jasonl@pro-newfrontier.UUCP (Jason Lindquist) (12/11/88)
It's true. Apple's starting to think we're all a bunch of idiots who still ask what open-apple-? does. The manuals, over the years, have gotten dumber and dumber. I think I'm reading a fairy tale book or a 1st grade textbook. My junior high (which I graduated from last year) was the first school in the district to get computers back when Bell & Howell still built the Apples for Woz & Jobs. They had dozens of manuals from that time to the present. The teacher allowed me to have some of the duplicates of them. I have original copies of the DOS, Apple II, and a couple of others, along with the new versions. It's sad. The DOS manual was split into a User's manual, for common idiots, and the Programmer's manual, an extra-cost option. I still get more information out of the Nibble back-issues at my public library. The //c manual that came with my system is a "Dumb idiot" manual, but the old Apple ][ and Bell & Howell manuals had SYSTEM SCHEMATICS!!!! plus ROM code dumps! Heck, with some more PC-etch work accessories and an EPROM burner, I could build a ][+ myself! Can I do that now? Nope. I had to pay $28.00 for the Apple //e Technical Reference manual, which provides a lot of information, but it's VERY confusing, and its index isn't very good. The Mac & //gs situation is even worse. You have to pay even more money for the manuals, and there's about two volumes for each sub-section of them: General and ToolBox. This is horrendous! And notice this: When did this start full-force? Right. When John Sculley got involved at Apple. He's a good businessman, but he's strayed from what Apple was under Woz & Jobs. It isn't what it used to be, and that saddens me. They could be much better if Woz were still there to make millions off of his toys. Oh well. +------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+ | Jason A. Lindquist | "I have no time to | | | discuss this logically, | | UUCP: crash!pro-newfrontier!jasonl | Doctor." | | ARPA: crash!pro-newfrontier!jasonl@nosc.mil | "Are you out of your | | INET: jasonl@pro-newfrontier.cts.com | Vulcan mind? | | ProLine: jasonl@pro-newfrontier | | +------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+ Steve Wozniak is GOD. May he live long and prosper.