Re: I'm at a loss for words

[cplater@rattlehead.pass.wayne.edu (Charles A. Plater)]

Steve Mentzer (smentzer@pacbell.net) wrote:
: Well, I also had an ibm pc/xt, pc/at, pcJr, clone 286,386,486,pentium
: and guess what... I have *pirated* warez sitting at home. I have yet
: to buy a copy of Ultima. And guess what, IBM PC warez have *always* been
: easier to pirate than c64 or apple games. Any programmer will know that this
: was due to the fact that you could do non standard sector schemes, nibble
: counting, half tracking/spiraling and many other things with an Apple II
: that would prevent the successful duplication of software!

: The IBM Pc didn't have that copy-protection luxury. 

This is very true.  Pirate warez are a fact of life.  It does not make it
right, but it is a fact of life.

: THE THING THAT KILLED APPLE WAS APPLE COMPUTERS' ARROGANT NON-LICENSING OF
: APPLE II ROMS, NON-EXISTANT DEVELOPER SUPPORT AND OVERPRICING. IT IS THE
: SAME REASON THE MAC'S AND POWER PC'S ARE GOING TO THE LANDFILL. WILL YOU
: BLAME PIRACY FOR THE DOWNFALL OF THE MAC TOO?

No, I do not blame apple for any of it.  Apple has licenced Mac technology
(very late, but still they did license it), and now after cleaning up from
the Sculley/Spindler years, they are returning to profitability, and they
should be around for years to come.  People keep thinking that Micro$loth
will be the end of Apple, but I have a feeling that they are going to be
broken up (much like what happened to AT&T, althought I don't know what MS
will be like after the breakup) due to anti-trust laws.  That is just my
opinion, but I have a really good feeling that this is what is going to
happen.

: You see above. Piracy did not kill the apple II. Apple computer did. 
: There was limited support for the apple II because most families could
: not afford a $3000.00 apple // with all the cool stuff, but they could
: afford a $500.00 commodore 64.

Well, you see the price itself did not kill the Apple II, neither did
Apple Corp.  The price kept the market small, which allowed it to be hurt
if not killed by piracy.  The point that I was trying to make was that
piracy will kill small markets.  If the market is big enought, there are
enought people to legitimately buy software, and the market stays alive.
As the Apple II market shrinks, there is less profitablility in writing
software for it, so pirating really hurts in these situations. 

: Get a clue. If you are going to make an argument, make sure your point is
: valid...

: smentzer@pacbell.net


--

        Charles A. Plater, Lab Supervisor, Wayne State University

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