Re: Apple's ways

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

wbdesnoy@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca (Byron Desnoyers Winmill) wrote:

>I have noticed a tendancy among users to say that
>their <insert component name here> is low quality because it is 
>nowhere near as fast as the <insert trendy alternative here>.  As
>far as I'm concerned, 350MHz (about 10x my old machine's speed) is
>plenty fast.  To further improve performance, I simply run the old
>when I can.  After all, it is a heck of a lot cheaper than upgrading
>to the new software all of the time, I am familiar with its use and
>features, and the latest G4 wouldn't run the new software as fast
>anyway.  So longevity and problem free operation are what I expect
>of quality machines.  My experiences in the PC world indicate that
>this is not the case.

I actually agree with you in terms of longevity and quality.  My point
is that you can get more of the former and at least equal of the later
in the PC world.  I've already detailed how I do it with my own PCs
in a previous response.  Basically, the open standards and true
competition in the PC market result in a lot of choices for users who
want to build there own computers.  Selection of quality parts and
searching for the best prices is a piece of cake.  There is great
longevity because when each component gets old relative to the
performance of the day, you just replace that component.  It is
true that eventually, all compatibility of hardware breaks down, but
because the upgrade process is constant that transitional continuity
allows the user to upgrade everything in its due time.

This was why I was a big Apple IIGS fan too.  Because of the huge
expansion capability of the Apple II series, I could keep the
machine alive for far longer than Apple envisioned relying almost
exclusively on third party solutions.  In the end, the only thing
holding back further expansion was the motherboard because Apple
wouldn't produce any upgrades to the IIGS.  The fact that I could
pull it off as long as I did is a testament to how good the IIGS
board was when it was introduced.  In the PC world, not even the
motherboard cannot be replaced.  Typically, it is the last thing that
gets upgraded during the PC upgrade cycle but by that time, the
drives, memory, video and sound systems would have already
been updated ready for the new motherboard to exploit.  So the PC
as a whole never gets old.  The ultimate longevity.