Re: How will the Apple II survive?

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <6l5l80drm2okuqucaubpp6q58a6ifp1ofo@4ax.com>,
Jeff Blakeney  <CUTjblakeney@sympatico.ca> wrote:
 
> However, PC and Mac users today want the same thing.  They want to
> continue to get newer and improved machines.  They want faster
> machines with better graphics and sound and more computing power.
> Personally, I have a Pentium III with an ATI All-In-Wonder-128 video
> card, a Creative Labs sound card (can never remember which one) and a
> 40 GB hard drive and I want a Pentium 4 with a Radeon based ATI
> All-In-Wonder, an Audigy sound card and at least a 120 GB hard drive.
> 
> Why should that desire be any different for Apple II users.
 
Because the Apple II is no longer a modern machine.
 
Suppose you had in your possession a specimen of one of the Wright
brother's airplanes.  Suppose you said e.g. "however Boeing and
McDouglas flyers today want the same thing: they want supersonic
flight. Why should that desire be any different for flyers of a
Wright Brother's airplaine?".
 
> I would love to have an Apple II with a faster (and possibly more
> powerful) processor, better graphics, better sound. and more
> storage space.
 
The best you could do then is to get a IIgs (unless you already have
one).  If you go beyond that, it'll be a computer of your own
construction, and you'll have to writ ethe software for it all by
yourself, unless you can find some collaborators.  And you'll end up
with a computer which is more expensive and more awkward than a
modern computer, and at the same time it'll most likely be
considerably slower.  And it will also have lost that "nostalgia
feeling" because it's no longer an Apple II but something different.
 
Another alternative is to run an emulated Apple II on a modern
PC or Mac: such an emulator can easily run some 10-20 times faster
than the original hardware.
 
If you want a modern computer with fast processor, lots of RAM
and a huge harddisk, abandon the Apple II and switch to a modern
computer.
 
But if you want an Apple II, accept the limitations it has.
 
-- 
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