geb@cadre.UUCP (05/25/84)
I appreciated getting the ARPA news on the mac. It is interesting to see the heat and controversy it is generating. The situation reminds me some of what happened way back in 1978 when I bought my Apple II. At that time a cadre of (largely hardware) hackers had developed who were running 8080 systems, usually S-100. In order to sucessfully use a computer at home then, you had to really understand it and be able to configure the system and write the software for it yourself, as well as make repairs, since there were no real dealers. For the first year or two after the Apple II came out, there was very little software available (it took a year before even a single disk drive was available). Many people recommended the TRS-80 because of its HUGE excess of available software. However, the superiority of Apple features such as graphics and an open system shifted the balance to Apple's favor over the next 2 or 3 years. The other change that the Apple II and the TRS-80 wrought was that you no longer had to be smart to have a computer. This led to the flooding of the computer clubs with novices and the driving out of many of the clubs' founding hackers who got tired of continually answering the same stupid questions. The moaning we are hearing now with the advent of the mac is in someways analogous, I think. The mac is the first computer that is so easy to learn how to use that almost anyone can do it. I have recommended the Mac to a couple of people who had a hard time understanding that they had to press return after issuing an operating system command and within a day or so they were in love with it, and using it productively. The brilliance of the mac, I think, is that it adapts the concepts flowing from the research at Xerox PARC that Xerox failed to market sucessfully in the Alto, at least at a price that every person can afford. The melding of a decent processor with intuitive software which can be manufactured cheaply is Apple's breakthrough. I certainly may not agree entirely with the present 128K, 1 drive and $2500 price configuration, but it represents a rational marketing decision and the price will surely come down if/when production can keep up with demand. Remembering the Apple II experience, the software will probably not be voluminous for a year or two, but this is unavoidable. This is not to say the Mac is the computer for everyone. The BIOS hackers and hardware folks can still have fun trying to get BSD UNIX up on their 16032 homebrew, but should recognize that it is computers like the mac that are the likely candidates as a tool for everyman. I was especially disappointed in Jerry Pournelle's attitude, which seemed to me short-sighted for a person who professionally looks toward the future (s-f writer). I hope his negativity is not reflected so strongly in his BYTE column as to discourage novice users from buying macs and that future software and hardware developments will change his mind about the mac. Well, I've shot off my mouth enough for today...