nelson_p@apollo.uucp (04/30/88)
>Things Apple did before IBM >--------------------------- >Graphical user interface >Mouse >32-bit architecture >3-1/2 disk drives >Built-in video, disk drive controllers, clock chip, etc. >OS capable of addressing large amounts of memory >Multitasking > >Things IBM did before Apple: >---------------------------- >Open architecture (not even this if you count the Apple II...) I assume that by 'open architecture' you mean that PC's have an expansion bus and that the physical, electrical, and timing info on the bus is made public so anybody can make boards to plug into it. If so, then IBM is responsible for another MAJOR innovation that greatly benefitted the industry and that you have overlooked: THEY ALLOWED THE EXISTENCE OF (FUNCTIONAL) CLONES. The whole reason why you can buy a PC-type computer for about half the price of a similarly equipped Mac is that Apple allows no competition. All of Apple's innovations are really neat but if you can't afford them then it's academic. Engineering types sometimes forget that sales and marketing innovations are just as important as technical ones. --Peter Nelson
cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (05/03/88)
> >Things IBM did before Apple: > >---------------------------- > >Open architecture (not even this if you count the Apple II...) > > I assume that by 'open architecture' you mean that PC's have an > expansion bus and that the physical, electrical, and timing info > on the bus is made public so anybody can make boards to plug > into it. > > If so, then IBM is responsible for another MAJOR innovation that > greatly benefitted the industry and that you have overlooked: > THEY ALLOWED THE EXISTENCE OF (FUNCTIONAL) CLONES. > > The whole reason why you can buy a PC-type computer for about > half the price of a similarly equipped Mac is that Apple allows > no competition. All of Apple's innovations are really neat > but if you can't afford them then it's academic. Engineering > types sometimes forget that sales and marketing innovations are > just as important as technical ones. > > --Peter Nelson Which reminds of when the DEC salesman came to Harris DTS to show us the DEC Rainbow personal computer. One of the EEs asked if the backplane specs were available, and the salesman said, "Well, we're going to keep the details proprietary for a year or two, until we're sure all the bugs are out of it." (Translation from salespeak, "No one is going to make money selling cards for this sucker but us.") Not surprisingly, the DEC Rainbow was a flaming failure because it was too expensive. Apple was successful because the Mac was innovative. Had it been less innovative, the closed architecture would have doomed the Mac -- and maybe Apple. Clayton E. Cramer