Re: The Apple II Now and Forever

[philip@labtam.labtam.oz.au (Philip Stephens)]

Harold Byron Bouma writes:

>People now take their GS's in to their dealer for repairs and the technician
>ask them how to open the GS. Is this quality service one should expect from
>Apple after buying $3000 worth of equipment from them?

  Certainly not.  But considering that Apple is planning to drop the GS from
their product list in the near future, it's no surprise that they are
disinclined to put the money and resources into maintaining trained
technicians that can repair GS's.  No computer company can be expected to
support superceded models forever, even though Apple has been quicker than
most to drop their support.
  Having said that, Apple could, if they wanted to, provide a centralised
service and support centre that would handle the repairs of the installed
base of GS computers.  It could stay in operation for as long as there were
GS's been sent in for repair.  But at this stage, I wouldn't expect Apple
to do anything like that.

>...just because a GS can look and feel like a Mac, does not limit it to just
>that.  A GS is just not some ascetic platinum box that you talk to with a
>mouse.  The original philosophy of the Apple II was a hobbyist machine.  
>And with that means you can open it up and see whats going on.

  Bravo!  A GS should never be compared with a Mac, and neither should it
be expected to act like one.  This is what disappoints me about Apple; they
don't seem to realise that the Apple // line appeals to a different audience
than the Mac, and a next-generation Apple // could do big business for them
without eroding the Mac market.  Unfortunately, Apple has lost sight of
it's roots.

>Home users don't have $3000 to shell out every 2 years to keep their machines
>up to speed.

  Or more accurately, shouldn't have to!  The GS has reasonable power
behind it for the average home user, but if a next-generation GS was to
come out with nothing more than a CPU speed of 10Mhz and 8-bit colour
graphics, it could really do well in that market.  A pity Apple doesn't
believe that.

>Not if you enjoy to use a open-ended machine. Then chances are, one would
>like IBM. Its up to what people want in a computer. But its not up for  
>Apple to decide for us, which is what its been doing.

  Well, that's not true of course.  Apple can choose to follow whatever
philosophy it wants.  It's a shame, but what can we do about it?  Apple is
no longer the computer company to buy from if you want a hacker's machine
that will be supported by them and third party developers...our only hope
now is that the Avatar becomes a reality.

| Philip Stephens, Systems Programmer. | %%%%  %     Labtam Australia Pty Ltd |
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| Philip Stephens, Systems Programmer. | %%%%  %     Labtam Australia Pty Ltd |
| Address:  43 Malcolm Road, Braeside, |   % % % %     "Applied Ingenuity"    |
|           Victoria, 3195, AUSTRALIA. |  %  % %  %  We make the fastest RISC |
| Internet: philip@labtam.labtam.oz.au | %%%%% %%%%% X terminals in the world |