SELLSWORTH@HMCVAX.BITNET ("Scott, part time fuzzy") (11/01/88)
I would like to expand upon (harp upon??) the idea that slow holiday sales
will be caused by lack of product. Definitely! Absolutely! Without a single
doubt!
I realize that we all have heard this before, but it does bear repeating.
The //gs is a wonderful machine with some very slick code in it. My
compliments go to those who programmed it. From what I have seen of the mac
toolbox, it has many improvements that were needed to make a relatively slow
toolbox on an 8MhzMac run reasonably well on a 2.8Mhz 65816, improving its
functionality in the process. Even giving the CPU the benefit of a doubt and
saying that it runs at an effective 5.6 Mhz, it is still slower than the Mac+
processor. Thus, the code that makes it possible at all is very well done.
That is not good enough; you need some out and out horesepower to make the
machine go.
I must admit a bias; I loath graphics based text editors at slow clock
speeds. It takes far too long for a screen or window to update. I figure that
it will become workable if one has custom display hardware, or about a 20-25
Mhz processor. I see no way to milk another order of magnitude out of those
toolbox calls. If you can do it, my hat is off to you, but it would be a
daunting task at best. Another 100% would be very impressive.
The 12-18 month wait for a gs that competes successfully with the STs, Macs,
and Amigas is more than a bit ridiculous. I am still developing for the
machine, but I probably will not buy another Apple **unless** the proposed
upgrade pushes the machine's potential beyond the competition, instead of
beyond where it was a year ago. The reason for this is simple; what is
probably coming is a K-12 Mac. Big deal. If I wanted a Mac, I would have
bought one through my school on a discount, instead of paying mucho bucks for a
gs at retail. (Parenthetical note: perhaps you should consider letting the gs
expand upwards; I bought my ][+ because that is what my high school computer
lab had, and I bought my gs originally because it was akin to ][+)
Any sales you lose this Christmas might represent those that are
willing to give Apple a chance to create a new machine that is worth buying,
instead of just going out, grabbing an ST, and happily hacking away. I
personally like the gs toolbox better than any similar construction on the Amy
or ST, but that took a long time to figure out. How many people are going to
take that time?
In essence, what Apple has done is require the software folks to sustain a
steady flow of miracles to make up for a distinct hardware lack. I wish you
much success for two reasons. Number one, I like Apple // series products.
Number two, I really want to tap the miracle flux. (half-smiley)
A final policy note: perhaps you should reconsider the Certified Developer
criteria. Currently, I am in the middle of two rather large products which
developer information would have been very nice for. Since I couldn't get it,
I did the next best thing, I pestered one until HE told me what I wanted. Many
thanks go to Dave Lyons for this.
My compliments to tech. support & development for some very good work.
Scott Ellsworth
SELLSWOR@HMCVAX