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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hi all,

I recently read another thread where two things stuck out as being comment worthy. These two things were not related to the thread topic, really, so I'm addressing them here.

1) "And it IS correct, no one could have expected the use of airliners as weapons."

My response: There is a reason why, when September 11th occurred, that the press was calling it 'something out of Tom Clancy.' Forget top-secret classified security reports. Tom Clancy had a book out where the prez was smeared when a jetliner crashed into a government building. That's how Jack Ryan became president. So, yeah, someone could have expected it, and wrote a book about it. The problem is either no-one took it seriously, or no-one felt they could do anything about it without creating a ruckus. (How many people would put up with increased security and delays at airports if there was no precipitating event to demonstrate why it was necessary?)

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
This same thing happened with Apple and Applesoft vs. IBM and Microsoft, by the way. Apple chose to provide less product for more money. Apple had a superior operating system and hardware, but priced it through the moon and provided less than their competitors. When I was young, my father had to choose between a IIGS box with 256k memory for 640 bucks, or a PC clone box with 640k memory, keyboard, monitor, and disk drives for 640 bucks. We had owned an Apple II, II+, and IIE, but he made the switch because of a cost to benefit analysis. Apple priced themselves into oblivion, and had an architecture that they refused to share. Now we see Macs used mostly by professionals in audio/video fields. Just like Beta is/was used mostly by professionals. Professionals were the few people who needed the difference in quality, and were willing to pay for it.

Ultimately, you give people something they can use, give it to them cheap, and give them a lot of it. That's how you win a format war.

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