knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (06/23/84)
<feed it> The current argument over the Model 4P's future just goes to show that Tandy's corporate policy of secrecy and carefully massaged information releases has led to an environment that feeds on rumors. Most TRS-80 magazines allude to this fact. At the local level, Radio Shack dealers don't even know what's going to be on sale the next day, let alone what models are going to be discontinued next month. And even if they had a confidential contact inside Fort Worth, no, make that TWO conytacts, they'd probably get at least two different answers from them. The sad fact is that the 4P's designer would probably learn that his baby was discontinued when he saw the sale notice in his Radio Shack flyer at the local store. Large companies are like this; they can't trust mere engineers like us with sales strategies. I'm glad to see trsvax on the net; its existence implies Tandy is serious about software development, and not totally dependent on Microsoft et al. By the way, what about the rumor that the Micro COlor COmputer is being phased out? "Rumors are our most valuable source of information. One of them must be true." mike k
mikey@trsvax.UUCP (06/25/84)
#R:ihnss:-211700:trsvax:70700010:000:1234 trsvax!mikey Jun 25 09:21:00 1984 The issue here is not if the 4P is going to be discontinued, but when. I don't think that anyone on the net really expects the 4P to last forever, or 10 years, whichever comes first. Technology marches on. Where would we be if the Model 1 was still our only computer product? Products are continually improved and even made cheaper to produce. As a products margin increases and the marketplace tightens, proces will drop and even new products will appear. Yes, things like the 1, 2, 3, MC-10, and Coco 1 are now history, but as far as possible, we've tried to maintain at least some compatibility, even at the expense of some enhancements that would have been possible. Back to the 4P, I will state, as JSF did before me, that the 4P has no plans for being dumped. There will be sales, and price reductions. Even redesigns to make the machine cheaper to produce, but I can virtually guarantee that the machine is not going to be discontinued this month. We wouldn't be still building them now if they were being discontinued any time soon with the lead time that we at Tandy have to deal with. Please keep rumors in the rumor category and everybody will be happy, don't try to pass them as fact. mikey at trsvax
dwhitney@uok.UUCP (06/25/84)
#R:ihnss:-211700:uok:20500007:000:602 uok!dwhitney Jun 25 09:26:00 1984 I think you hit the nail on the head. Radio Shack's eternal "veil of secrecy" has very much created an environment of rumor. The folks at the computer centers, I think, are deliberately kept in the dark by HQ to prevent the flow of any info to prevent "runs" on the store for i.e. discontinued equipment, or, more exactly to make every buck out of it they can until they just can't deny the rumors anymore. By the way, I also heard (and have read) that Micro CoCo is on the way out.. Is this true?? Also, when is TRSDOS 6.2 coming out for the Model 4???? David Whitney !ctvax!uokvax!uok!dwhitney