Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!gatech!bbn!bbn.com!denbeste
From: denbeste@bbn.com (Steven Den Beste)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: uSoft/Apple and user interfaces
Message-ID: <44087@bbn.COM>
Date: 10 Aug 89 12:50:40 GMT
References: <9025@cs.Buffalo.EDU> <341@xrtll.UUCP>
Sender: news@bbn.COM
Reply-To: denbeste@BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 33

In article <341@xrtll.UUCP> mark@xrtll.UUCP (Mark Vange) writes:
>In article <9025@cs.Buffalo.EDU>, ugkamins@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Dr. R. Chandra) writes:
>> Why did Commodore-Amiga's Intuition interface not enter into the suit?
>> Why did Tandy's DeskMate interface not enter into the suit?
>> 
>> So my basic question is: why leave these guys alone and only go after
>> uSoft and HP???
>> ---
>Probably because both C-A and Tandy sales together do not add up to uSoft
>sales.  Why is HP in the fray?  I'm not sure about that one!

HP is a strong enough company both technically and financially that it can
pretty much break into any market it decides it wants, and take a substantial
chunk of it.

I spent 7 years at a company (Tektronix) which competed head-to-head with HP in
almost every market it was in. The annual report once said words to the effect
of "We are fortunate to have a competitor as good as HP."

I always found HP to be an honorable competitor: They didn't steal from us,
they just tried to build a better product than us. Who could ask for more? It
brought out the best in us when we wondered "what those guys at HP are doing
now?" (Of course, I suspect they used to think the same thing about us.)

I suspect that Apple is really frightened of HP getting into this market. HP is
quite capable and willing to lose money for five years to break in, and Apple
shows no sign of being interested in honest competition in their engineering.
If I were Apple, I'd be afraid of them, too.

Steven C. Den Beste        ||  denbeste@bbn.com (ARPA/CSNET)
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