rkh@mtune.ATT.COM (Robert Halloran) (07/26/88)
Various people are rumoring the death of the Apple ][ line because
of the lowering of Mac prices, slowdown in new software, CPU wars of
65XXX vs. 68000, etc. One factor these folks are missing is the educational
market; while business is certainly going to the Mac over the ][, the
school market is owned by the Apple ][ line. Why do you think the
PClone companies have been trying to offer 6502 co-processor boards?
(Check Tandy and Cordata). That market will not be going away, nor
is it likely to throw over their hardware base rapidly. The majority
of educational software for school use is Apple-based. With the networking
and enhanced graphics/sound of the GS, many schools are upgrading their
][e's or buying GS's in new acquisitions. That market sustained the
company for some time; I cannot imagine Apple cutting their own throat
and discontinuing the ][ line in the face of this.
My wife's school has a computer room; they have about 12 ][e's, two ][GS's
and one Mac Plus; their hardware order for the coming year was for five
more ][GS systems and printers; NO Mac hardware. They felt the software
base for the Mac failed to offer them enough to justify purchasing more,
and that the GS-enhanced programs for the ][ line would serve their graphics
needs quite well.
In terms of performance, I'll echo the comment about the 65xxx family
outdoing the Motorola chips in terms of clocks/instruction. A GS+ running
at 7.? MHz would probably give the Mac SE a run for its money, given
well-crafted code, which some software houses seem to be willing to produce
(at least until Claris buys them out, then who knows :-)).
Hopefully the Mac faction in Apple is finally getting it across that the
Apple ][ line is still viable and vital to their company's bottom line.
Waiting to get my GS+ upgrade....
Bob Halloran
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