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. | | | |Internet: REWING@APPLE.COM-----------------------Rick Ewing | |ApplelinkPE & MacNet Soon!------------------Apple Computer, Inc. | |Applelink: EWING--------------------100 Ashford Center North, Suite 100 | |Compu$erve: [76474,1732]--------------------Atlanta, GA 30338 | |GENIE: R.EWING1--------------------------TalkNet: (404) 393-9358 | |USENET: {amdahl,decwrl,sun,unisoft}!apple!rewing | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^