Message-ID: <164@hocsl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Sep-84 10:15:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: hocsl.164
Posted: Sun Sep 23 10:15:31 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 06:57:05 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 49

SUBJECT:    re: Re: Apple Shafts America; or, The Computer For the Rich of Us
REFERENCE:  <1164@hao.UUCP>

[]
>  Why is it that any sleezy, slimy, dirty action by a corporation
>  is excused as the corporation's obligation to it's stockholders?
>  Are there no decent owners of stock in this country?  Is it really
>  a businessman's ethic to be a greedy, moneygrubbing SOB at the
>  expense of his customers?

I know of no people who buy stock in order to lose money for some
"noble social goal." In any event, I hardly believe that subsidizing
your computer play qualifies.  I would qualify lying about the product
as "sleazy, slimy, dirty", as would failure to deliver the product, etc.
But I have seen no action taken by Apple with respect to the Mac that
wasn't pretty predictable (except for the University consortium,
not a part of your flame).  Certainly, every hi-tech product I've
ever seen offered charged what the traffic would bear, saturated
the high-price market while sliding down the learning curve, then
dropped the price in increments to pick up more of the market,
at, of course, maximum profit for the shareholders.
**IT COSTS** to be the first on your block with the latest gimmick.

>  For some reason, I thought Apple was a little different.  Note
>  the past tense.

Have YOU ever invested in a business?  What would YOU DO if you
found they were using your money to run a charity?  There ARE
organizations that are reconized and advertised as non-profit
charities. I don't believe Apple is among them.

>  I paid list price because when I got mine that's all there was.
>  If I had thought the $2400 machine I was buying would devaluate ~$1000
>  in six months, I can assure you that I would have waited.

I could duplicate my [non-Apple, compatible with IBM] one-year-old
system today for about half its cost last year.  That's a fact of
life in our fast-moving industry.  Anyone who can't live with that
will wait years before the situation "stabilizes" (indeed, if ever).
I console myself with the year of use I got out of the system;
look on it as a sort of "rental fee".

This is NOT a defense of the MAC; I'm not crazy about it myself.
But let's remember that Apple developed it to make money, and
they're not doing anything DISHONEST in so doing.

I don't usually flame like this. I take solace in the fact that
there's much more heat in the article I'm answering.
				Dave Tutelman