User`s guide

owners and former owners are asked to suggest company, school, and university
computer purchases? Somehow, Apple is managing to convert its most valuable
asset into a fatal liability. (It's not nice to skimp on your II insurance
premiums!)
Another Way
Anticipating that, whether by design or accident, Apple may be angling for
a Mac-only strategy, several respected II series supporters have joined to
combat the shift and develop alternatives. In our conversation, Mensch
identified such "Working Group" participants as himself and other WDC personnel,
Tom Weishaar, Mike Westerfield, and representatives from Applied Engineering and
Comlog.
While his "preferred remedy" is to persuade Big Green stockholders to force
II support, Mensch admits that the group is already exploring non-Apple options.
Among these, the simplest calls for third-party development of a speed-
up/graphics add-on. For an outlay "well below $500" you would retain access to
current IIgs wares and enjoy the benefits of a new, higher performance standard.
More dramatic cures call for Apple to 'spin off' an independent II products
company or even sign away II rights to one
or more established manufacturers.
When asked if a cloner (e.g. Laser) might launch its own super IIgs, Mensch
steadfastly refused any comment. From Laser, Grant Dalke's response was a
somewhat obtuse, carefully worded observation that, if such a product appeared
to be feasible, Laser would announce it when it was ready. (Hmmmmm) "So, are you
saying that no IIgs-like product is being developed?" Answer: "No comment".
Well, the last time I got answers like these to questions like these was back in
the summer of '85 when trying to pin do
wn Bill Mensch about a 65816-based "IIx". IF Jim Hart's rumored 7.8MHz, 640 x
400 resolution, ... "IIgs+" actually exists, a reasonable guess is that it's
sitting in Laser's labs.
Change
We have, it seems, reached the situation narrowly averted only three years
ago. Hobbled by inept generalship and beset by swarms of power-packed IBM
clones, the II world is moving to an inevitable consensus: Apple has lost the
'Mandate of Heaven'; II leadership is up for grabs. I believe most users would
like to see the company rediscover its hacker/experimenter roots and become a
'serious player'; it had better. What remains of the Empire (fat, contented
Macsville) is already scheduled for plundering
by hordes of '486-based monsters.
The 'bad news' is that, as the battle over speed, graphics, disk I/O, and
other needed advances heats up; it will, for a time, become difficult to present
software designers with a 'standard II'. Clones, plug-in upgrades, and third-
party motherboards (along with firmware and operating system mods) will add to
the confusion; some established II suppliers will fold; etc., etc.. (It ain't
gonna be pretty, Pilgrim.) Indeed, once it becomes clear what revolutionaries
mean by having to "break eggs to make
an omelet", more than a few users are sure to bail out and head for the
relatively peaceful IBM clone realm.