Re: What has changed in the Apple world last 6 months?

[SynABit@kc.invalid (Dennis Doms)]

[You know, I usually just lurk past these discussions, but I think
this one has been pretty good.]

To visit back to the digital camera issue: I consider them a niche
product, but an important one. They're the modern "replacement" for
the hold "Polaroid" concept. They're more expensive, but they have
three advantages: immediacy (when you absolutely, positively, have to
have it right _now_), resolution (_better_ than a Polaroid),  and
operation cost (Polaroid film was _expensive_). In certain
applications (high volume of "instant shots" required), it's a
no-brainer. Post-shot scanning is feasible, but it removes the
immediacy, consumes a fair amount of time, and adds another layer for
distortion.

In article <3a326f76$1@news.svn.net>, "Paul Grammens"
<grammens@svn.net> wrote:

>
>Howe Family <khowe@omninet.net.au> wrote
>>
>> There are many WSIWYG word processors for the GS. I regularly use the
>> word processing module of AppleworksGS in preference to the many more
>> modern machines I have at my disposal.
>
>Sorry, but my IIgs screen resolution is so inferior to my PC's 17" monitor,
>I wouldn't consider doing word processing on it.

Someone mentioned text over GUI for some purposes, which is true; GUI
for a specific task isn't always better. However, GUI gives you
multiwindowing, and with most people wanting to combine applications,
that  _is_ no longer a capability that can be sacrificed. And the
interaction is more seamless if everything is GUI.

> The GS boots up quicker than the
>> modern machines.
>
>That's a good point, and one that I find very amusing. We've really gone
>backwards there, many of my old computers boot from ROM long before the
>monitor has warmed up enough to display the screen.  Quite a contrast to
>booting any of the newer OS's on the fastest modern hardware.

Alan Cooper's _The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech
Products Drive Us Crazy & How to Restore the Sanity_ talks about the
frustration of having _cameras_ with OS's that take moments to boot
up. :)

>> >
>> I am very pleased with the way my
>> GS web browser is coming along. It is never going to provide the speed
>> and power of a full browser on a new machine, but I think it will end up
>> providing a pleasant web browsing experience with acceptable performance.
>>
>
>More power to you, then. Myself, I use the web for business, I need features
>that are unlikely to ever be available on my IIgs's.

And this is the fundamental problem. It can be argued for another
couple of decades whether the Apple II technology could have been
extended to be competitive. But by deciding not to support the
technology or the user base, Apple made that decision for everyone.

Worse, Apple began enforcing  that decision years before killing off
the machine by restricting the marketing of the machine to education,
then to lower grade ranges, etc.

>> Any computer is a combination of hardware and software. These days we
>> have incredible processing power connected to terribly inefficient and
>> buggy software.
>
>Can't argue with that. Thanks for the thoughtful post.
>-Paul

I wonder how many Apple II people would react to an AppleWorks PDA
that ran their Apple II software? I might be interested in that
combination. :)

I don't play with my Apples much any more, but I keep them. There is
something about having a machine where you know you (as an individual)
can actually have intimate knowledge of nearly _all_ its workings.
That's more applicable to a non-IIgs Apple II (GS/OS is a lot of
software to deconstruct), but the nuances of MacOS, Windows, etc. can
overload even talented software and hardware engineers.

 --
Dennis Doms  SynABit@kc.invalid
[ObSpamFoil: substitute "rr.com" for "invalid" above to reply via mail.]
"In the end, only kindness matters." - "Hands", Jewel Kilcher