🚀 go-pugleaf

SNIP
>One example is the SCSI controller, 
>on the surface it is an SCSI controller like all other, but Apple has 
>purposely built in some annoying incompatibilities so that the only
>way you could get the controllers and devices are from a handful of 
>tiny manufactures. 

You are complaining about the OLD apple, they are now cloning, but it is
only good to clone a perfect MAC, because the system is not yet abstracted
from the hardware, so you need the correct hardware.  THAT is the very
reason why it would have been pointless for gateway to start with
MacClones.  They could use very little from the PC world to cut corners. 
No non-autoeject floppies, No IDE (unless they went with apple's IDE), No
VLB cards, No ISA cards, no crappy $10 soundcard.

>
>        Ideally, what people would really like to do is to buy SCSI
>controller from an company like Adaptec so that you could hook your
>PC SCSI-II disks or SUN-CD ROMS onto your Apple Macintosh.  But you
>can't.  Adaptec for example has no motivation to build Apple-SCSI 
>controller.  I mean lets face it, Adaptec has made billions by making 
>PC SCSI controllers why would they want to tap into Apples 8% PC market
>and pay another 3/4% to Apple?  Hence you have your shortage in 
>Machintosh componenets.

Not true.  Adaptec is getting into the apple SCSI market, with PCI
controllers.  Apple's SCSI is also quite standard as a matter of fact.  In
fact, I wouldnt be surprised if there is much more problems in the PC
market with scsi than there is in the Mac world.  

 
>>Now, in our minds eye, lets think about what would happen if gateway gets
>>these components THAT ARE ALREADY IN SHORT, SHORT supply goes through the
>>roof as all the Computer Shopper people see "Gateway 2K MacOS Barnburner"
>>clone.  How does this help apple?  Does this mean that components all of a
>>sudden appear out of the air?  are the component companies all of a sudden
>>going to pull these ASICS and Chips and components out of their ass?  
>
>        What Gateway would like to do is exactily what I mentioned above.
>They will use PC components to make MAC clones to cut cost in effect
>vilote Apples desire to control the specs and component manufactures
>for Apple.  Also it may render CHRP meaningless.

CRAP.  CRAP, and more CRAP.  that may be what gateway would like to do,
but it would be completely unable to do it with the current state of the
macintosh.  No matter what apple did today, gateway would still have to
build pretty much the same machines that everyone else is building.  They
could not cut corners like they do on PC's.


>>Obviously, when CHRP arrives, Gateway will be free to do whatever the hell
>>they want in terms of bundling components (as long as they meet the specs)
>>and in bundling OS's like MacOS.  Nobody is preventing them from entering
>>the MacClone world, they just cant do it at a time when it would hurt
>>apple far more than it would help.

>        I don't know much  about CHRP, but it looks like another IBM
>micro-channel debacle.  As long as Apple controls the specs the way they
>have in the past, their 
>market share will remain as is now.  Chung's law of electronics economics sez
>that the best way to expand the market is to allow free competition.
>This will allow a myriad of little eager companies to freely make 
>components and be as innovative as they can.  The key I guess is how much 
>will Apple want to control CHRP.  Would CHRP allow the type of free 
>competition as seen in teh PC world?  Would it generate enough interest
>and have enough potential to movitivate electronics manufacturers to get
>into the act?  Would people who are not Mac advocates even care?
>Now Apple in my view has not had a very good track record in encourageing
>free competition, but I think they are at a pretty critical point 
>right now if they want to take a bite out of the PC market.

But see, thats the thing.  From what I understand its going to either be
very  cheap or free to get the CHRP spec.  Ergo, building a CHRP machine
is not going to be all that hard.  And as long as both IBM and apple keep
their heads out of their asses (which im pretty confident though not 100%
that they can do) then they will come out with a spec that is fairly good
and not restrictive.

THEN gateway can cut corners like the cheapskates that they are.

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Let's drop our notion of Microsoft as a technological leader.  No self-respecting software company would have the gall to ship such technologically deficient products as MS-Dos and Windows 3.1 in 1994. (ComputerWorld Oct 24, 1994)
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E - m a i l :   d a l s t 6 + @ p i t t . e d u 
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