User`s guide

success. Some "industry analysts" have suggested a low-priced Mac; but, aside
from being a contradiction in terms, IF a fo
r-real '90's technology Cheapo Mac were offered, the first casualty would be the
current high-profit-margin Mac II. A not-for-real sub-performing Cheapo would,
of course, merely repeat IBM's PC Jr. fiasco.
In following through with release of GSOS 5.0, Apple demonstrates that it
is not quite ready to fall on its sword. Whether Big Green has forgotten how to
wield it remains to be seen. A vast market is still wide open, ripe for plucking
by the first manufacturer able to tell a "PC" business machine from a genuine
"Home Computer". Apple used to know the difference; and, with Spring in the air
and just a bit of prompting from its II users, may be on the verge of
remembering.
ISSUE 74/ (Report from the Computer Wars)
When the great wheel of the small computing universe takes a major turn,
wobbles, and settles into a new plane, there are bound to be many users who will
doubt the evidence of their senses. ("Did the earth tremble? Did the stars
shift? WHAT happened?!") Hence, the 'last minute' decision to compress this
month's reviews and issue the "Report'".
Report from the Computer Wars
I. Tsunami
What promised just last summer to be a PC wave has become a rolling
tsunami. One minute you're strolling down a city street, considerately stepping
over and around islands of PC hardware; the next, you're running for your life
in the shadow of a churning skyscraper-high wall of machines and circuit boards.
Something important has happened in Computerville; a milestone has been reached.
When? Sometime between last fall and this spring. What? Nothing less than the
end of Computer Wars I!
II. Myth
During some fifteen years of competition among names like Altair, Southwest
Technical, Imsai, (Ohio Scientific, Tandy, Atari, Apple, Commodore, ...), it
became an article of faith that the outcome would be THE dominant computer
maker. Presumably, the manufacturer of the best machines would attract the
overwhelming majority of users and that would be that.
Much to the delight of TRS-80, Apple II, and Atari 800 makers, the
Microcomputer Club soon gave way to product-specific groups of true believers
determined to expand membership and win immortality ("II Forever!", etc.) for
their machines. It was entertaining; but, of course, it was mainly hype.
Even were users willing and able to flit from machine to machine like
butterflies, no major manufacturer was particularly attracted to anything so
intangible as Computer Wars "victory". The corporations (believe it or not) were
aiming to maximize profits, not user numbers! Both Apple and Commodore built up
large, enthusiastic home user bases, then neglected them in favor of the lower
volume, higher profit business market. So much for "winning the world".