Still true today: Apple II: Too Good to Disappear

[obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2)]

               Too Good to Disappear 

    by Deborah de Peyster, Editor in Chief
                inCider, V5,#5, p.8

   If you were to design a light bulb for yourself you'd want it to adjust to 
variable lighting needs and, most of all, never burn out. 

   Steve Wozniak designed the Apple II for himself and people like him at the 
Homebrew Computer Club.  He built in an attached keyboard, and then added 
color, sound, and eight slots to take care of whatever other functions he'd 
dream up in the future. He built it to last forever. 

  But companies don't build products that way. They design products to have a 
"life cycle" and a "market niche."  Clearly, if manufacturers were to produce 
everlasting light bulbs, they'd put themselves out of business. 

  As Apple grew into a company, it found the strength of the Apple II was 
like that of the light bulb that won't burn out.  The Apple II could do 
everything, and it wasn't aging.  It didn't allow room for a new follow-up 
product. And, like a light-bulb maker, Apple wanted new products to make the 
company grow. 

  So Apple began to artificially restrain the II.  When Apple II users began 
to need the storage space of hard-disk drives, Apple saw an opening for a new 
product. Instead of upgrading the II's operating system to support hard 
disks, it designed a brand-new computer, the Apple III.  The Apple III would 
take over the business market and finally limit the II to education and home 
use, Apple hoped. 

  At the same time, though, Steve Wozniak was working with a developer to 
give the Apple II a new operating system, called a ProDOS, to support hard 
drives. Remember, he was still designing a computer for himself, and planned 
obsolescence didn't figure into his project. 

  Apple executives who feared the II with hard disk would compete with the 
III canceled the ProDOS project nine times. But, as you know, ProDOS finally 
did arrive, Apple IIs do run hard disks and the Apple III died. (The III died 
for many reasons, but the ongoing strength of the Apple II made finding a 
place in the market for the III more difficult.) 

  Apple still had only one product, but it tried again. It introduced the 
Lisa, a $10,000 machine that could do almost everything the Apple to could 
do. But the Apple II cost about $8000 less. 

  Apple tried again. This time it introduced the Macintosh -- a computer with 
one disk drive, 128K of RAM, and no software.   Meanwhile, the Apple II had 
tons of great software, two disk drives, and the ability to accommodate 
memory upgrades. Apple II owners using the machine to run small businesses 
wondered why Apple was telling them the Macintosh was the company's business 
machine. 

  Now Apple has the IIGS.  Wozniak was involved in building the GS; if he'd 
gotten his way it would offer even more than it does. (A 68000 microprocessor 
was one battle Woz lost. We don't know the details, but we assume the 68000 
made the new II too much like the Mac.)

  The GS offers everything the Apple II does, plus better sound, improved 
graphics, and increased processing power. But Apple still says it's not a 
business computer--it's a home and education machine. 

  We know differently, though.  We know the II is a machine that was designed 
to fill the dreams of the users like us. Woz didn't care about market niches 
or forced obsolescence. He cared only that it was useful and would work for a 
long time. 

  It's been 10 years, and the II still works just fine. Fortunately for 
Apple, improvements in technology have given the Macintosh some unique and 
worth while capabilities, too. Maybe in the next few months Apple won't try 
as hard to impose position on its products and will let users decide how to 
apply them. 

  In the meantime, don't be misled by marketing hype. If you still feel your 
Apple II is the light bulb that won't burn out, you know best.