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Re: Apple Drops Backward Compatibility for Next MacOS

In article <55ajhp$lv8@uni.library.ucla.edu>, pubpc1@library.ucla.edu wrote:

What I am saying is Apple should have,
>based on the GS outselling the Mac Plus in its first year (source:
>Compute's list of the best selling personal computers), came out
>with a GS II instead of a Mac II - followed by a GS IIcx, GS IIci,
>leading to a PowerGS today.
...
>The GUI was the wave of the future, yes.  Apple was right about that.
>The IIGS gave them the opportunity to carry their large user base
>into that future.  Apple chose to ignore that opportunity, so they
>lost a lot of users and are now struggling against the PC onslaught.
>Hasn't Apple learned its lesson yet?

I think Apple's way is better. Milking an architecture until it is a huge
kludge is a huge mistake. Look at what a mess the IBM PC has become. Look
at what a mess the Mac has become. What makes you think the Apple II/GX
architecture would not be in the same state today if not sooner? Its better
to take advantage of technologies as they come along, and cut your
technological losses if that's what necessary, and jump to a completely new
architecture. Why are people excited by PPC? Because it doesn't have as
much as the baggage as other processor designs like x86 and 680x0. Why are
people excited about Be? Because it's designed from the ground up to take
advantage of current technologies without having to accomodate outdated
chip, memory, storage, display, and API restrictions. I feel that there is
good reason to feel this way about the next MacOS, as well. 

When Apple does things for the right reasons, they have the potential to be
the best in the industry. There's no question in my mind that a decision to
drop the old baggage and start fresh is a more "right" decision than to
continue to push the current Mac architecture until it is almost as bad as
Windows/DOS.

____________________________________________________________________
David Kurtz   david@ucla.edu   http://www.lightside.net/~david/