Re: Apple Drops Backward Compatibility for Next MacOS

[christw@lexis-nexis.com (Christopher C. Wood)]

In article <54p0bq$678@opal.southwind.net>, shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford) writes:
|> pubpc1@library.ucla.edu wrote:

[ snip ]

|> : When the GS came out, the Mac sucked.  It is better now, but what
|> : Mac are we talking about in '86?  The Mac Plus?  The GS was and
|> : is better than the Mac Plus.

Except in speed, vertical resolution, and growth potential.  What were
the RAM limit on the GS?  The IIGS was introduced in October 1986; the
Color Mac II was introduced in April, 1987.  Six months later.  So
there was a tiny window when the IIGS has some claim to superiority,
but the handwriting was on the wall.

|> Depends on what you call better I suppose. You can run TCP client
|> apps, current system software, and new apps still on a Plus you
|> know.

I just set up my neighbor's kid with 7.0.1 on their 4M Mac Plus.  No
networking, though.

|> : Gee, IBM compats are doing pretty well and they still run PC/XT software.
|> : They are doing better than Macs!

|> We're talking system software. Windows NT 4.0 doesn't run on less
|> than a 386 but apps still run. That's how system 8 will work.

|> Marketing is the sole reason wintel sells more, it sure as hell
|> isn't because it's better.

|> : Well of course!  The Apple II has been absent for years.  If it
|> : remained all those years (Apple did not kill it), then John would
|> : be asking if it runs **Apple II/GS** software.  If he asks about
|> : Windows, well hey, AE would still be alive and the PC Pentium
|> : Transporter would be around!

|> Dream on. AE went out of business because it couldn't compete with
|> its overpriced products. If you think that people would buy IIs
|> with their under- powered apps over MacOS or wintel, marketing
|> notwithstanding, you need a reality check.

|> : Apple could have kept compatibility and gone up to date.

|> These at some point become mutually exclusive. System software
|> support for 68000, '020, and non 32 bit '030 Macs is being axed so
|> that performance on newer boxes can improve. Windows NT 4.5 will
|> not run on 486s. That's the nature of the beast.

|> : The GS was a great example.  Compatible with the II but better
|> : than the Mac of its day.

|> If you say so

It could arguably hold its own against the Mac of the day.  Six
months after its introduction, though, the future was clear.

Chris
-- 
Speaking only for myself, of course.
Chris Wood    christw@lexis-nexis.com   cats@CFAnet.com