From: guillaum@pogo.trl.oz.au (Andrew Guillaume)
Subject: Re: Apple Stupidity (was Re: Where does ProDOS come from?)
Followup-To: comp.sys.apple2
Reply-To: a.guillaume@trl.oz.au
Organization: The Okefenokee Swamp
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:06:40 GMT

G'day !

Wulf Hofbauer writes:
|In <bazyar.716322613@teal> bazyar@teal.csn.org writes:
|> >In article [...] fjs@cci632.cci.com (Francis Schwalm) wrote:
|> >> 
|> >>[...] Whatever stupidity ever possessed apple
|> >> to release it that way?  The idea behind the name ProDOS -8- is 8-bit, 
|> 
|>   Francis- it's an oversight.  Apple II group employees who (as Matt said)
|> maintain the FTP site on their own time do NOT intentionally make life
|> difficult for 8-bit users.  You really should learn to take it easy;
|> a more politely worded request or even just an observation would have been
|> more appropriate. 
|
|I don't have the impression being polite seems to pay off. Many people have
|politely asked for ProDOS8 on this newgroup before, and if I remember right,
|some guy of Apple promised that it would soon be available seperately via FTP.
|This was quite a while ago - and nothing happened.
|
|Some time ago, I asked an *authorized* Apple dealer here in Germany about a ROM
|upgrade for the //c. He told me - straight into the face - that he wouldn't do
|anything concerning the // as he wouldn't make enough profit out of it.
|Finally, I ordered a ROM from another *authorized* Apple dealer. Though my
|order is now back almost two years and it has repeatedly been confirmed, I
|received nothing but some junk mail promoting the Mac up to now.
|
|Do you still think being polite pays?

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I personally would agree with Jawaid Bazyar
that an observation would have been more appropriate. I asked quite some time
ago (April 1992), as did many other people such as Scott Alfter. David Lyons
did state (and I quote from his message dated April 9, 1992):
"Eventually we'll have a new Apple II (8-bit) system disk with the
new P8 and BASIC.System (and a few other changes).  Presumably we'll
have a 3.5 disk image and a 5.25 disk image."

And I must admit I'm still waiting for that to happen. But I also understand
that Apple people contribute to this group in their own time. Also, I have
been fortunate enough in having two local Apple dealers friendly enough to
give my two //c "boat anchors" (remember that appellation :-) a full upgrade
free, and most importantly, I am fortunate in belonging to a very good Apple 
users group, namely the Apple Users Society Of Melbourne (AUSOM).

I have what I believe to be the latest version of ProDOS, but I haven't
installed it, as David Lyons said in his message of April 9, 1992:
"File-by-file images are *not* a good way to distribute system software.
For example, no boot blocks would be included that way, so some folks
would make disks from the file-by-file images and have out of date
boot blocks, or maybe wind up with wrong date/time stamps on some of
the files."
Nevertheless, and if this is *legal*, I would be willing to email an archive
with P8 and BASIC.System. This is only because I believe that Apple II users
must support the Apple II.

Apple management may have forgotten the II (and //), but the few dedicated
people from Apple who contribute to this group haven't, so I would be careful
in wording requests, lest I would loose their support, as it seems to be the
case for Matt Deatherage :-( .