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- Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!bogus.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!The-Star.honeywell.com!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!nagle
- From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
- Subject: Re: Total Chaos
- Message-ID: <1993Jan9.183502.23911@netcom.com>
- Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
- References: <17835@umd5.umd.edu> <ksand-070193160738@wintermute.apple.com>
- Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 18:35:02 GMT
- Lines: 32
-
- ksand@apple.com (Kent Sandvik ) writes:
- >The PowerPC chip will be used for personal, office level computers by
- >Apple, and in high end workstations by IBM. This is a nice and clear
- >separation, and it's actually a win-win situation for both parts.
-
- There is no such 'clear separation'. Sun workstations now start
- at prices well below high-end Macs. If there is a real separation in
- future, it's going to be between portables and desktop machines.
- It's a classic IBM ploy to try to make such distinctions stick by
- marketing means and by crippling the low-end machines. When I hear something
- like the above, I expect to see "low end" machines crippled by limited
- expansion capability.
-
- >PowerOpen is for the 'Open Systems People', while MacOS for PowerPC
- >is for the rest of us :-). Another win-win, if you think open systems
- >is the way to go, go for PowerOpen. If you like the MacOS environment,
- >you got it.
-
- Using software emulation. Right. As Kent has previously admitted,
- the new machines will run the Mac OS in a software emulator, something like
- Soft PC, and the "real PowerPC environment" will have a different
- API and GUI. Sounds like A/UX.
-
- It's sad. If Apple had come out with a protected-mode MacOS with
- multiprocessor support (difficult, but possible) kicked Motorola into
- building faster M68xxx CPUs and saturated the educational market with
- low-end Macs equipped with built-in CD-ROM drives, Apple could have
- retained its leadership position. But, with top management choosing a
- "strategic alliance" with IBM, a classic tar pit, as Apple's future, one can
- only expect decline.
-
- John Nagle
-