some "great reasons to buy a CD drive",
including (and I quote):

* Beta versions of System 7 Software will be distributed *only* on
CD-ROM.

* All future releases of system software, after System 7 Software, are
slated for distribution only on CD-ROM.

This second one seems rather absolute (does "All future releases" mean
those in 2001??? :-)  But even if they just mean System 8, CD-ROM drives
had better become cheaper or built in -- I can't imagine buying a Mac
without a means to boot up the system software on it.

I think this plan points out a problem in Apple's hardware strategy, the
lack of standardized, high-capacity removable storage.  The 800k disk is
too small to hold the system, and I gather from this letter that the
1.4M disks are considered too little, too late.  I would like to see
Macs come standard with a 20M floppy -- that would keep the capacity of
removeable media in line with the size of the system, as well as the
growing size of other files people want to move around (e.g. PageMaker,
the Tech Note stack, etc.).

Jim Matthews
Dartmouth Software Development