abc@BRL.MIL (Brint Cooper) (03/20/89)
The "Future of the Apple II" seems to be the most frequently discussed subject on Info-Apple this month. (Perhaps we should count "Subject:" lines to determine the "Topic of the Month?") While I am a firm believer in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, I do not believe that all speech is of equal value. Why on earth is there all this "hand-wringing" about the "obvious" imminent demise of the Apple II series? And where are these gaping holes in software for the II machines? Many writers to this list attempt to interpret every nuance in every move made within Apple as "evidence" of the demise of the machine. For Heaven's sake! Even if Apple makes no more IIs of any flavor, they're not going to confiscate your machine. I am convinced that the Apple II, the only 8-bit machine left on the market (yes, yes, I KNOW about the 16 bit microprocessor) owes its success in part to VERY aggressive marketing by Apple and in part by the nearly endless array of software offerings for the machine. Shucks, folks, let's stop worrying about the Mac taking over the world. Let's just do a little bit more to answer one another's questions, share insights, write and trade better public domain software, and support those vendors who continue to write for our machines. (Actually, I don't even own one of the things; I do this on behalf of my spouse, who does!) _Brint