Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!bbn!apple!rewing
From: rewing@Apple.COM (Richard Ewing)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: New GS ROMs
Summary: Let's get real people
Message-ID: <34101@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 Aug 89 14:25:08 GMT
References: <8908181021.AA14057@trout>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 90

For those of you who seem disappointed in this upgrade of the GS, let me
remind you that Apple never promised anything like the fabled GS+ model
that has been floating around the bulletin boards for over a year.  How you
should review the product is the way I presented to our sales staff
of Southern Operations afew days ago.  Now mind you that this is a group
of people that would rather sell Macs over IIgs' in most cases, but by
the time I got through, they were excited about the product, and
especially what it means to their existing customers.

Let's look at the evolution of the Mac, shall we?  It started with 128K
of RAM and 64K of ROM to present the user the full Macintosh desktop
experience.  Not a lot, eh?  Hell, you can't run most programs in that
kind of space, let alone system software.  It has a flat filing system
and ROM that was optimized for space and functionality than speed.  The
Mac was later upgraded to the Fat Mac (512K) that required a substancial
upgrade from the first product (new motherboard).  It still had the same
ROMs which made it slow, but it could run programs with more functionality
than before.  But still the product was *not* selling.  Why?  Because
it simply did not have the capabilities of a business computer that
you really needed in a Macintosh product.  Finally, the Mac Plus was
introduced.  it had 1 megabyte of RAM (sameas the original Lisa), and
128K of ROM that had more speed optimizations in it.  Combined with the new
System 3.2 and the (apparently) fast Apple HD20, the Mac Plus was
finally the product that could be useful to a wide crosssection of people.
It was no faster in clock speed than the original Mac 128K, but it was
considered faster to use based on available RAM, reengineered ROMs,
and better access to peripherals.  Then they topped it of with an Appleshare
server and the workgroup concept took off.  We still sell the Mac Plus
and the popular Mac SE isn't any faster than the Mac Plus, but it acheives
its extra speed by a logic board design tweak, and further optimized 256K
ROMs.

How does this compare to the Apple IIgs?  Well, the IIgs was introduced as
a graphic based architecture with 256K of RAM, and 128K of ROM.
Like the original Mac 128K, its small RAM prevented it from running
some of the more powerful software packages, but unlike the Mac 128K or 512K,
RAM was easily upgraded to 1.25 megs by Apple, or up to 8 megabytes
by officially sanctioned third party solutions.  Anybody remember the
official way to upgrade a 512K or 128K Mac with 3rd party RAM?  (Sorry,
Apple cannot support that solution)  Even the Mac Plus and the SE
are only capable of expansion to 4 megs, and until recently, even the
best Mac IIs could only handle up to 8 megs of RAM.  This kind of
foresight is a testiment to the Apple II engineers who had a little
vision in designing the product.  Eventually, we did begin to sell the
Apple IIgs with 512K of memory, and a betterversion of the System software.
This version could support a Finder, SCSI hard drives, and early
networking to Appleshare file serves.  Still the same ROMs like the original
Mac 512K product.  Finally, we introduce a machine that mimicks the
Mac Plus in many ways, and goes beyond it on others.  It has 1 meg of memory
on board (1 mbit RAMs) and 256K of highly optimized ROMs.  Combined
with the new System software 5.0, the change in performance is far more
dramatic than the change from the Mac 128K to the Plus.  Also thrown
into the package is faster suppoert for SCSi drives, CD ROM drives,
true Appleshare, and IIgs favorites like color, awesome sound, and
8 meg RAM expansion, not to forget 7 slots.

Why did the Mac Plus take off?  Becuase we gave our users a machine that
could perform the tasks that they wanted to do without being saddled
by the OS.  The new IIgs is  in the same mold.  We give the user
the capabilities to do more with the product.  At the same time,
old IIgs users can enjoy the majority of the new features without having
to junk old hardware (ask someone who had a Mac 128 about the expense
of upgrading).  Most of you power junkies on the net had the extra
memory anyway,  and many of you have hard disks.  Once you sit behind
the product like I have, you really see how the new software benefits
all users of the machine.  The need to roll it into ROM and to provide
more motherboard ROM was elementary.  For all of you who complain
that there's no built in SCSI, or improved CPU speed, or other things,
well all these things are available third party or by us as options.
And have you priced a Mac SE these days?  Keeping the price of a IIgs
within reason is crucial, not only for you, but our education customers.
\And properly configured, I can have a low cost multimedia workstation
for less than half the cost of a similarly configured mac solution
(or other systems for that matter, maybe save the Amiga).  When I sit
down to my machine, I first think "color Mac Plus".  Then I notice the
Transwarp GS, Video Overlay card, and 5 megs of RAM, and then I smile.
And even the Mac users in the office like my machine, which is the best
complement I think it can get.  'Nuff said.

__________________________________________________________________________
|Disclaimer:  Segmentation Fault: Core Dumped.                            |
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|Internet: REWING@APPLE.COM-----------------------Rick Ewing              |
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