[net.micro.mac] Retailer drops Mac

jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West) (03/24/86)

Without comment, from today's Wall Street Journal:
	   CHICAGO--Sears, Roebuck & Co. said it is discontinuing sales
	of Apple Compter Inc.'s Macintosh computer systems at its
	103 Business Systems Centers.

howard@amdahl.UUCP (Howard C. Simonson) (03/28/86)

In article <1605@sdcsvax.UUCP> jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West) writes:

> Without comment, from today's Wall Street Journal:
> 	   CHICAGO--Sears, Roebuck & Co. said it is discontinuing sales
> 	of Apple Compter Inc.'s Macintosh computer systems at its
> 	103 Business Systems Centers.

At last some *GOOD* news.  A retailer like Sears could give Macintosh a bad
name.  I have one basic rule that governs my purchases at that establishment:

Only buy something that has no moving parts.  This leaves Craftsman(tm) tools
and the candy counter :-)

This is of course my opinion and should probably be posted to net.consumers.
-- 
Time for a new catchy phrase in my                           Howard C. Simonson
 .signature, now if I could only     ...{dragon,hplabs,ihnp4,nsc}!amdahl!howard
  think of one...

[ Opinion? What opinion.  I think you have the wrong guy... ]

mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu (Lawrence J. Mazlack) (04/01/86)

>> Without comment, from today's Wall Street Journal:
>> 	   CHICAGO--Sears, Roebuck & Co. said it is discontinuing sales
>> 	of Apple Compter Inc.'s Macintosh computer systems at its
>> 	103 Business Systems Centers.
>
>At last some *GOOD* news.  A retailer like Sears could give Macintosh a bad
>name.  I have one basic rule that governs my purchases at that establishment:
>

Myself, I think that it is a reflection of reality of the Mac as a busness
machine.  The business world needs reliable support from the manufacturer.
Likewise, the business world needs to have equipment they purchase be
upward compatible as they have to pay people to develop applications.
As Apple offers truely shoddy support and abandons users when they come
out with new iron (think about what happened to Apple /// and Lisa users),
a sane business would have to think awfully hard before buying something
other than DEC or IBM (maybe ATT&T or HP).

All the Sears decision does is reflect the reality of the business buyer's
needs.  Macs are still nice for uses that are stand-alone (i.e., no-growth,
no-communication, no integration with other users).

Larry Mazlack
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jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) (04/02/86)

In article <12825@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Lawrence J. Mazlack) writes:
>As Apple offers truely shoddy support and abandons users when they come
>out with new iron (think about what happened to Apple /// and Lisa users),
>a sane business would have to think awfully hard before buying something
>other than DEC or IBM (maybe ATT&T or HP).

Interesting, pick two examples of your choice:

Apple II: seven years of straight support, upward compatibility, and growth.

Apple ///: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

Lisa: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

IBM PCjr: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

HP25: Was replaced by the HP26. Some effort was made to maintain compatibility
between the machines, but only if you didn't exploit most of the upward
expanding and newer options of the HP26.  The HP26 was later replaced by the
series 200, which was not offered with HP25 compatibility.

Ford Edsel: Didn't sell well, was dropped.

IBM PC: five years of growth. But is it compatible with the RT? To some
extent.  Like the HP26 is compatible with the HP25.

Macintosh: The Mac+ is compatible with the Mac512 is compatible with the
Mac128.  True there are some gotcha's, but there are compatibility gotchas
between the IBM PC and the IBM PC XT and the IBM PC AT.  There are even
compatibility gotchas between the IBM PC monochrome and the IBM PC color.

IBM 1620: I learned to love it. It's been dropped. :-)

ASR33: Workhorse of the industry. It's been dropped.

Apple's made mistakes. Dropping the Lisa before a true replacement was
available is undoubtedly one of them. Pricing strategies is another
(sometimes). [I went and got my 3.1/5.2 OS/finder upgrade today. Cost $4,
because I had to buy a disk to put it on.] [I went to buy my IBM PCDos
upgrade last year. Cost $70]


-- 
 Jim Budler
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
 (408) 749-5806
 Usenet: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amdcad!jimb
 Compuserve:	72415,1200

jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) (04/03/86)

In article <11190@amdcad.UUCP> jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) writes:
>HP25: Was replaced by the HP26. Some effort was made to maintain compatibility
>between the machines, but only if you didn't exploit most of the upward
>expanding and newer options of the HP26.  The HP26 was later replaced by the
>series 200, which was not offered with HP25 compatibility.
>
Well I expected lots of flames, and got one very reasoning reply to this section
of my article.

Basically it said:

	1. It's 9825 and 9826 not 25 and 26.  True. I plead poor memory.

	2. HP dropped HPL development but farmed HPL out to another
	vendor to provide support.  At the time I left the company where
	we had much 9825 and HPL inventory for internal use, HP had
	advised us they were discontinuing support of HPL on new machines
	and would not provide it on series 200. Apparently, subsequent
	events nullified this advise.

Still, I was wrong.  My apologies to HP.

I still contend that to castigate Apple for dropping two uneconomic machines
even if YOU love those particular machines is incorrect. No business can
continue to support old machines forever.  
-- 
 Jim Budler
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
 (408) 749-5806
 Usenet: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amdcad!jimb
 Compuserve:	72415,1200

hammen@puff.UUCP (Zaphod Beeblebrox) (04/05/86)

In article <11205@amdcad.UUCP>, jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) types:
> 
> I still contend that to castigate Apple for dropping two uneconomic machines
> even if YOU love those particular machines is incorrect. No business can
> continue to support old machines forever.  
> -- 
>  Jim Budler
>  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
>  (408) 749-5806
>  Usenet: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amdcad!jimb
>  Compuserve:	72415,1200

Yes, no business can afford to support old machines forever.  But the point is,
it hasn't been quite a year since Apple announced cancellation of the X/Lisa
and they have stopped supporting it.  I don't call their 'upgrade' policy to
a Mac Plus as support: more like an insult. Anyway, try to get a response
from Apple if you use 7/7. Or MacWorks. How can the business community trust
a company that will do this to them?  How can you trust a company that charges
you an arm and a leg to upgrade to the latest model?  You don't, you go with
IBM.  I mean, look at a 1981 PC.  It still is just as useable as a 1986 XT.
IBM doesn't go and completely change their product line every two years.
Innovation is nice, but it shouldn't come at the expense of your first 
customers.  Who is it that said 'You can always tell the pioneers by the 
arrows in their backs?'


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mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu (Lawrence J. Mazlack) (04/05/86)

>
>I still contend that to castigate Apple for dropping two uneconomic machines
>even if YOU love those particular machines is incorrect. No business can
>continue to support old machines forever.  

Still, maybe it is a little quick to Announce something as being the new
top of the line Mac and then to drop support for it a few months later.