Re: Your first A2.

[russotto@wanda.pond.com (Matthew Russotto)]

In article <20010701132605.06501.00002893@ng-ch1.aol.com>,
Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
>william strutts wrote:
>
>Though this thread seems an obvious troll, I'll bite and respond
>to this assertion!
>
>Consider what Apple was offering at the time of the PC intro
>in 1981--the Apple ///, for God's sake!  This was a machine
>with plenty of "personality"--most of it capricious.  And with
>terrible software availablilty, except in Apple // emulation mode!
>(This is 1981, remember.)
>
>The PC was, in principle, a rip-off of the Apple II slot concept,

The slot concept predates the II -- the S-100 bus was around before
the II was a gleam in Woz's eye.  PC motherboards do bear a striking
resemblance to Apple II motherboards, but that's probably a matter of
common ancestry rather than rip-off.

>Commercial success is at least as much understanding your
>market as it is having a great product.  (Remember Beta!)  Although
>Apple products were clever, innovative, and (after the ///) well-designed,
>they _never_ understood how to market to the people with money to
>spend.  Even Jobs appeals primarily to the Mac faithful, not the
>uncommitted pragmatist with work to do.
>
>"Being standard is better than being better."

Apple couldn't be Apple if they appealed to the uncommitted pragmatist
and subscribed to that slogan.
-- 
Matthew T. Russotto                                russotto@pond.com
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
of justice is no virtue."