Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!oberon!pollux.usc.edu!kurtzman From: kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: MultiFinder RAMDisks Message-ID: <5431@oberon.USC.EDU> Date: Sat, 28-Nov-87 09:33:27 EST Article-I.D.: oberon.5431 Posted: Sat Nov 28 09:33:27 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 30-Nov-87 03:28:03 EST References: <1927@unc.cs.unc.edu> <6664@apple.UUCP> <5104@oberon.USC.EDU> <14543@felix.UUCP> Sender: nobody@oberon.USC.EDU Reply-To: kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman) Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Lines: 74 In article <14543@felix.UUCP> john@felix.UUCP (John Gilbert) writes: >In article <5104@oberon.USC.EDU> kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman) writes: >> >>The valid complaint against Apple is that the now standard >>Hypercard/Multifinder software combination demands 2 meg of memory to >>work reasonably. > >The requirement for the minimum, fully functional Mac is 1 meg. Use >of MultiFinder and HyperCard do not really fall into the category of, >minimum, fully functional. They are extensions. You can use HyperCard in >1 meg. You can use MultiFinder with many applications in 1 meg. I might >add that just being able to switch between the finder and one application >at a time is a great improvement, so this is a useful configuration. Use of HyperCard and MultiFinder constitutes using a standard program under the standard operating environment, which cannot be done on the middle-of-the- product-line configuration. Whether something is useful is not the point, it is whether Apple is providing value and good service to their customers by putting together a set of system software that purports to multitask but cannot run two standard programs when given 1 meg of memory. It appears to me that they are hoping to get people to upgrade their memory. Now, that isn't evil, but it would be nice if they were a little more honest about it. >First, using Multi-Fnder is an OPTION, not a requirement. True. I have the option of using the new standard system software, or the old software that is provided for compatibility with older systems. >Secondly, the most useful things the Macintosh does, it >does without HyperCard. HyperCard is just catching on, and does not yet >avail the power of Word, PageMaker, SuperPaint, Excel. It is probably >capable of doing a lot of things it doesn't do yet, but I can't believe anyone >NEEDS HyperCard. Yet. > This is no argument. The fact is, HyperCard is a standard piece of software. Everyone gets it. Apple is hyping it as the greatest thing since Macintosh. Apple is pushing to involve people in developing stackware. The program is useful and does eliminate the need for buying many application packages. I have several applications running in it already. True, no one NEEDS Hypercard, but then again no one NEEDS a Macintosh. >With that in mind, I wonder why you think youe SE is "obsolete", or why you >feel "forced" to buy a memory upgrade. It still does all the useful things >it did before they introduced MultiFinder. Your SE will be "fully functional" >for years to come. But do your think youe base level system should do >EVERYTHING any Mac can? Just depends upon what you mean by "fully >functional". Why did you buy a personal computer? What is it you need >to get done? If MultiFinder were some fancy extension to the Macintosh that Apple felt was an extra, it would be sold as an extension to the system and not bundled as the standard system software. Apple would not be sending information out to developers telling them to change their software so that it will be "Multi- finder friendly". I am judging "fully functional" by what Apple is telling me is its standard system. My SE is not a base level system. It is the middle of the product line. I don't expect it to do everything. I do expect it to run the standard software. >You see, 1 Meg SIMMs do not grow on proverbial trees. They could ship >Mac SE's with 2 megs. They could also justify charging you an extra $350 >too. What about the person who doesn't need the extra memory? You can still >do a LOT in 1 meg. As a side note, the $400 memory upgrade is the education discount price. I was told it would be $800 full retail. For what it is worth, Apple will more likely tack more money onto the retail price that $350. Apple could have put a little effort into making Multifinder smaller. The fact that Multifinder is an excessive memory hog has been well documented in this forum. They could also have made HyperCard a little smaller, or at least segmented it so that it could run in something less the 750K! (It took a lot of will power not to use an explitive between "750" and "K").