Re: Apple sucks

[jp1@aol.com (JP1)]

joko@crl10.crl.com (Joe Kohn) writes:

>>"It's been almost 11 years; the Apple IIGS was introduced on September
15, 1986."<<

Good shot, Joe.  #;^)

I elected to go the PC route when I needed a very high-resolution system
capability, after having been burned badly as both a developer and as a
user by ACI's "war" against their own Apple II line (aided and abetted by
Dan Muse and Paul Statt at inCider), and I've never regretted it.  The
competition of the (PC) marketplace fosters much more _affordable_
innovation  than does the typical ACI "We make all the decisions."
approach, over the long haul.  (Won't argue on a product-by-product
basis--there's no point..)

I recall reading the text of an interview of w/ Jobs many years ago, in
which he bragged about his concept of the "closed" computer system (a la
the IIc, the first Macs, and to a degree, the Next).  It struck me then
that Jobs had such a swollen ego that he believed himself best-suited to
decide what a "proper" computer should be, and that as long as he was
calling the shots, his company would be hobbled in competition with the
wide-open PC market.

So, under his leadership(?) ACI killed the II line (yes, I know that
Sculley and Spindler were execs in that era), Macs didn't dominate the
educational and business markets, and the Next just sort of faded away. 

When I saw that Jobs was again being given a role in ACI's leadership, I
had a strong feeling that the old "No one knows as much about computers as
I do" attitude would resurface.  Apparently, it has.

John P.