Fun_People Archive
16 Oct
Fun_People HQ decides to search for a Mac...

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 95 15:10:45 -0700
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Fun_People HQ decides to search for a Mac...

[I'm looking for a cheap color Macintosh to use for things like browsing
and preparing Web pages (my faithful NeXT is black & white), connecting
peripherals (I have an AudioMedia NuBus card), and making sure the printer
can read my floppy disks (the NeXT reads/writes 1.4M and 2.8M but not 800K
or 400K floppies), so I tracked down an ok deal on a Mac IIsi with monitor,
but then I realized that I ought to ask if any Fun_Person has an unused Mac
with the characteristics hinted at above, that he or she would want to sell
cheap (or loan)...  If so, please let me know (I have to make a decision on
the IIsi by Wednesday).  You may wonder why I'm not considering a PC ... I
suppose I really should, but there's the NuBus card mentioned above, and
the anecdote below... -psl]

Forwarded-by: bostic@bsdi.com (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: matthew green <Matthew.Green@fulcrum.com.au>
Forwarded-by: Rik Harris <Rik.Harris@fulcrum.com.au>
Forwarded-by: ran@rdt.monash.edu.au (Ralphe Neill)
From: the "Feedback" column in this week's "New Scientist":

  FEEDBACK was present when the International Data Corporation held its
  annual European Information Technology Forum in Paris recently. Top
  executives from top computer companies Lotus, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard,
  IBM and Compaq all gave speeches. So did Bill Gates of Microsoft, who
  was in France to launch Windows 95.

  Needless to say all the speakers relied on electronic "slides", stored
  in a computer and projected by a video system. The picture quality was
  fine, but several speakers had a lot of trouble controlling the
  computer. Perhaps they do not often use the equipment they sell to the
  public.

  Whatever the reason, their slides kept refusing to change, or changed
  too soon. When Andreas Barth, senior vice-president of Compaq, took the
  stand he announced that he was not going to risk the same embarrassment.
  So he was using an Apple Mac to show his slides.

  It took a moment or two to appreciate the full significance of Barth's
  remark. The vice-president of a huge company that has built its success
  on selling PCs that run Windows was admitting to a top industry seminar
  that he dare not use a Windows PC for his presentation, and was using
  the rival Mac system instead.

  Compaq's Mac presentation progressed without a hitch. But Feedback was
  more than a little disappointed to see that Bill Gates had already left
  the hall. So there was no chance to see the look on his face.

  One is left wondering how many of the other presenters secretly identify
  with Barth and, in the privacy of their own homes, use Apple Macs
  instead of PCs.

© 1995 Peter Langston