Spindler Speaks!
Tuesday, December 27, 1994 by Dave Winer.
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