Re: IIGS

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article Ruel@ix.netcom.com writes...

>How's the II market these days? 

    Continuously shrinking, as usual. Every few months another company
cuts back or folds, publications are disappearing and the appearence of 
new software is far and few between. I would say commercially the Apple
II market is pretty bleak and stagnant these days.

    Hardware development has come to a stand still more or less, the
last major project was the Second Sight video board two years ago 
(which has failed miserably IMHO) and a new memory expansion board
for the Apple IIgs. Sequential Systems, Alltech and SHH Systems, the
three major hardware developers left, have not announced any new 
projects since that time.

    In terms of software, activity on comp.binaries.apple2 and FTP 
sites would seem to indicate no one is interested in writing any 
shareware or freeware. The only exceptions really are Ninjaforce 
and Brutal Deluxe, both in Europe. And Logicware too, but to a lesser 
extent since Wolfenstein 3-D (freeware) will probably be their only 
release. Commercial software production isn't much better these days, 
though several people have some projects in the works.

    Despite that, it is far from dead (you just have to know where 
to look for support). There's at least are several hundred, if not 
more, strong users. The fact that Shareware Solutions II has well
over 1,000 subscribers means there are least a good number out 
there (and I'm sure many more who don't know about the pockets
of support).

>I finally sold out and bought a Mac.  A PowerTower Pro 200e.  You know, 
>my IIGS with a 9MHz Zip still seemed to do everything faster...  
>Of course files were in kb instead of mb, graphics weren't as high 
>resolution, etc. but is it all necessary?

    You only sell out if you sell your IIgs or stick it in a closet. ;)
I myself finally caved in a got myself a "modern" PC system to use on 
the side, only just yesterday in fact. It is mostly made up of parts 
that were donated to me, but I'm glad to have it for the things my 
Apple IIgs are no longer best or well suited for. For example, viewing 
JPEG, TIFF or GIF images, doing graphic art without headaces (I've been 
tired of the 16 color per scanline limit for many years now), graphical
connections to the Internet, true multitasking, playing MIDI files or
a decent game or two.

    Certainly my Apple IIgs _does_ all those above things (or will once
certain pieces of software are completed ;) but with many limitations
that make using it as a main system difficult. I do have all the usual 
enhancements, like a 15 MHz accelerator, RamFAST, 11ms hardrive, lots 
of memory, Audio Animator and much more, but it still didn't come up to 
par (especially with the lack of software). I fully intend to keep my
GS running and in daily use, it'll just be sharing the desk with a PC
5x86-133 machine. :-)

>The IIGS could have been so much more than it was...a great computer...:-)

    Actually it annoys me, since much of what my PC has could have easily 
been built-in to an enhanced IIgs model (even a faster bus speed by having 
moved 8-bit emulation onto a separate board). Too bad for Apple they 
decided against the GS and went with the Mac, they've lost many customers 
who instead went to the PC (it does share many traits with the Apple II, 
such as expandability and being an open system in both hardware and 
software, I personally don't find the Mac as being either). 

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca