Re: WarGames for Apple II?

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Sean Fahey <a2fan@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:46:32 AM UTC-6, Michael J. Mahon wrote:
>> BLuRry 
>>  wrote:
>>> He probably had to mash in the chips between film shoots to keep it
>>> running though.  :-D  I digress, without the /// there would be no //e.
>> 
>> Really?
>> 
>> I'm curious about that conclusion. 
>> 
>> It seems to me that the Apple ][+ had such legs that any business would
>> have invested in a successor.  Without the /// they would have invested
>> sooner. 
> 
> I think its a valid conclusion. In hindsight the Apple II had legs, but
> *back then* several sources cite Apple's fears (Woz is on record) that
> the Apple II line was aging and would have to be replaced with
> *something* very soon, hence the rush to get the /// out the door. I
> think Apple thought at the time, Sara and the II+ would give them just
> enough time to deliver Lisa (and eventually Macintosh).
> 
> When the /// tanked, Apple *had* to re-design the II not only to address
> the failure of the ///, but also to level-up with features their
> competition was making standard on their offerings. The other driver was
> to lower the chip count to make manufacturing cheaper and easier plus
> improve reliability. Warranty repairs on ][ and ][+ boards was expensive
> and Apple Service was heading toward swap and drop repair model with the dealer channel.
> 
> So, yeah - I could see the /// being the reason we got the //e - or at
> least for influencing the //e's features and specifications that made it
> the King of the 8 bit Apples.

Interesting--I follow your thinking. 

But one can also see the /// as proving irrefutably that the growing market
snowball of the II line demanded a strictly compatible follow-on--a lesson
apparently well-learned (some would say, looking at the IIgs, *too*
well-learned. ;-)

Viewed in this way, the /// just kept Apple busy long enough to realize 1)
that designing a new machine is no guarantee of market success, and 2) that
the marketplace ecosystem was giving the II very long legs!

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon