Re: And you thought Apple II users were screwed by Apple...

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

david@uow.edu.au (David Wilson) wrote:

>salfter@chakotay.ncc74656.org (Scott Alfter) writes:
>
>>It seems that the latest G3 Power Macs have a BIOS tweak to keep them from
>>accepting the G4 upgrade cards that Apple had to know third-party
>>manufacturers were going to produce.  Older G3s and other older systems will
>>still be upgradable.
>>
>>Makes me glad I went with x86 boxen instead...
>>... A manufacturer in this field, such as IBM or Compaq, would never be
>>able to get away with this kind of nonsense because buyers would avoid them
>>like the plague if word ever got out about something like this.)
>
>You forget what IBM did with the IBM PC/AT. This ran at 6MHz but the crystal
>was socketed and people found it would run at 8MHz. IBM changed the BIOS to
>not boot if the clock speed was higher that standard. Then people came out
>with a new clock circuit that started out at 6MHz and ramped up to 8MHz after
>the BIOS code had been run.

The point is that IBM could not get away with this nonsense
because the clones kept them honest.  Competition, you
know.  IBM started off like Apple, controlling the entire user
base since they monopolized the supply.  That's why they
were acting like Apple back then.  Then Compaq released
the first '386, beating IBM.  IBM has competed with true
innovation and performance ever since (rather than forced
migration and cripple code in the BIOS).

Do you think cripple code to prevent G3 to G4 upgrades
is good for the consumer?  The only reason Apple is doing
this is so that they can make more money off upgrades!
Why sell a CPU or a CPU card while you can make them
trade in their computer and make a HUGE $$$?

Isn't the free market supposed to produced the best product
for the best price for the consumer?  That's the theory, isn't
it?

But it does not work when there is a monopoly.  In this
case, Apple is the monopoly.  Every bit as bad as
Microsoft or Intel when it comes to its users (well, with
regards to Intel...AMD, IBM and Cyrix, IDT, and the other
chip manufacturers together currently outsell Intel in
PC CPU chips, so they do have to watch it somewhat).

By the way, I think the new G4 is awesome!