dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (09/26/83)
(This is a continuation of the discussion started under the title "Why buy an Apple?" - since it's gone far afield from the orchard in question, I thought a broader title would be more appropriate) Recently someone posted an article saying that the first question to be asked was whether one should get an 8-bit machine or a 16-bit machine. That strikes me as irrelevant. First off, the it's hard to know what one means when one says "16 bit". Does it mean 16 bit instructions? Then a Z-80 is 16-bit. Does it mean data bus width? Then the 8088 is 8-bit. I say do what all good managers do when faced with such an issue: Avoid it! The first question really ought to be, "What do I need it for? How fast should it be? How much mass storage (disk, presumably) do I need? How many people need to get at it at a time? What software do I want? How much memory does it need? How much does the whole thing cost? How much? HOW much?" Yes, I know that's more than one question. That's because you can't ask just one. Anyway, here are some more considerations: You often hear, "Buy the software, then get a computer it runs on." Good point, there. A computer is a device to run software, not the other way around. You're severely handicapped if you have to devote all your time to writing software everybody else can buy. On the other hand, one should not take this TOO much to heart. If you see a very nice spreadsheet package and it runs on only a Telefunken Mark I, think twice! I'd say, look at a whole mess of software, see what it runs on, see what the new stuff is being written for, and think hard about buying THAT machine. This leads me to (with some regret) think of the IBM PC. I have major gripes with it, but it's unlikely to go the way of Osborne. Not too long ago someone said the computer industry was looking an awful lot like the auto industry (actually,*I* said that to my office mate the day before I read it on the net...makes me feel like the guy who got to the patent office with a telephone an hour after Alexander Graham Bell). Computer firms are starting to bite the dust like the auto companies did in the 40s and 50s. How many of you still remember when you could buy a Studebaker? Will the government have to guaran- tee loans for Apple? This happened before, you know, with mainframes. I don't like it one bit. But then again, I was rather fond of the Cord...