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- Path: news.mpd.tandem.com!usenet
- From: Joseph Crowe <jcrowe>
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc
- Subject: Re: Apple troubles benefit Amiga?
- Date: 29 Jan 1996 21:03:29 GMT
- Organization: Tandem Computers,Inc. (Austin, TX)
- Message-ID: <4ejcn1$r64@news.mpd.tandem.com>
- References: <wfblanDL1rDu.Mo4@netcom.com> <4dsmdh$kvi@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> <4eh6p3$b2d@natasha.rmii.com> <1996Jan28.234644.52101@cobra.uni.edu>
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-
- sinclap2954@cobra.uni.edu (PETER SINCLAIR-DAY) wrote:
- >In article <4eh6p3$b2d@natasha.rmii.com>, mdaymon@rainbow.rmii.com (Maxwell Daymon) writes:
-
- >You still have not answered my question. From what I have read in MacWeek, new
- >PowerMacs, Cybordog, new printers and video solutions will debut this quarter.
-
- Peter, MacLeak has as much bias towards Apple as you do. I find it
- interesting that Radius has abandoned the MacClone market and sold its
- interests to Umax. I sadly see the Mac taking the same path as the Amiga, if
- perhaps a little more subtly. Apple has suffered from a lack of vision at
- leadership levels since Jobs was ousted and Sculley brought in.
-
- >> Apple's 'AGA' is their cooperative multitasking and their 'AAA' is still
- >> past Copland (full preemptive multitasking). Spindler is driving the
- >> company into the ground!
- >
- >Spindler has full support of the Apple board. If he is such a lousy CEO, than
- >Apple should git rid of him. Copland is soon. Apple's current woes has
- >nothing to do with Copland. Apple's woes is attributed to not supplying enough
- >higher margin machines due to component constraints.
-
- Let's see what happens in the next two weeks. If Sun pulls off a merger
- with Apple, that may save Apple's hide and I would be very surprised if
- Spindler remains in place, in any event for more than a couple of months.
- Spindler does not represent the leadership that Apple needs for survival right
- now, but he does not represent as thoroughly an incompetent example as Gould or
- Mehdi. I believe that Gassee should have ascended into the highest ranks at
- Apple. He has the vision to pursue what could have become a great niche for
- the Mac. Finally, Apple's woes stem largely from depending on IBM and Motorola
- as reliable sources for parts for the machines that could have sold. Apple
- should have learned WRT Motorola's ability to deliver silicon on time with the
- 68K series(he says ducking, because of the awe commanded by the 68K in these
- parts...;^)).
-
- >>
- >> Look at their stock for the past 1 - 1.5 years. Even that looks almost
- >> identical to Commodore.
- >
- >Apple's stock in that time frame was around the $50.00 range.. I don't see any
- >similarrities..
-
- Perhaps the point was the rapid nature of Apple's stock price decline. The
- trailing 52 week high was around 50 and the current price is 28+. Apple's
- stock price peaked in July of 95....it has dropped over 40% in six months.
- Perhaps not as dizzying a fall as C=, but similar nonetheless.
-
- >> Get your head out of the sand. Apple going under (if not purchased) is a
- >> distinct possibility. Maybe you like in a pocket of support for Apple, but
- >> many stores have started cutting back on Apple products to the point where
- >> they only get one shelf now. I'm talking about major chains as much as the
- >> local ones.
- >
- >Are you referring to one shelf of software? You must have time to visit the
- >chains.
-
- Well, Peter, it's not just the chains. I remember when the Mac Connection
- catalogue was Mac only. Now the catalogue includes Mac and PClone selections
- and about 25% of the selections are available for the Mac where >95% are
- available for PClones. Software developers go where they have the most
- potential to make the big bucks and that's not on the Mac these days. I don't
- like this any more than you do but it does not make it any less real.
-
- >PowerComputing is doing much of their own R%D such as PCI/Nubus board,
- >multiprocessor Macs, PowerBook clones and so on.
-
- This may be too little, too late.
- >
- >Yes, Apple did lose money..So did Mercedes Benz -$4.2 billion in 1995. But
- >know one is saying that their days are numbered.
-
- Apple no longer has the deep pockets they used to, and, they are in a much
- tougher business. Apple's competition has an advantage of economy of scale.
- None of us can predict the future, but I believe that Apple needs more than a
- little nudge, it needs fundamental change in terms of vision and focus. I also
- believe that a Sun/Apple collaboration could mean positive change for both
- companies.
- >
- >IBM went through a painful restrucuring for awhile and ended up laying off half
- >of their workforce..Didgital went through the same thing. Digital is back on
- >track. Apple needs to restructure. I still think Apple's R&D is bloated.
- >Knocking off $200 million from $650 million will do.
-
- IBM is also in a world of hurt. Digital has made four quarters without a
- loss but look at their profits compared with their losses for so many years.
- DEC's days of dominance are long over. Apple's big problem is focus. Apple
- has not delivered a significant new feature since the original Mac. MacOS
- needed upgrading a long time ago and next year, or the year after that for
- Copland will not cut it. Apple has also pissed off a lot of its longtime
- supporters. The decision to go to a different CPU was right. The way it was
- done was an abysmal failure. And, perhaps the crowning screwup is the Copland
- and Taligent fiascos. Apple cannot expect to get by on the Mac GUI alone for
- this long. Without a decent, robust, stable OS, the Mac essentially pisses
- away much of the raw power of the fast PowerPC CPUs.
-
- > Peter Sinclair-Day
-
- --
- Joseph Crowe
- jcrowe@isd.tandem.com
-
-