rkh@mtune.ATT.COM (Robert Halloran) (10/17/90)
I guess our voices aren't/weren't loud enough. Sculley &c. have apparently decreed from On High that the A2 is a dead beast, and we're all supposed to ante up for Macs. InCider is becoming an A2-plus-Mac zine in '91, their last editorial talks about how we should LIKE the Mac. Apple is pulling ads and people away from the //. Should we be scheduling a wake?..... If my H.S. teacher wife's opinion is any indication, the Mac LC-plus-emulator solution for schools is doomed as much too costly per desk given the embedded software base of ][ code in the K-12 market. They need somehting CHEAP that does what they need. The more likely solution will be something like a Tandy plus their Trackstar board, gaining access to all that DOS yargh-bage. Apple kills themselves in the market they have owned for years.... In the 'home' market, the minimal Mac Classic is going to be up against IBM's PS/1 and a gazillion cheap clones, with COLOR. Tell me why a reasonably priced GS couldn't have done as well, with the hook of being able to run the same code as the ][e systems children are likely to find in their schools. The financial markets don't like the margin-cutting costs of the new models, and Apple's stock is da*n near in freefall. Tell me why Apple couldn't take a lower margin on the ]['s than on a 68K-based box like the Macs? Mature technology, minimal overhead (since they don't seem to be doing any development for it), where's the expense? There's a new Mac model every other month, how much R&D is THAT soaking up? WHY does Apple feel so insecure about supporting two lines? WHO can we yell at, on paper, electronically, physically? A2 DTS should **NOT** be the target, people like Matt D. have been breaking their collective backs to help out this user community. Who in the Ivory Tower of Cupertino can we push up against the wall and vent our spleen upon? Excuse the flamage, but seeing the blinders that Apple's management have put on has left me feeling singularly UN- empowered. As a GS owner, I am now feeling great kinship with the owners of the Apple /// and Lisa..... 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) =========================================================================