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The Beginnings of Apple Computer 181

John Burek points out an article written by Stan Veit, former editor-in-chief of Computer Shopper magazine, and one of the first retailers to deal with the fledgling Apple Computer in the late 1970s. Veit describes his introduction to the Apple I and his early interactions with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as they developed their early models. Quoting: "After Woz hooked his haywire rig up to the living-room TV, he turned it on, and there on the screen I saw a crude Breakout game in full color! Now I was really amazed. This was much better than the crude color graphics from the Cromemco Dazzler. ... 'How do you like that?' said Jobs, smiling. 'We're going to dump the Apple I and only work on the Apple II.' 'Steve,' I said, 'if you do that you will never sell another computer. You promised BASIC for the Apple I, and most dealers haven't sold the boards they bought from you. If you come out with an improved Model II they will be stuck. Put it on the back burner until you deliver on your promises.'"

Comment But who is their community? (Score 1) 283

>They are really pushing the linux message, and are
>more free software (in beer and freedom) than the
>pre-Novell SuSE was

This is totally true and has won me over to SUSE, but .... ... they are really failing in terms of figuring out who the constituency for their pro-Free campaign is. Is it hardcore geeks? No, they have Debian, etc. Is to corporate leaders? No, they just want stuff that works.

My sense is that, with Ximian and SUSE, Novell has the chance to organize the previously unorganized cadre of Free / Open Source supporters amongst designers, usability people, technology strategists, management consultants -- people who advise on and play with tech but don't see themselves as command line people. If organized, these folks could be a huge new wave of Free / Open evangelists ... and supporters for Novell.

The sad thing is that the marketing strategy coming out of Novell seems to be ignoring this segment altogether ... and trashing the potential of the hipper Ximian / SUSE brands to reach them. The Ximian site is gone altogether now. The SUSE site is mostly just sales and support. And the Novell site is all startched shirts and no real info ... certainly no community.

I think Novell has a real chance here, but just playing to the conservative side of the corporate market is not enough. It needs to use its 'free' (GPLing) approach and extend it into the realm of community building.

- MS

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