Re: Can't say I'm happy about -this-...

[ChemSleuth@earthlink.net (Dennis Doms)]

In article <kindall-F22D25.19080328081999@news.mw.mediaone.net>, Jerry
Kindall <kindall@mail.manual.com> wrote:

>In article <37BAD348.CB78460F@swbell.net>, rubywand@swbell.net wrote:
>
>> Forrest writes ...
>> > 
>> > http://www.mackido.com/Opinion/WhyKillProducts.html
>> 
>> Well, after all, it _is_ a Mac 'zine. The writers there aren't going 
>> to say "Apple really screwed up when it dropped the II series and 
>> went with Mac" (but, we will).
>
>Apple's real mistake was coming out with the IIGS, instead of coming out 
>with an inexpensive color Mac that could run Apple II software.
>
>The IIGS is a great computer, but it was _not_ the direction Apple was 
>going at the time.  The IIGS was a corporate misfit that never got the 
>resources it needed, and therefore suffered from neglect until it was 
>finally killed off.  I'd rather have seen no IIGS at all than this kind 
>of ignoble end.
>
>-- 
>Jerry Kindall  <mailto:kindall@mail.manual.com>  Technical Writing, etc.
>Manual Labor   <http://www.manual.com/>               We Wrote the Book!

However, to be fair to the computer's technology, and to place
additional blame on Apple's management style... having decided to
produce the IIgs in the first place, there were several things that
Apple could have done (as far as positioning and encouraging
developers) at little or no cost that might have produced a more
representative life-cycle. For example, the restriction of the IIgs to
the K-12, and eventually K-6 or -8 market, and the attendent dismissal
of (and refusal to promote) a broader base of products was critical.
Also critical were obscene pricing irregularities like an external
hard drive at $1495 when the entire Mac Classic with hard drive was
only about a third more.

I have been waffling over buying another (newer) Mac; I still use them
in a few areas at work. But I still am having trouble getting past the
stench of Apple's egos running a successful product line
systematically into the ground to save the "favored son" it financed.

 --
Dennis Doms  ChemSleuth@earthlink.net  http://home.earthlink.net/~chemsleuth
"If Bill Clinton, Kenneth Starr, Linda Tripp, and Monica Lewinsky all worked
              on car lots, I would buy my car from Monica."
            -- Brian Clarke, "Letters", _Time_, April 5, 1999