Re: New Apple II (was Apple's next move ...)

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <4m6j95$s8g@news3.cts.com>, jamess@cts.com (Jim Stafford)
writes:

>.....
>O.K. check this out. What is probably the biggest customer base to 
>support a new GS. Schools? Now if someone did come out with a 
>*motherboard* upgrade for the GS that was compatable with *all* the 
>devices that one already owns it would be a lot less costly to upgrade. 
>The kids could put the motherboards in to tower or desk top cases plug in

>the hard drives and there ready to go. The kids get hands on experience 
>and the fun of building the computers in their lab, the school saves a
lot 
>of money.
>

     Sounds like a fun project.


>How much do you think a motherboard with a super smart port (able to use 
>1.4 3.5 drives), on bord parallel port, super high speed serial ports and

>scsi would cost? Maybe around $500.00? Now compare it to a system that 
>comes with x8 CD and everything esle. The other poeple are right that 
>high a price you might as well buy a PPC or Pentium.
>
>Add svga graphics to the above mb. (almost forgot).
>
>Anyway the bottom line is if a new GS came out that wasn't compatable 
>with the devices I have I wouldn't be interested and probably 1000's of 
>other GS, Apple II users probably wouldn't either.


     Most likely, this is precisely why Apple never bothered with a
serious GS upgrade.

     On the one hand, the majority of Apple II users would refuse to
support any new II which offers noticably less performance than a
same-price PC. On the other, many II users have insisted upon costly
support of obsolete peripherals and low-performance software.

     The challenge for Apple (or whoever makes GS-X) is to satisfy II
users and non-II-user home computer shoppers ready for a better, more
exciting, more fun, more user-friendly computer. Price must land in the
magic $1400-$1800 range _and_ Apple must make a profit.  

     It is quite a tall order; but, maybe, doable!

     The 'hardware scene' has changed much since the last great New Apple
II debate in 1989. More than ever, Speed and other performance
considerations favor an integrated platform.

     At the same time, slumping home market sales point to a growing
dissatifaction with PC. It has become "the old platform". Many '486 and
slower Pentium owners are standing pat, waiting for something more than
just another MHz boost.   

     Today's PC comes nowhere near efficiently harnassing the power of
available hardware. The fact that critical subsystems-- chiefly Video and
Sound-- must be plugged into Slots is a major weakness. That the platform
must support a wide variety of such cards is another. 

     PC's flexibility is a strength: the same basic machine can be
produced in vast numbers. It is also a curse: absence of a well-defined
standard end product makes it nearly impossible to design a glitch-free
user-friendly interface. Despite the addition of costly options, makers of
leading edge software are unable to deliver reliable performance on many
machines.

     In the battle to match PC, Apple IIGS-X's high level of integration
could recover the cost of implementing full downward compatibility.
On-board Video and Sound alone represent both a major cost advantage and
an opportunity to leap-frog PC capabilities. Since major systems are
well-defined and standardized, a user-friendly interface is assured and
IIGS-X developers need design for just one machine.

 
>
>Compatability is the key to the success of a new GS.

     Perhaps. Surely, it will solidify II user support.

     Apple, no doubt, appreciates the potential value of enthusiastic II
user support. Being able to count upon an instant demand for tens of
thousands of units, having computer-smart IIGS-X users showing off
machines to PC-owner acquaintences, having in-place II-user publications
ready to 'get the word out', ... . All of this is worth a great deal.

     For us, the challenge is to produce a features 'Want List'  which
Apple can meet. Motherboard swap-ins, for example, are probably out.

    II user support for Apple IIGS-X has to mean that II users _Buy_ the
Apple IIGS-X!


Rubywand