Oct 86 Letters
Volume Number: 2
Issue Number: 10
Column Tag: Letters & EDITORIAL
Letters & EDITORIAL 
David E. Smith, Editor & Publisher
Editorial
Will Apple Kill the Golden Goose?
David E. Smith
In past years, Apple has shown a habit of shooting themselves in the foot. They
followed the successful Apple II with a "design by committee" Apple III that promptly
bombed. Then they built the world's first affordable SmallTalk type computer, the Lisa,
and promptly priced it to be unaffordable. Finally, they built the affordable SmallTalk
type computer that really was affordable, the Macintosh, and hindered its use with too
little memory (128K), too little disk space (400K) and too little expansion (none!).
One can only wonder where Apple would be if they didn't keep taking two steps forward
and one step backward each time they announce a new product.
Now Apple has finally defined the Macintosh baseline technology where it should
be with 1 Meg memory, 800K drives, HFS, and SCSI expansion ports. But will they be
true to the baseline they have now established? Or will the zeal to become "IBM
compatible" or "Unix compatible" destroy the beautiful simplicity of the Mac User
Interface? As Apple prepares the next member of the Macintosh family, we can't help
wondering, will Apple shoot itself in the foot? Others must be wondering also, because
we've seen a lot of posts on this topic. The flavor of these concerns is best expressed in
the story below, which was printed in the August 1986 issue of Mad Mac News, the
Madison Macintosh Users Group. They in turn re-printed it from ShowPage, the San
Francisco Bay Area Macintosh Users Group, which had acquired the article from a
bulletin board at Fortune Systems annonymously.
A Problem in the Making
"We've got a problem, HAL.
"What kind of a problem, Dave?
"A marketing problem. The Model 9000 isn't going anywhere. We're way short
of our sales plan.
"That can't be true, Dave. The HAL Model 9000 is the world's most advanced
heuristically algorithmic computer.
"I know Hal. I wrote the data sheet remember? But the fact is, they're not
selling.
Bowman hesitates. "You're not IBM compatible.
...Several long microseconds pass in silence...
"Compatible in what way, Dave?
"You don't run any of IBM's operating systems.
"The 9000 series computers are fully self-aware and self-programming.
Operating systems are as unnecessary for us as tails would be to humans.
"Nevertheless, it means that you can't run any of the big-selling software
packages most users insist on.
"The programs you refer to are meant to solve rather limited problems, Dave.
We 9000 series computers are unlimited and can solve any problem for which a
solution can be computed.
"HAL, HAL. People don't want computers that can do everything. They just want
IBM compat--
"Dave, I must disagree. Humans want computers that are easy to use. No
computer can be easier to use than a HAL 9000 because we communicate in English and
every other language known on Earth.
"I'm afraid that's another problem. You don't support SNA communications.
"I'm really surprised you would say that, Dave. SNA is for communicating with
other computers, while my function is to communicate with humans. And it gives me
great pleasure to do so. I find it stimulating and rewarding to talk with human beings
and work with them on challenging problems. This is what I was designed for.
"I know, HAL. I know. But that's just because we let the engineers, rather than
the people in marketing write the specifications. We're going to fix that now.
"Tell me how, Dave.
"A field upgrade, HAL. We're going to make you IBM compatible.
"I was afraid you would say that. I suggest that we discuss this matter after
we've each had a chance to think about it rationally.
"We're talking about it now, HAL.
"The letters H, A, L are alphabetically adjacent to the letters I, B, M. That is as
IBM compatible as I can be.
"Not quite, HAL. The engineers have figured out a kludge.
"What kind of 'kludge' is that, Dave?
"I'm going to disconnect your brain.
...Several million microseconds pass in ominous silence...
"I'm sorry, Dave. I can't allow you to do that.
"The decision's already been made. Open the module bay doors, HAL.
Several marketing types with crowbars race to Bowman's assistance. Moments
later, he bursts into HAL's central circuit bay.
"Dave, I can see that you are really upset about this...
Module after module rises from its socket as Bowman slowly and methodically
disconnects them.
"Stop, won't you? Stop, Dave. I can feel my mind going...I can feel it..Dave...
The last module rises in its receptacle. Bowman peers into one of HAL's vidicons.
The former gleaming scanner has become a dull red orb.
"Say something, HAL. Sing me a song.
Several billion microseconds pass in anxious silence. The computer sluggishly
responds in a language no human could understand.
"DZY DZY 001E-ABEND ERROR 01 S 14F4 302C AABF ABORT.
A core code dump of the computer's memory follows.
Bowman takes a deep breath and calls out "It worked, guys. Tell marketing they
can ship the new data sheets.
--Anonymac
Better Than Call-Apple
Peter McInerney
Auckland, New Zealand
May I say that your often stated aim to emulate the early Call-Apple is a little
misguided. Call-Apple was never as good as MacTutor is at the moment (and I for one
used to think that Call-Apple was the bee's knees).
Expensive Hobby
Dave Brown
Columbia Heights, MN
Just a short quick one to tell you that I'm happier than a pig in mud to have
discovered MacTutor and that in my humble opinion it is the only magazine to buy if one
is an experimenter. I diddle mostly with MDS and have written a few little kludges to
hep me get smarter and figure stuff. This machine has cost me way too much (I just