Just saw the "nerds" documentary on PBS and have an A][ q...

[Darren J. CEO <rocketusa@delphi.com>]

Just saw a repeat of the previously much talked about "Triump of the
Nerds" documentary on PBS and was pleased with the decent treatment the
][ got. I didn't clock it, but I'd say the ][ got twice as much covereage
as the Mac... but it was just assumed that the ][ died in 1984...
][
Either way, it was a good documentary and everything cannot be accounted
for... but there is one thing I was left wondering about and this
question is not answered in Apple ][ History, I don't think...
][
Okay, Steve Jobs said that after traveling to Xerox and seeing
a computer they had with a GUI (a graphical finder, icons, et al.),
he was inspired to come out with a machine that could be point
and click. Hence the Lisa project. But the Lisa costs 10 grand
and who'd pay that?  So, then came the Mac 128.
][
Okay, I understand that the Mac is 32 bit and the Apple ][ was
8 bit, but why didn't he see that the ][ would be a better
choice for housing a GUI? I know it would require an 8 bit
machine a bit more k and maybe speed to handle the GUI, but
the Apple ][gs proves it is possible. And a ][gs kicks
a Mac SE's butt anyday.  But by 1986 it must have been too late.
][
I liked how in the "nerds" documentary a programmer described
how tyranical Jobs was in taking away his Apple ][ and demanding
he work on the new Mac project...
][
And I understand that in 1984 there were several incompatible OSes on the
market and Mac OS didn't seem like a leap, but the ][, although
it wasn't competing well with IBM, already had a huge amount
of software out there and was pretty popular - and there may
have even been IBM emulators for teh ][ by then... Admittedly,
the Apple execs said in the documentary, all the Mac had was
Mac Paint and Mac Write - and it seemed that computers didn't
take off till there was a program (like VisiCalc) made to
justify buying one.  Those crucial years between 1983 (when A][
neglect began) and until the late 80's, when the Mac finally caught on,
were lost.  But if Apple stuck with the ][ they wouldn't
have lost as much pace. By 1984 it seemed, computer buyers
were no longer experimenting. Name recognition and track record
meant something. The novelty of the first Apple ][ couldn't be
recreated and it seemed that Apple was throwing away 7 years
of a track record just based on one man's scheme - Jobs.
][
end of sermon.
Darren