Re: Why the Apple II was on the right track...

[rubywand@swbell.net]

Tilghman Lesher wrote:
> 
> Nathan Mates (nathan@visi.com) wrote:
> : Sheldon Simms <sheldon@atlcom.net> wrote:
>....
> The statistic found by a popular publishing company which puts out a
> publication for PCs and a publication for Macs was that PC owners spend
> four times as much time (on average) with tech support (trying to get
> their PC running as Mac owners.
> 
> :    Don't make a computer that any idiot can use, keep any idiot away
> : until they've been educated enough not to do any damage.
> 
> If the computer industry followed this advice, we'd still be using
> mainframes.  The PC revolution would not have taken place.  Computers
> would be viewed largely as "unfriendly machines", with the same
> hysteria about AI as 1950s movies.
>....


     There is, today, no good choice for a Home Computer.

     PC is difficult for most users to configure correctly. The OS is a 
kludge gradually fighting its way up to IIgs standards. Writing programs 
which come remotely close to implementing machine Sound and graphics 
capabilities is something most PC users never even attempt.

     Mac, on the other hand, offers a decent 'native' OS. Writing 
interesting, useful programs, however, is no easier than it is on the PC. 
Mac's biggest weakness is that, in 'Mac mode', it is non-standard. Mac 
stuff is of no interest to the vast majority of computer users.

     Mac is grossly over-priced. This is easily demonstrated by user 
numbers. Small user numbers = small influence. Vendors of software and 
hardware aim to score in the PC market first. As Mac's 'piece of the pie' 
continues to shrink, Mac will become less and less relevant to mainstream 
computing.

     To say that Apple, Inc. was "on the right track" with Apple II is to 
overlook the history of the '80's. Yes; Apple had a user-friendly 
computer which allows many users to write programs which access machine 
capabilities. But; Apple II's strengths were not part of any corporate 
idea or vision. It was the users who had the vision, not the company. 
There was no "track".

     If Apple, Inc. is unable to disengage from manufacturing, the 
company will be forced to produce a machine which succeeds in winning 
back a sizable chunk of the home market. Fancy PC semi-clones, Power 
Books, etc. won't get the job done. Comperable-power true PC's at half 
the price will always win such battles.

     An excellent example of Apple bungling is the new, compact 
'educational Mac'. It sounds like a nice "student computer"; but, it is 
priced around $700.

     Apple needs a new Apple II-- soon.