Re: The Apple II Now and Forever

[hal@budapest.math.macalstr.edu (Harold Byron Bouma)]

Jay M. Krell writes

> Apple thinks their is a larger market for computer users, not computer
> hobbyists. They are right. Most computer users have no need to open up their
> computer to see what is going on, playing with softswitches, and learning how
> their computer works. They want an idiot box. An appliance, if you will. Do 
> you know how your car, TV, and refrigerator work? Or do you just turn the key 
> and press the accelerator, punch the buttons, and leave it plugged in,
> respectively? There are more people that don't care how their appliances work
> than that do care. The problem is when the appliance forces you to understand
> it. Do you buy a car w/o a radio and then install it yourself? Or would you 
> go to a "professional" to do it? Again, there are both kinds of people, but 
> most would not mess with it themselves. The non-hands-on people would rather 
> buy something that they don't have to put their hands on.

	Yes, you're right, the market for the consumer machine is much larger.  
But as Apple has been showing the "open it up and get your hands dirty" machine  
does just as decent of a job of acting as an applicance as a Mac does. But that  
is not my main point, my point is that Apple is neglecting a market with this  
approach of "applicance' machines with the Mac. Just with the car mentioned  
above, there are a lot of people who like to take cars apart and tinker with  
them. And those of us who like to do the same with the computers are going to  
the PC's.



> The Apple II's stability is a double-edged sword. Does it do something too
> slowly? It'll stay that way. Well, you can add a Zip. Graphics resolution too
> low? It'll stay that way.

	Until the GS, Double hi-res was thought to be the best the Apple II  
could do, the Apple showed them all with Super Hi-Res. But the basic point is  
that graphics resolution is merely I/O, which can be modified. The '816 doesn't  
know about graphics, it just moves data. If it happens to be screen memory,  
well, then thats ok. If the GS had more current support, getting past Super  
Hi-Res would not be a problem.

| Hal Bouma                            | Send mail to: HBouma@Macalstr.edu    |
| Macalester College, St. Paul, MN.    | and           HBouma@Macalstr.Bitnet |
 \  Things that make you go Hmmm:  System 6, GNO, DreamGrafix, SoundMeister  /
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