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Michael Spinder, the CEO of Apple Computer, has comments on the Intel piece which ran yesterday morning.
Please address your comments to spindler@applelink.apple.com, and cc me at dwiner@well.com. Thanks!
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Dear David Winer:
Holiday Greetings -- finally an insightful piece full of facts!!
Oh is Scott Turner right!
I have been at that place in end of the 1970's for a couple of years, listening already to the sirens of P1---P7 while there was still a scramble to respond to the threats of Zilog's Z80 with its SIO channel. The answer to that was a rushed out 8085 and a subsequent marketing blitz called "Operation crush" around the 8086, masterminded by Regis McKenna (and not Grove). Sounds familiar? Is there a pattern? Makes you indeed wonder what we get with P6 or subsequent things.
You are right -- what is at stake here is the reputation of this industry. And who defines it? When I read written pieces titled "benevolent dictators" tears come into my eyes.
I absolutely agree with what your grandfather told you. It can happen to everybody: glitches in silicon, glitches in code, a fault in an ASIC. But then admit it, correct it and excuse yourself!
If one constantly believes customers are idiots and will continue to suffer from architectural inconsistencies, non-backwards compatabilty of applications etc etc -- maybe in the end there will be some justice and the market will turn against it. Talk to some of the CIO members of the *Research Board*, an institution coming to light during a time of the then "benevolent dictator". Understand their anxieties of becoming "dependent" again --- this time on somebody else's software -- big time.
I have received countless "encouragements" to publically go "against the face of the tirant" but I have refused this. One arrogant behaviour should not breed another one. Remember the Lemmings TV ad some 10 years ago from which *we* at Apple still suffer today?
I have talked to my friends over at Motorola. They never ever in their history showed this kind of behaviour vis a vis their customers.
Have a peaceful time
Michael Spindler
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Thanks Michael Spindler!
And you can call me Dave, everyone else does. ;->
By the way, my grandfather, who we both admire for his business sense, is German too. I guess so am I! [My great-uncle was Arno Schmidt, a fairly famous German novelist, I hear... I never met him. My mother's cousin was Hedy Lamarr.]
And as long as I'm on the subject of family -- happy birthday to brother Peter "Boozer" Winer, who is celebrating his 36th today in Los Altos, California!
Also: Scotty has written a piece about Motorola. I'll run that one as tomorrow's essay unless something pre-empts it.
Dave Winer