Re: Apple ///?

[jd-wong@uiuc.edu (Jim Wong)]

In article <17APR199703043265@vax2.concordia.ca>, spec@vax2.concordia.ca
(Mitchell Spector) wrote:
> 
>     Music: the Macintosh only has a DAC for playing back digitized sound,
> they have _NO_ music synthesis capabilities

Not true.

> and _NO_ company sells add-on sound boards for the Macintosh.

Not true.
> 
>     Animation: Most Macintoshes, including PowerMacs, are too slow to do
> any kind of complex animation. 

Marathon.

>     Let's talk about digital video. I've used a PowerMac 8100/80 with
> 32 MB of RAM, yet it could not handle playing back a video image full
> screen. Meanwhile, my lowly 586-133 (about a P75 equivalent or less)
> plays back full-screen video (not just a large window, the entire
> screen without any obstructions) with high-quality stereo sound
> perfectly. There are no slowdowns or choppiness, it is as smooth
> as can be. I don't want to even get into what it is like playing
> full-screen video on a 6100/60 or 68K Macintosh.

What video?  What codec?  What bit depth?  This is a meaningless comparison.

> 
>     The Internet? Gee, my PC let's me run several Internet applications
> at the _same time_ and continues to run while I'm holding down the mouse
> button. I'm able FTP several files at once, read newsgroups, have Netscape
> or Explorer running and it works quite stably. I can even open other
> applications or listen to music. Preemptive multitasking is a nice thing.
> Explain to me how the Macintosh is better suited for the Internet? This
> is utter nonsense.
> 

Better suited?  Perhaps not.  But I don't have any trouble doing FTP,
email and news at the same time on my pathetic IIci.

> PC, but if you have enough sense, you avoid them. With the Macintosh
> you have to take whatever Apple gives you,

What are you talking about?  On my Mac, I've got a non-Apple hard disk, a
non-Apple printer, a non-Apple monitor, and a non-Apple video card.

> improvements? What is that I hear you say...? It wouldn't have made
> sense because it would have cut into Macintosh sales and overlapped
> onto the same market? Bingo.

Sounds like a prudent business decision to me.

-- 
Jim Wong (jd-wong@uiuc.edu)