[1] From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk> (19)
Subject: Apple
[2] From: "Robert M. Fowler" <rfowler@baldwinw.edu> (46)
Subject: demise of Apple?
[3] From: Alan <alan@netsavvy.com> (73)
Subject:
[4] From: Marc Bizer <mlbizer@mail.utexas.edu> (13)
Subject: Re: demise of Apple?
[5] From: Noki <noki@worldonline.nl> (62)
Subject: Apple
[6] From: boesh <Henrik.Boes@colorado.edu> (51)
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
[7] From: John Anderson <jca@nwu.edu> (61)
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
[8] From: Monique Jucquois-Delpierre <juquois@rz.uni- (51)
duesseldorf.de>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
[9] From: David Sisk <sisk@macalester.edu> (29)
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
[10] From: Mike Ledgerwood <MLedgerwood@ccmail.sunysb.edu> (27)
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
[1] From: Dennis Cintra Leite <Dennis@eaesp.fgvsp.br> (27)
Subject: RE: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
--[1]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 10:08:20 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: Apple
For a report on the current state of Apple, from a source not (as far as I
know) committed to this flavour of machine, see Jack Schofield, "Bruised
Apple pares managers", in the Computing section of Online, The Guardian,
26/2/97, <http://online.guardian.co.uk/>.
It is interesting, is it not, how close we seem to be at times to the
argument that one shouldn't say something because it helps bring about the
situation it falsely reports, or because it plays into the hands of the
enemy? The extreme examples occur in times of war, when censorship
becomes strategically necessary, or so I am told. Problems like this, it
seems to me, ironically humanise computer-mediated communications.
WM
----------
Dr. Willard McCarty
Senior Lecturer, Centre for Computing in the Humanities
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS
+44 (0)171 873 2784 voice; 873 5081 fax
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/ruhc/wlm/
--[2]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 10:44:04 -0500 (EST)
From: "Robert M. Fowler" <rfowler@baldwinw.edu>
Subject: demise of Apple?
> Is anyone else getting extremely worried about the state that Apple
> computer is in at the moment? It just seems to be one piece of bad news
> after another from the folks over at Apple.
Allow me to take sharp exception to the wording of the previous sentence.
The news that comes _from Apple_ is mostly positive, encouraging news
about cutting-edge technology. Apple continues to lead, not follow. To
pick only one example: the chip speed of PowerPC Macs is beginning to
leave Intel chips in the dust. On the other hand, the news that comes
_from the news media_ is often, but not always, negative and even
mean-spirited about Apple's future. FWIW, Apple has launched a massive ad
campaign to correct the misleading and often false news reports about the
demise of Apple.
> My sense is that there are a lot of us in humanities computing who have
> been using Macs for a long time. We like Macs, and rely on them to run a
> number of applications we are very familiar with (there is also the
> "ease of use" issue, of course!).
Yes, there is ease of use! I am amazed at the quirkiness and limitations
the Windows users at my institutions are willing to put up with,
presumably because they don't know there's another way to go.
> How do you feel about the possible demise of Apple?
(1) I don't think it's going to happen. One bit of evidence: Apple has
$1.8 Billion, in cash, in the bank--they are hardly insolvent! (2) If
Apple does fold, another company will buy Apple and keep producing Macs.
(3) There are always the Mac clones, now made by about a half-dozen
companies. I could go on and on.
> Are other institutions moving away from using this platform in
> Humanities computing, making contingency plans, or looking forward to
> the next generation of platform independent humanities computing
> software? Or have reports of the death of Apple been greatly
> exaggerated?
In the PowerPC RISC chip the next generation of hardware is here. In the
new Mac + NeXT system, the next generation of system software is on the
way. And, yes, the death of Apple has been greatly exaggerated.
Remember, Apple has been about to die ever since IBM introduced the PC
back in the early 80s. Apple is _always_ "about to die."
Cheers,
Bob Fowler
***************************************************************
* Robert M. Fowler *
* Professor and Chairperson, Department of Religion *
* Baldwin-Wallace College, 275 Eastland Road, Berea, OH 44017 *
* rfowler@baldwinw.edu http://www2.baldwinw.edu/~rfowler *
* 216-826-2173 (office) 216-826-3264 (fax) *
* NOTE NEW AREA CODE (440) EFFECTIVE JULY 1997 *
--[3]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 20:08:57 -0500
From: Alan <alan@netsavvy.com>
At 1:09 PM -0800 2/11/97, you wrote:
>In the wake of recent news announcements re... Apple
Hi:
It frustrates me that otherwise intelligent people are running around like
chicken little regarding the Mac.
For one thing it should corroborate any rumors you have heard about the
(un)veracity of the news media - as usual they're dead wrong. You would
serve yourself well to look for alternative news sources for anything you
have an interest in. I am NOT kidding.
It usually seems that the only people worried about Apple are those that
don't have them. If you are truly a member of the dark side, I would worry
about your lemming like rush over the Microsoft cliff; monopolies serve no
one but themselves.
Witness:
Apple is:
* #1 in PC Multmedia (2nd year in a row) - 54% of all Multimedia CD-ROM
Titles developed on Macintosh
* #1 Marketshare in K-12 Education - 64% of all K-12 computers in the U.S.
are Apple Branded
* #1 Platform for Web Development - 50% of all Digital media on Web is
Quicktime based; 40% of Internet browsing is done on Macintosh
* #1 In USA for Reliability (Home Users)
* #1 in Color Publishing (80%)
* #1 US Vendor in Japan
* #1 Multilingual PC (35 Languages)
Apple has a market share larger than Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Cadillac,
Lincoln, Acura, BMW, Volvo, Lexus, Mercedes, Eagle, Infinity, Saab, Land
Rover, Jaguar, Audi, and Porsche...combined!
Anyone projecting these companies' demise?
Apple is ranked (a lot) higher than Microsoft on the Fortune 500, they have
$1.8 billion in the bank, and they sold over 1,000,000 computers last year.
(Mac OS sales INCREASED in the last quarter).
This year will herald the fastest desktop computers ever (Apple will be
back in the lucrative laptop market - did someone say $200 million back
order?), and with better than ever software for them.
Feb. 10, NewMedia magazine page 18, "Macintosh: World's Fastest
Microcomputer?" by Becky Waring
<http://www.hyperstand.com/NewMedia/97/02/first/Macintosh_X704.html>
"If you think the headline is a misprint, we'll forgive you. But the
established order of the PC universe will change this spring with the
introduction of Exponential Technology's X704, a 533MHz chip that wrests
the long-held title of world's fastest microprocessor from DEC's Alpha
series. The X704 is a fully licensed, PowerPC-compatible processor that
will springboard high-end Mac systems far beyond their Pentium Pro
counterparts. Preliminary benchmarks, with more speed to be squeezed out,
indicate performance greater than double that of a 200MHz Pentium Pro on
typical CPU-intensive tasks such as running Photoshop filters."
For further information re the Mac here are some sites you can review, then
make your own decision based upon facts YOU know rather than letting
others make them for you with predjudice, ignorance, rumor, malice and
innuendo like too many other things these days.
http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/
http://www2.apple.com/home/facts/
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~fbeaver/pro-mac.html
http://www.planetcast.com/mac-ammo/
http://www.documentation.com/macway%5Frecords/md614%2D7.htm
Macs rule multimedia and publishing.
The future is bright.
Kick Butt,
Alan Anderson
Mac Jedi
***************************************************************
Internet NewMedia / Solutions for the outward bound
--[4]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 08:19:56 +0100
From: Marc Bizer <mlbizer@mail.utexas.edu>
Subject: Re: demise of Apple?
At 10:52 AM +0000 2/26/97, WILLARD MCCARTY wrote:
>Is anyone else getting extremely worried about the state that Apple
>computer is in at the moment? It just seems to be one piece of bad news
>after another from the folks over at Apple.
Dear Lorna,
The end of Apple is not near, and yes, I think that the press is in
general extremely hard on Apple. I invite Humanists to join the History and
Macintosh Society, a registered Macintosh user group for academics in the
humanities and social sciences, where we debate these questions daily. We
have a listserve which is sponsored by H-Net. One answer from one of our
members (we have approximately 700 from 30 countries) are appended.
--Marc
--[5]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 01:52:35 +0100
From: Noki <noki@worldonline.nl>
Subject: Apple
Dear Humanists,
I am not getting extremely worried about the state that Apple computer is
in at the moment. Not at all! I worked with Apple machines in a network at
an Institute, and I was glad my job was done there! Apple computers are
sloooooow, they crash frequently (by that you can count on them) and I
think Apple doesn't have that state of technology Microsoft DOS-Windows
machines have.
My job at the Institute was to scan pictures and texts (O.C.R.) and for a
simple text the machine needed more than 3 minutes to scan. And they called
it 'Power Mac' (?!). It was rather a funny thing: at home I did much more
in less time, so my collegues gave me the advice to work home (Windows
machine).
I think Apple already did loose the game. The Apple Company crack the
prices of their Power Mac's (Power? What power? Puppies power!), but forgot
that their needs to be good software to work with. And I suggest that
programmers won't choose Apple to work with, so software will be a huge
problem in the nearby future.
I only have one advice: learn Java, and come over to the Microsoft family!
Bill Gates surely deserves the Nobel-prize for communication or
something...
Some comments on the message posted in Humanist:
> My biggest concern is that the purseholders at various institutions are
> reading the recent financial press and deciding that purchasing Macintosh
> machines no longer makes sense in the long term.
That's right. As I suggested above: Apple already lost the race. The
founder of the Apple Company was fired a few years ago. Quite recently the
Company gave him a new contract. To me this seems like 'trying to save a
sinking ship'. Apple lost almost 20 percent of their marketshare in the
Netherlands last year. Not so strange when you realize that even a Nintendo
Gameboy works faster than an Apple Macintosh........
> My sense is that there are a lot of us in humanities computing who have
> been using Macs for a long time. We like Macs, and rely on them to run a
> number of applications we are very familiar with (there is also the "ease
> of use" issue, of course!).
To me this seems a conservative point if you allow me to say so. It's not
the question of 'how familiar you are with a system'. It's a question of
'what is the best system and how long will it last'. I worked with Macs and
they have one good point: it's a quite friendly machine (if it's not going
to crash). But Windows is much friendlier! And there is more software
available for Windows. And Microsoft is a stabile company with good sales
and after-sales (also a very important point).
I don't get the point "ease of use". If you have worked with Windows 95
once you can work on any machine with Windows 95. I love Windows and think
it's more "ease to use" than Apple is. But that's just a personal thing.
> How do you feel about the possible demise of
> Apple? Are other institutions moving away from using this platform in
> Humanities computing, making contingency plans, or looking forward to the
> next generation of platform independent humanities computing software? Or
> have reports of the death of Apple been greatly exaggerated?
Sorry to say that, but I think Apple will be burried soon...
Maybe they will hold on longer for a few years, but Apple will be history
soon (probably within 5 years or so).
All that will be left is a core.....
Hope this helps (although I wasn't very friendly towards Apple).
Nico Weenink
University of Utrecht
The Netherlands
noki@worldonline.nl
--[6]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 97 13:40:56 -0700
From: boesh <Henrik.Boes@colorado.edu>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
To answer your last question first: YES, they have been greatly
exaggerated. While I'm not plugging away at my M.A.thesis, I work for a
Mac and Internet consulting firm (www.ravenis.com/chamber -- that'll be
the only plug, I promise). Tracking exactly what Apple does is one of the
things we do very carefully, obviously. Apple is not operating at
profitability at the moment, it's true, but it has $1.8 billion in cash
reserves and hence quite a bit of staying power.
Yes, some instituitons have stopped buying Macs (here in the Denver
Colorado area, the University of Colorado at Denver has instituted a
"moratorium" on buying Macs, whatever that means) and that IS a problem,
but I think it's way too soon to say the educational field in toto is
backing off the Mac. (Macs still have the lion share of the market.)
Much of what you've heard about Apple, the Mac and the MacOS is simply
false or very misleading, indeed. Example: Apple's overall market share.
Listening to many in the media, one would think the bottom has fallen out
of the barrel and that Macs are piling to the ceiling in Apple's
warehouses. Actually, the company's market share has dropped only
two-tenths of a percentage point, to 6.6 percent. The *MacOS* market
share, that is Apple plus all the Mac-Clone makers, is actually at about
8 or 9 percent. That's not great, but consider how young Mac-clones
really are. They're selling well (400,000 over the last Christmas season,
if memory serves) and have a LOT of room to grow.
Articles like the recent "let's just slap Apple in the pan and fry'em"
editorial in the Wall Street Journal are alarmist at best and plain
garbage at worst. (TIME officially responded to the editorial by writing
a letter starting off "we're wondering where you guys get this stuff.")
To stay on my soap box for a moment longer: I hope all Mac-friendly
Humanist folks out there take this type of information to their
administration. If you are interested in more detailed rebuttals of
common media myths about Apple and the Mac, e-mail me privately ... or,
if you gots that fire in the belly, call up Apple in ask them for some
fact brochures.
There. Ca suffit! Hope that helped.
Henrik Boes
Dept. of Religious Studies
University of Colorado at Boulder
--[7]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 09:08:42 -0600
From: John Anderson <jca@nwu.edu>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
In her message (Vol. 10, No. 742), Lorna Hughes writes:
>Are other institutions moving away from using this platform in
>Humanities computing, making contingency plans, or looking forward to the
>next generation of platform independent humanities computing software? Or
>have reports of the death of Apple been greatly exaggerated?
I really should know better, but I just can't help myself...this is a long
post and quite opinionated. You've been warned. (Executive summary: even
if Apple goes bust, the platform will be around. Dream it real, folks.)
Apple's impending "death" is a rumor, spread by the ignorant and believed
by the unwary. Despite worried bleating from the front office, most campus
users of Macs have no intention of switching platforms.
Yes, the company has problems. Yes, they have alienated a lot of the
developers who dream up our nice new toys. Yes, they have made so many
stupid marketing decisions that it's startling. And yes, the Windows/Intel
platform is becoming an easier platform to use. With the right software, a
good support team, and a big budget for hardware/software upgrades, it's
*almost* as good as a Mac, in my opinion (no flames, please--I work and
teach with both the Mac and Windows 95 & NT).
But despite these problems the Mac way of doing things--hardware and
software--still excels in educational computing and networking *at every
level.*
Given the number of people who use the Mac to get things done, the platform
is not going to disappear--even if Apple does finally fly into a wall as a
company. Now that the operating system has been licensed and other
manufacturers are competing to produce top-flight machines, we may be able
to forsee a future for the Mac platform that grows beyond the future of
Apple as a business.
Consider how long the Apple II persisted in primary schools, despite being
outright abandoned by the company--and the Mac is a much better machine.
It has a longer usable life than many other systems, too--an incredible
advantage for departments and schools wth tight budgets. Within reason,
there's no such thing as an obsolete Mac: 68030 systems are still capable
of peforming yeoman service in offices and labs; 386 Wintel machines are
ballast.
A final note on purchasing. Yes, educational institutions are getting cold
feet about buying more Macs. Apple had better wake up, and damn fast; if
it's current system redesign doesn't come together this year, they may have
shot themself in the foot for the last time. But the decision to dump the
Mac *as a platform* at the college level is short-sighted and wrong--and
cuts against what colleges already know.
I know this forum is for humanities computing, but I'll use engineering
schools as an example. They are moving further away from the Mac,
definitely. Most seem to be advocating Windows 95 and NT for students and
general purpose labs, with high end Unix boxes for the sexy stuff. But if
you look at what's on the desks of faculty, staff, and students, you see a
lot of Macs. It burns me up that institutions that use Macs to do a wide
range of important things can turn around and claim that the machine has no
future.
The Mac will survive...perhaps without Apple. I sympathize with lab
administrators who are worried about buying into a dead end. I agree with
those who say that the Wintel platform is a genuine alternative. And I'm
frustrated with Apple's boneheaded mistakes.
But there is a HUGE following of Mac users and advocates at colleges and
universities, not to mention K-12. We won't go quietly. We are folks who
need to keep using the Macs they have, and who want to upgrade to new Macs,
not replace them with Windows boxes. SOMEBODY will develop for this
market, whether it's Apple or some other maker of the next Mac-platform
machines.
John Anderson
CAS Writing Program
Northwestern University
jca@nwu.edu
--[8]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 14:45:34 +0000
From: Monique Jucquois-Delpierre <juquois@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
Apple remains really the best.
I hope it is only a short difficult moment.
We have to continue to support them
best wishes
Monique Jucquois-Delpierre, 26 Feb 97
Monique Jucquois-Delpierre
>> Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf
Informationswissenschaft
Communication science
>> Otto-Hahn-Str. 131
>> 40591 Duesseldorf
>> Tel.: Uni: 49 211 811 4318
>> 32 2 653 44 86 parfois vendredi et WE
>> Prive 49 211 75 08 91
>> Fax: 49 211 811 291>
--[9]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 08:38:43 -0600 (CST)
From: David Sisk <sisk@macalester.edu>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
Lorna Hughes is not alone in wondering whether Apple Computer
will be around much longer. Our institution is about half-Macintosh, but
the proportion of Macs to PCs is far greater in discipline-specific
research labs (economics, computer science (!), biology, etc.). I, too,
find myself discussing Apple's prospects with worried administrators.
My take is that Apple is undergoing some serious growing pains
that should have happened five years ago. The shuffling of top executives
and the corporate structure is nothing to be scared of. Of course, coming
after a year in which Apple suffered major losses (of funds and of face,
thanks to the Incredible Incendiary PowerBooks and the lackluster Performa
line), restructuring looks like a desperation move. Apple's problems are
real, but I would argue that the press has blown Apple's woes out of
proportion.
I reassure the administrators who authorize purchasing, and the
faculty who need to make long-term plans for their research facilities, by
distinguishing between Apple Computer and the Macintosh. Apple may go
under, but the Macintosh is here to stay. Now that UMAX, Motorola,
Daystar Digital and Power Computing are all producing Mac clones, I hope
we will see the same kind of competition that shook up the desktop PC
market in the late 80s. The Mac's user base is too large to be ignored;
I imagine that if Apple did go out of business, there would be serious
competition by other firms to buy into this market. Two words: "cash
cow."
David Sisk
_________________________________________________________________
David W. Sisk Assistant Director for Academic Computing
Macalester College / 1600 Grand Avenue / St. Paul, MN 55105-1899
sisk@macalester.edu / Voice: (612) 696-6745 / FAX: (612) 696-6778
--[10]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 09:16:21 -0500
From: Mike Ledgerwood <MLedgerwood@ccmail.sunysb.edu>
Subject: Re: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
Please, please, please.....
It is headers like the one I am replying with above that have caused some
of the problems Apple is having.
Apple is a company with lots of cash in the bank. Unlike many other computer
makers such as Packard Bell which barely makes any money every quarter or
AST which has lost money for EIGHT quarters (or more) now, Apple has made
money until relatively recently and probably will again soon. Its newest
line of computers include the fastest desktop and portable computers made.
Its new operating system possiblities will also stand it in good stead.
However, it is also important to remember that the Mac and Apple are no
longer the same. The Mac market actually grew last quarter. The Mac clone
makers are selling lots of computers. In the eventuality that Apple does
crash some time (unlikely) there are now many companies which could step
in and take over the platform and make money with it. Some of these companies
are in the Far East, which is the biggest area of growth for the whole
computer industry.
Please also remember that the lifetime of computers is now about three years
of use before they are very outmoded. The Mac will not disappear in that
span. Why not buy the platform you like the best, knowing you will get full
use out of it for as long as its "life" should last?
Finally, Java and the internet will likely reduce the importance of platforms
over the next ten years so that any computer will be able to do most everything
similarly. As a result the fastest computer (PowerPC chips for normal desktop)
may "win" more adherents than now...
My several cents worth,
Mike Ledgerwood
Director of the Language Learning and Research Center
Stony Brook, State Univ. of New York, USA
--[11]----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 21:24:29 -0300
From: Dennis Cintra Leite <Dennis@eaesp.fgvsp.br>
Subject: RE: 10.0742 demise of Apple?
Learn how to use windows. It isn't that difficult.
---
dennis cintra leite
dennis@eaesp.fgvsp.br py2-etn
sao paulo business school (eaesp/fgv)
av.9 de julho 2029
sao paulo, sp 01313-902
brazil
--------------------------------------