gtt@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (diana) (02/24/90)
I was going through a couple MacWEEKs today when I ran across some rumors,
albeit somewhat on the contradictory side, concerning the //-line. I thought
they might be of interest to the net. ( Hope I didn't mess-up this month's
column, Murph. :-)
NOTE: Since I'm going to the trouble of typing this in, I'm taking the liberty
of adding some of my own comments. Such comments are enclosed in the [ ] type
brackets.
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From the Feb. 20, '90 issue of MacWEEK,
"Apple tunes into to clamor for econo Macs", p.1
Apple also is expected to introduce in January of next year a low-cost color
machine aimed at the collapsing Apple II market. The unit reportedly will be
housed in the new modular, 4-inch-high box and include on-board four-bit color.
It will likely be able to be booted over a network and will include one
expansion slot. A version with 1 Mbyte of RAM and a floppy drive is expected
to have a suggested retail price of less than $2,000, sources said. [ $2,000!?!
This is *LOW-COST*!? This is supposed to *APPEAL* to me?? Think I'll keep my
//c, it's a "low-end" machine I can _afford_. ]
Apple II users and developers are concerned that investments in Apple II
software will be lost when Apple introduces a Macintosh that serves the K-12
education market better than current models.
Apple has plans to introduce a board for the low-cost color Mac that
emulates an Apple IIe [ They'd better do better than IIe emulation, or I think
schools will be more likely to go with el cheapo MeSsy-DOS machines with
Trackstar 128 boards. ], sources said. "If Apple plans to transition Apple II
users to the Mac, they should provide a way for the Mac to double as an
Apple II so as not to abandon the installed base completely," said William Low,
a consultant to Macintosh and Apple II developers.
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[ And on a more positive note ]
From the Feb. 6, '90 issue of MacWEEK,
Mac the Knife's Rumor Column
Just because Apple has let the IIGS NuBus card ( sometimes code-named Dove
or Golden Gate ) languish in the Cupertino storeroom for the past year or so
doesn't mean the IIGS doesn't have a rightful place in Apple's new-found
religion of the low-end. The Knife reports that the new IIGS System 6 will
share at least some features with the Mac system 7. In addition to the ability
read Mac disks [ The long-awaited, much-rumored HFS FST? { Check your
calendars, it's my day to make Matt D. gnash his teeth and mumble repeatedly,
"I keep telling them..." ;-} ], the new version of the GS operating system
will include a distributed file system similar to System 7's. [ Referring to
FileShare, a distributed AppleShare server-system that's supposed to appear on
Mac Sys 7. ]
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Well, there you have 'em.
NOTE: Still using my wife's account for newsgroup access. Please send any
e-mail to:
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| Jonathan Neuenschwander |"My views on evolution? |
| USENET: tippy!buzz@newton.physics.purdue.edu | I think Darwin was |
| AMERICA ONLINE: Buzz Lee | adopted." --Steven Wright |
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