Re: The Apple ][ was cool!

[Roy Miller <millers@inebraska.com>]

Rubywand wrote:

> MagerValp writes ...
> >
> > >>>>> "R" == Rubywand  <rubywand@swbell.net> writes:
> >
> > R> Commodore and Atari "lost the plot" in 1985 when they abandoned
> > R> their 65xx machine user bases. Neither the ST nor the Amiga was
> > R> ever serious competition for PC.
> >
> > What? The Amiga and Atari ruled the home computer market during the
> > late 80s and early 90s.
> >
>  ....
>
>      Unfortunately, no. Things would have been a good deal more interesting had
> either machine captured a big chunk of the home market; but, it never happened.
>
>      Although Amiga was a better computer than ST, it was a much bigger
> mistake. By 1985 there weren't all that many Atari users; but, Commodore had a
> chance to easily move many thousands of C64 users up to any new 65xxx-based
> 'Super C64' it might introduce. Instead, Commodore came out with a totally
> alien 'color Mac'.
>

What might be instructive, or at least interesting, is how the PC captured the
home market. The base was business which, let's face it, they owned by 1984. The
whole point of the Junior was to carry the PC home so the business person could
continue work at home in the evening, and still have the same machine work as a
game/educational computer. The Junior failed, miserably, because it failed in it's
primary purpose - homework for the business person.

When people, as well as corporations were buying various PCs, scale drove down the
cost, and IBM, following Apple's lead, supplied much of the innovation for newer
better PCs - for gaming and education!

No one, not Apple, not Atari, not Commodore, ever made a bridge from home or
school to work, but the PC made the bridge in reverse.

Now, what it the /// had worked the way it was supposed to have worked? Or if the
//e was released in 1981 (the Super II?)

Roy

>
> Rubywand