[Info-vax] AltaVista background information

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <j7e986$3pu$1 at online.de>,
	helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de (Phillip Helbig---undress to reply) writes:
> In article <j7e8sq$jm4$1 at solani.org>, Michael Kraemer <M.Kraemer at gsi.de>
> writes: 
> 
>> > Marketing is essential.  As the recent blast from the past indicates, 
>> > there was perhaps a real interest in using ALPHA from Apple. 
>> 
>> And who blew that deal, Olsen or Palmer?
>> Or was it Apple?
> 
> According to the article, it was Olsen.  This was before Palmer would 
> arrive.  Apple expressed interest, Olsen was against it since he didn't 
> want the fortune of the company riding on ALPHA.
> 
>> > Apple is 
>> > still around, of course, a master of marketing, 
>> 
>> They have products everybody wants anyway, so marketing is easy.
> 
> Yes, today, but one could argue that they created the demand.  They 
> didn't invent the MP3 player, but created a demand for it.  One could 
> argue whether they invented the iPhone or iPad (of course, in these 
> specific examples, they did; the question is whether they are 
> significantly different than other products). 

I went to Germany for a military exercise with the Army Reserve back
in 2007 (a good three years before the iPad) and all of our "observers"
had tablets that pretty much did all that the iPad does today.  Yes,
apple invented the iPad, but again, it was a marketing coup, not a tech
coup.  As has been stated, they are responsible for the demand, not
the tech.

>                                                In the case of laptops 
> and desktop/deskside computers, they are a small player, but with a 
> loyal base and development continues.

Same thing.  Nothing technically special about any of their boxes,  But
they have created a cult like religious following and that is all about
marketing.

bill
 

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>