Robert; I do not recall any comments about the San Jose News? Point me to a number would you.
I am not sure what the difference between a 601 and a 604e is. If they are radically different like 496 to pentium, then I would say that is a good upgrade path. However if it is like a 486SX at a lower speed to a 486DX at a higher speed I would say that is not a major upgrade but an incremental one(as it is for the 486SX to DX)
In saying upgrade path I mean a standard case and power supply with standard DIMMs and standard motherboard footprint, so that all can remain save the motherboard change. This was doable from 8088 to 80286 to 80386 to 80486 to Pentium to Pentium Pro. Of course when SIMM became small the memort went to DIMM, and faster bigger hard dirves cam along, and faster video etc, but all separately ungradeable. I fault Compaq for their failure to adhere to the ISA, but they market so well that people do not know they are trapped until they try to buy a new motherboard and cannot. Dell is the same, as is IBM. They all try to make the box a dead end except for cards Hard drives and memory. That way they preserve margins. However Apple does not have the luxury of share and large profits and so I feel they must take the course of an ISA Apple to get boxes out there. They can preserve themselves from a free for all by the fee for the OS and the CPU/ BIOS chip.
I am on Apples side, but I have a skeptics view of management after what they have done to a good company after all these years. The board has not changed much, and unless they radically alter their marketing philosophy they will keep going down. A few flashy faces will not change the direction the boards makes them go, they need a new board, you, me and a few others. Keep jobs for smoozing industry papers.
Bill |
