5 Jun
2014
5 Jun
'14
9:43 p.m.
On Jun 6, 2014, at 0:14, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
It's really surprising that the attitude didn't hurt Apple badly. Other
companies before them attempted to "lock in" their customer base (i.e. create a
captive customer community) and some fared rather badly.
It's just very strange in a period where everyone was trying to be compatible with
the IBM PC.
Well, the PC didn't come out until a lot of the major
design decisions had been made. Apple already had a
moderately successful personal computer by then;
I doubt they saw much reason to try to copy IBM.
And, of course, that attitude DID hurt Apple badly once the
IBM PC really took hold. A few management blunders
(like Gass?e's insistence on pricing the machines like
workstations) didn't help, either.
I guess it really helps to have a user community of
devoted acolytes.
When they made the 3.5" drive decision, I don't think
they did; certainly not like the ones now, nor like the die-
hard fans in the '90s (of which I was one).
- Dave