Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!ucsd!rutgers!mailrus!ames!oliveb!sun!plaid!chuq
From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Computer for the rest of us?
Message-ID: <69545@sun.uucp>
Date: 22 Sep 88 05:34:09 GMT
References: <430043@hpcea.CE.HP.COM> <3600031@iuvax>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality
Lines: 54

>"A computer for the rest of us."
>
>I think that idea followed Steve Jobs over to NeXT.  :-)  Seriously, I
>*do* think the Mac Plus will be sold for a while longer...and maybe
>even for less money.
>
>The problem seems to be a conflict between the corporate need to maximize
>profits (that's why they hired a guy from Pepsi, you know) and a tradition
>of innovation that may not be as valued anymore.

Are you sure you folks aren't living a Fantasy? I bought into the Macintosh
early. A 128K, two floppy system ran me $2800 (THAT early. I still have it,
it's still working every day, although now it's got two megs and a hard disk.
And is on it's third analog board....). My 512K upgrade ran me $700 or so. 

I can't believe anyone who's been involved with the Mac since early days
EVER believed they were buying on price. The Mac has never been the 'cheap'
machine. It's always been for 'the rest of us' who knew there had to be
something better than MS-DOS and cryptic commands. It wasn't a price point,
it was a philosophy. And I don't believe Apple EVER marketed the Mac as the
machine for those who couldn't affor a PC. 

The rest of us are those folks who want machines that work WITH us, not
AGAINST us. The Mac as 'cheap commodity for all us poor folks' is a Fantasy
created by those who want it. It's not Apple's dream, and never has been.

So quit screaming at Apple for not being something they never pretended to
be. You want cheap, go buy an Atari or an Apple ][. You want state of the
art, you want good, you want power, you want Toys, you have to expect to pay
for it. The best always extracts a premium. And Apple deserves it.

I *could* have saved myself enough money to buy a second Mac by waiting
until the prices dropped to where they have today. Think about what it cost
to buy a 128K then, and how much Mac you could get for that now (two Mac
Plusses, at street price). Then look at the University program, the
University discounts, the developer discounts. Go price what an IBM PS/2
with enough hardware to run the Presentation Manager costs -- and be willing
to wait for the presentation manager on top of it.

Take a look at the cost curve of the Mac line since the introduction. And
then compare that to the power curve. THEN tell me the Mac used to be 'for
the rest of us' and isn't any more. THEN tell me the Mac is expensive. It's
a damn sight less expensive than the Good Old Days you all seem to remember
so fondly.....

If you don't like Mac prices, don't buy Macs. Go buy a PS/2, and run
something that's almost as good, almost as fast, and almost as cheap as a
Mac. There are those of us who happen to be glad that Apple isn't giving
away the future (those margins and high prices, among other things,
guarantee the research and development that'll make future Mac's even
better. Give them away today, they won't exist tomorrow).

Chuq Von Rospach			chuq@sun.COM		Delphi: CHUQ
Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms