Re: The apple 2, the PC, and the clones

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Ruud Dingemans <rtech@home.nl> wrote:

>>Supertimer wrote:
>>
>> you wanted it to capture a market not held by the PC, right?
>> No, but Apple had to keep the Mac expensive and so it was
>
>Don't forget that the Mac entered the market as a cheap Lisa, which was 
>a whole bucketload more expensive ($10000 vs 2500) and don't forget the 
>original IBM PC wasn't exactly a cheapo computer either; it was the 
>clones that became cheap.

Yes but even years later when IBM was selling Aptivas for a
quite competitive price with the compatibles, Macs were still
expensive.

>> The IIGS had tremendous potential to be this machine but
>> it was Apple that prevented it from being so.  They kept
>> prices high, dropped advertisement, witheld support to third
>
>Don't forget that at the time, the GS was already being rapidly 
>outdated. As a 65816 8/16 bitter, it was around 1987 already being left 
>behind by 16/32 bitters like the Amiga 500 and the ST, not to mention 
>the Acorn RISC machines.
>
>Yes, Apple could've put more technology/development in. But that would 
>also mean keeping the price up, and competing with yourself, given the 
>Mac. It would probably have been better/easier to integrate the GS into 
>the Mac thru emulation, like the IIe card did, so that people could 
>upgrade easier.

It was the IIGS concept that was the right idea.  Wrap your
computer around graphics and sound.  nVidia and Creative
are doing it today.  Creative owns Ensoniq which made the
(at the time) state of the art sound chip in the IIGS.  If Apple
didn't want to do the IIGS, then why not a Mac IIGS?  What
I am saying is that IIGS or iMac, these are two versions of
the same idea.  A home multimedia computer.  It is just that
Apple was not interested in the IIGS concept in the 80's and
the iMac today has come too late and is too expensive.

What they should have done is integrate Apple II software
compatibility into the first Macs AND an Ensoniq sound
chip plus color graphics.  A Macintosh IIGS basically.  Then
lower the price over time.  As new models are produced,
lower the prices of the old models so that you have a
diverse product line and make headway in the home.