REWING@TRINCC.BITNET (03/21/89)
Look folks, I don't know where some of this BS is coming from regarding the fictional death of the Apple II family, but its obvious to me that many people in this industry, usually writing for trade rags just don't know what the hell they are talking about. Either that, or they would like to see the Apple II killed for some other diabolical reason. Regardless of where the media tripe comes from, DON'T BELIEVE IT FOR AN INSTANT!!!!! We aren't supposed to talk about future products, but if you guys knew what was coming down the pike for the Apple II world, all this conversation would quickly end. I wish that it would end and people would go back to talking about productive rather than destructive things, bu, but it looks like this may not be the case. *Sigh*. The sad thing is that all this chatter about the death of the machine is probably affecting many of those of you who read this bboard, but are less vocal and are having questions about whether to stay with their Apple IIs. If the Apple II stops selling just because many people think that its going bye bye on idle rumor, then that will be one of the biggest disgraces in modern computer times. --Rick Ewing Apple Atlanta tech Support ...and generally pissed off by all of this...
muller@Alliant.COM (Jim Muller) (03/22/89)
In article <8903201559.aa07576@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> REWING@TRINCC.BITNET writes: >Look folks, I don't know where some of this BS is coming from regarding >the fictional death of the Apple II family... What do you mean, "death of the Apple II family"? You mean I can't use my unenhanced //e anymore? (Grooooaan.) Aw-shucks, just the other day I booted up Applewriter //e and it worked *perfectly*. And my terminal emulator still worked, at least the last time I tried it last week. And there were so many programs I always intended to write (in Pascal yet) but never got around to. Now I'll have to go out and buy a new machine, and learn a yet another word- processor and another OS. And maybe I'll *never* get those programs written. I never could get the hang of this planned obsolescence anyway. Seemed like such a waste. Oh well, if that's the way "they" want it... -- - Jim Muller
tribby@hpindda.HP.COM (David Tribby) (03/22/89)
> Look folks, I don't know where some of this BS is coming from regarding > the fictional death of the Apple II family, but its obvious to me that > many people in this industry, usually writing for trade rags just don't > know what the hell they are talking about. ... > ... if you guys knew what was coming down the pike for the Apple II world, > all this conversation would quickly end. > > --Rick Ewing > Apple Atlanta tech Support > ...and generally pissed off by all of this... Rick (and Keith and the rest of you Apple insiders)... Since I also work for a company with a "no talk of futures" policy, I can sympathize with your frustration at not being able to describe all the nifty new products under development. Even though you can't tell us specifically what is coming, could Apple do any of the following... * Give us some general directions for product strategy. (e.g., Apple will continue enhancing IIGS software and firmware, particularly emphasizing performance tune-up. A new system disk is expected to be released during the second half of 1989.) Even if it's not very detailed, we would like to know what Apple is committed to do over the next couple of years. * Put together a significant announcement for AppleFest. You can tell people to "just wait until May...then you'll know what's going on" and things might quiet down on the net for a while. Of course, if the announcement doesn't meet expectations, users will not be pleased. * Tell us, in general, the amount of resources Apple is commiting to the II line. "We've advertised in the San Jose Mercury, A+, and Call-A.P.P.L.E. for support and development engineers, and are interviewing like crazy to fill xxx new openings to join the yyy engineers already at work in Cupertino." * Highlight any significant new third-party offerings that aren't confidential. Applied Engineering seems to have some new board every few months, so they must be "bullish" on the II. Are you aware of any new software packages introduced during the first quarter of '89? Even if net readers aren't interested in the specific products, it's heartening to know someone else thinks the II is worth an investment. The imminent death of the II line has been predicted regularly over the years, and I long ago learned not to believe everything I read in the press (or on the net :-). It's unfortunate that Apple cannot immediately respond to the latest waves of rumors and bad news, but perhaps you can give us some additional hopeful indications. (Your presence on the net is a strong positive factor; Apple must have some good plans for the II if they continue to pay your salaries!). --Dave Tribby - - - - - ARPA: tribby%hpda@hplabs.HP.COM UUCP: hplabs!hpda!tribby