lloyd@pro-grouch.cts.com (Lloyd Licht) (10/19/90)
Regarding doing away with the Apple II line with a //e emulator card? I
seriously doubt that very much. It's much cheaper to go out and buy a //e
than to buy that emulator card.
2nd thought. Why would anyone buy the new Mac II-LC and buy a //e emulator
card?
Lloyd
I am, because I said so.rkh@mtune.ATT.COM (Robert Halloran) (10/20/90)
In article <5777.apple.net2@pro-grouch> lloyd@pro-grouch.cts.com (Lloyd Licht) writes: >Regarding doing away with the Apple II line with a //e emulator card? I >seriously doubt that very much. It's much cheaper to go out and buy a //e >than to buy that emulator card. > >2nd thought. Why would anyone buy the new Mac II-LC and buy a //e emulator >card? The LC-plus-emulator package is directly targeted at the K-12 school market. If Apple drops the // line, as all indications point to, dammit, the schools will have to pick up on the LC to protect their A2 software investments, and once all those Macs are entrenched in the schools, Apple can push the software houses to do Mac ports of the stuff the kids are currently using (and probably charge them the same three-times-as-much for it that the LC costs over the //e solution). For a company that talks about 'empowering' people, the fact is that a school can empower about three times as many desktops with //e's or even //c+'s for the same dollar amount as one LC with emulator. The fact that the schools are running things like Carmen Sandiego, Bank Street and Appleworks that DON'T NEED a Mac's horsepower, also seems to have been lost on the Powers That Be. A //GS with color monitor is about as much horsepower as most of this market needs, and Apple seems determined to sell them much more iron at much more dollars. Given the current state of school budgeting, this does NOT strike me as a prudent marketing strategy. Gut reaction is that Tandy is gonna sell a lot of cheapie DOS boxes with Trackstar boards; they know the school market from back in the Trash-80 days, and A2 plus DOS covers about all of the K-12 educational software market, where the Mac, honestly, is thin in this area. Does anyone in Apple's marketing department have a brain with more than three neurons firing? Or are they willing to write off the schoolrooms to chase the boardrooms? Bob Halloran ========================================================================= Internet: rkh@mtune.dptg.att.com UUCP: att!mtune!rkh Disclaimer: If you think AT&T would have ME as a spokesman, you're crazed. "Apple II Forever"? Looks like Forever = 13 years, 6 months (4/15/77 - 10/15/90) Abandoning the schoolrooms for the boardrooms...... =========================================================================
jb10320@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Desdinova) (10/22/90)
In article <5777.apple.net2@pro-grouch> lloyd@pro-grouch.cts.com (Lloyd Licht) writes: >Regarding doing away with the Apple II line with a //e emulator card? I >seriously doubt that very much. It's much cheaper to go out and buy a //e >than to buy that emulator card. > >2nd thought. Why would anyone buy the new Mac II-LC and buy a //e emulator >card? This is a question I find myself asking a lot, too. Premise: You're going to buy a mac, but you still want to run your apple II software. Deduction: You have software, so you obviously have an Apple II. Question: Why not just keep the II, and buy a Mac in addition? In other words, what is the point of the emulator card, when a logical analysis indicates no one will need to buy it? <insert your favorite "Apple conspiracy" theory here> > Lloyd >I am, because I said so. Ok! You're Lloyd! I won't argue! -- Jawaid Bazyar | Blondes in big black cars look better wearing Senior/Computer Engineering | their dark sunglasses at night. (unk. wierdo) jb10320@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu | The gin, the gin, glows in the Dark! Apple II Forever! | (B O'Cult) Comp.Sys.Apple2- Home of the Unofficial Apple II Developer Support Team (DST)
lhaider@pro-grouch.cts.com (Laer Haider) (10/24/90)
In-Reply-To: message from rkh@mtune.ATT.COM
What's all the fuss about schools losing the ability to purchase Apple IIe's
and IIc's? Laser Computers makes a fine II emulation box for less than Apple
charges for a basic IIc. If schools wise up, they can get the Lasers, protect
their software investments, and thumb their noses at Apple.
I say to hell with Apple. Unless their business tactics change drastically,
I'll NEVER purchase another Apple machine, and I'll make sure I steer other
people away from such treatment as well. I won't willingly put my friends
through the kind of cr*p we II users, and even early Mac users, have been
through. With a 80X86 machine, at least you can swap out old parts for new at
a very competetive price. And, you want support? How about support for the
largest personal computer base in the world? Want GUI? Have you worked with
Windows 3.0? I think it's at least as good as MultiFinder, with the potential
of being much better.
Please don't start throwing mega flames at me. These are my opinions and I'm
not likely to change them no matter what anyone says. Don't wear your
keyboards out on my account.
/
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------------------------------------------------------ ((` ((kf@mbunix.mitre.org (Fong) (10/25/90)
uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!jb10320 writes: >In article <5777.apple.net2@pro-grouch> lloyd@pro-grouch.cts.com (Lloyd Licht) writes: >>2nd thought. Why would anyone buy the new Mac II-LC and buy a //e emulator >>card? > > This is a question I find myself asking a lot, too. > Premise: You're going to buy a mac, but you still want to run your > apple II software. > Deduction: You have software, so you obviously have an Apple II. > Question: Why not just keep the II, and buy a Mac in addition? > > In other words, what is the point of the emulator card, when a > logical analysis indicates no one will need to buy it? > <insert your favorite "Apple conspiracy" theory here> Let's take a classroom full of Apple IIs. The school has site licenses for software as well as in-school-developed software. The school now buys a few Macintoshes. Wouldn't it be nice if the students who used the Macs could still run those Apple II programs? So they buy LCs. Let's take a very rich school. They decide that they want to run some specialized educational software that's only available on Macs (remember this is only a what if). So they will outfit the school with Macs and donate the Apple IIs to another school (because the IIs will take up space, they don't want to provide the support, etc...again, remember this is just a what if). But they still want to run their Apple II software. Wouldn't it be nice if those Macs could also run those Apple II programs? Or let's take a home where an Apple II is happily in use. But there are two children in the family (and mom and dad) and they fight over who gets to use the Apple II :). Mom or dad decides to get another computer so they can bring work home (what a horrible idea! there goes the family :) ). They use a Mac at work (or maybe even an MS-DOS PC, but they can run MS-DOS programs on a Mac), so they decide to buy a Mac for home. Now, wouldn't it be nice if the kids didn't have to fight over the Apple II? So that when the mom and dad aren't using the Mac, one kid could run Apple II programs on the Mac, while the other runs Apple II programs on the Apple II? So they get an LC with the emulator card. (And hopefully, another copy of Apple II software!!!) (I wonder what software will come with the card ???) Well, those are some possibilities (including one that seems a little outrageous, but I bet it happens all the time). I believe that the Apple II emulation card will be sold to a very small percentage of Mac purchasers. And an overwhelming majority of those sales will be to schools. The pricing of the card indicates that Apple does not plan to make much money from it; it's available so that school's can check off 'Apple II compatibility' on the 'computer purchase requirements checklist'. >Jawaid Bazyar | Blondes in big black cars look better wearing Kevin Fong MITRE Corporation kf@mbunix.mitre.org Standard disclaimer