From: coolidge@sirius.aux.apple.com (John L. Coolidge)
Subject: Re: Farewell to the Mac? (not flame)
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 22:48:57 GMT
Reply-To: coolidge@apple.com
Organization: Open Systems Development, Porting&I/O Group, Apple Computer, Inc.,Summary:

hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades) writes:
>terjer@ifi.unit.no (Terje Rydland) writes:
>>This will run on faster machines (RISC instead of CISC).  At some point
>>the CISC (680x0) based machines will not be able to run the latest
>>improvements (like Casper f.inst.).

>    This just ins't true. In fact, all of the improvements you mention
>above are slated to be run on the current line '040 macs, and also on
>the new line of '060 macs that will be introduced in the next couple of
>years. And the idea that an '040 or '060 can't run Casper is ludicrous.
>Casper is being developed for the Mac, not the PowerPC. They are
>differnet things.

Yes and no. The PowerPC family _are_ Macs. The idea is that anything
that runs on the current Mac line will run on the PowerPC Macintosh
(at speeds similar to the current high-end Macintosh machines). In
addition, native PowerPC applications will run much faster than
anything in the current line.

>>This doesn't mean that the old Macs will be unusable.  System 7.1 is
>>constructed so that to add functionality you just drop a new extension
>>on the System folder (like QuickDraw GX etc)

>    What about System 8 and the new MicroKernal that is being developed?
>If Macs are going to be phased out, then why would Apple spend so much
>time and money on developing new system software for them. The system
>software for the PowerPC is being developed by Taligent.

This is Just Plain Wrong (TM). There is no single thing which is "the
system software for the PowerPC". There will be at least three
operating systems for the PowerPC:
	1) The Macintosh OS
	2) PowerOpen (A/UX 4.0 aka Unix)
	3) TaligentOS
The first should be available when the first PowerPC Macintosh systems
ship; the second at or around that point. The third is probably a
couple years away according to public statements made by Taligent.

>    PowerPC machines will not be Macs, they will be PowerPCs. This has
>been stated more than once. The current target for the RISC based
>machines is the workstation market currently dominated by Sun, but there
>will continue to be a need for business level PCs for quite some time,
>and as long as that need exists, I expect there will be Macs to be
>purchaced.

If it's been stated more than once, the people who stated it weren't
paying attention. The PowerPC machines _will be Macintoshes_. They
will be marketed across the spectum of the current Macintosh line
(everything from cheap consumer-level machines to business-level
machines to workstations to portables).

All of this is based on public information and things in trade
reports; I'm not releasing any inside information...

--John

        It must be really nice to not let knowledge get in your way.
                -- Anne Archer, _Narrow_Margin_

+++John L. Coolidge++++++++++++++++coolidge@apple.com+++++++++++++++++++++++
I speak for myself, not for Apple Computer. Copyright 1992 John L. Coolidge.
Copying allowed only if attributed, and if all copies may be further copied.