Re: Re. Sun-Apple

[mlamorte@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Mike LaMorte)]

RUBYWAND (rubywand@aol.com) wrote:
: In article <4fc89g$l5t@acme.freenet.columbus.oh.us>,
: mlamorte@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Mike LaMorte) quotes Dennis Doms
: (ddoms@qni.com) who wrote:

: >: Apple is obviously marketing Macs as personal computers, and therefore
: >: in competition with IBM compatibles. A competition they appear to be
: >: losing in the marketplace.
: >

:     Exactly. As an Apple II user who also uses a PC, it is still difficult
: to be extremely enthusiastic about either the Mac or PC, except as to how
: the competition may impact support for the II series.

:     Apple's big problem is that, in going for PC-compatibility, the
: company became locked into a competition where the economics of scale
: overwhelmingly favor the 'enemy'. Unless Apple, perhaps merged with Compaq
: or IBM, is prepared to get down into the trenches, engage in predatory
: pricing, and win back a big chunk of the home market, it is a competition
: which can have only one outcome. Indeed, it may already be too late.

:     A less risky alternative is a move to reclaim the II user base. Unlike
: the Mac, the II series remains non-PC-compatible. Unlike the PC, it is a
: sophisticated platform easily protected from cloners. Most important,
: there are still legions of II owners who remain 'interested'. This
: includes many who now use PC's.


: Rubywand

I agree with that. If Apple were to bite its tongue and begin supporting
the Apple IIs again (what was that slogan? Apple II forever? Something
like that...) it could reclaim a great percentage of the home computer
market. 

A buddy of mine works at CompuServe. I told him that GEnie was supposed to
be working on an Apple II graphical interface to their service. His
response? "Why?" I said, "There's still millions of us Apple II users out
there who would eat it up. Think of the market potential!" He laughed.
"They'd just be wasting their money that they could be putting into Mac or
IBM stuff. The Apple II is a dead platform." To me, that was an insult!!!

John Dvorak, editorial columnist of MacUser, said something interesting a
few issues back... he brought up that el-cheap-o $99 Timex Sinclair
computer of way back. And he made a good point: It might not have done
much, but it sold thousands just because they were cheap. My idea: Bring
back an enhanced GS with graphical support for the WWW. (It can be done.
Look at the Second Sight cards...) Update the OS, bring back the axed
ethernet card and make it standard to the motherboard, give it a built-in
HD with 250 megs (more than enough for d/l-in cool web stuff) and ship it
off with a 14.4 modem (28.8 as an option) for about... $499???? (Monitor,
keyboard, mouse, AppleWorks GS, and a graphical WWW browser pre-installed,
of course.) My opinion? They'd sell like all hell. Look at all the
currently available software that's at all the ftp sites (grind, etc).
Look at the user base and existing 3rd party development that's already
been done. Look at all the resources that are available!!! If Gilbert
Amelio is "a fan of Apple since the Apple II days" as he says he is, then
he'll realize this potential goldmine. Imagine the advertisements...

"Get on the World Wide Web... just $499!!!"

"The vehicle that will put you on the internet for under $500!!!"

The kicker is, it's more than a terminal, more than a useless box. It's a
real computer that you can hook to laser printers and networks. Play games
as well as exchange e-mail. Type papers and surf the web.

<sigh> If only they would have appointed ME CEO....


-- 
Mike LaMorte <mlamorte@freenet.columbus.oh.us>
CEO, President, Designer
Aurora Concepts Inc.
Design & Consulting