11 Apr
2000
11 Apr
'00
12:47 p.m.
I wrote:
For comparison, how much did a DEC Orange Wall (TM) of
VMS documentation
cost in 1984? I seriously doubt that DEC gave it away, and suspect that
the complete set was *much* more than $150, but I don't recall hearing
the same degree of grumbling about it.
Hans wrote:
VMS wasn't exactly a personal system - also, it
was no limitation
by DEC about buying additional copies etc.pp.
My point was that the preliminary developer release of Inside Macintosh,
at $150 for several *thousand* pages, was cheaper per page than technical
docs from just about anyone else.
If you don't like my VMS example, count up how many pages there were in
the IBM PC Technical Reference, and divide by the cost of that. I don't
remember IBM giving those away for free either. People that think
technical documentation was free back in 1984 are deluding themselves.
Apple may have done their share of stupid things over the years, and I'm
no longer a fan, but I'm fed up with people bitching about the things that
they actually did *right*.