Gentle Listers,
 
Some of you have asked me to define the Apple Syndrome.  It is something I
have long held as a belief and I think you will agree with the various points
I will now make.
 
 
 
Every time I speak with,  hear from or read anything from an Apple supporter,
I am always struck by the violence of their beliefs.  They always say some of
the following phrases, almost like a mantra:
 
1-  Apple invented everything.
2-  Microsoft copied everything from Apple.
3-  Apple could have taken over the world, but they just did not license the
rights.
4-  Macs could do everything that Windoze 95 now can,  and this in 1984.
5-  Macs are so superior to PCs that anyone looking at a PC is either too
stupid too live or can t tell a good thing from junk.
6-  Apple has nothing to learn from Microsoft or anyone else for that matter.
7-  Why does a PC mouse have more than one button, ugh!
 
This attitude permeates the Apple world,  company and users.  I contend that
it turns other users off completely and is the single most important reason
Apple is currently in a violent tailspin.  I call this the Apple Syndrome or
Apple Trap.  It is in fact best described as Virulent Intellectual Arrogance
or VIA for short.
 
You will never convince someone to use your products if you tell them they
would be stupid to consider somebody else s products.  You will most
certainly never convince someone to switch to your product if you tell them
they were stupid to use the other product in the first place.
 
I think Apple plainly indicated they were arrogant beyond belief when they
sued HP and Microsoft over the look and feel of the GUI, and this after they
had taken it from XEROX.  They lost and they were pissed! They still are.
 
If Macs are so superior to PCs, Apple should find another way of getting the
point across instead of stridently insulting 94%+ of the population.  Every
time a Mac user makes a derogatory comment about PCs or PC users, it just
underlines the VIA running rampant in the Mac world and it turns more and
more people off.
 
Blaming customers for wanting a different  model of Macs than what Apple
thought should sell, is bad craziness and an insult to the customers.  Yet
that is what Apple contends, along with many of its supporters.  You should
go back into the archives and read what some of these supporters stated in
this very forum a few months back.  When they blame me and others who
criticize Apple s attitude as the cause of Apple s trouble, you know they
have taken leave of reality and their senses.
 
Apple and its supporters have no one to blame but themselves for the poor
shape of the company and its current problems.  I read what ex-CEO Spindler
had to say and it was very arrogant.  I read what the new CEO, Dr. Amelio has
to say, and it is still arrogant.
 
I contend that until Apple learns humility, its problems are going to grow
and even now they are almost out of control.  A little bit more and they will
be just a discarded core on the information highway, (pun fully intended.)
 
IBM was also suffering from VIA in the 80s.  Their erstwhile chairman, Slow
Akers, led the company to the brink of the precipice.  If it were not for the
sheer size of IBM itself, the company might have been hopelessly crippled.
 When Gestner took over, a new IBM emerged, but at what cost!  No longer was
it "We are IBM, We have the only computers, Nothing else exists!"  Au
contraire, IBM has finally realized they are not alone and now, they are much
more humble, and much more successful.  I deal with IBM and I see them at
various shows.  They have changed completely.  They want to support whatever
computer and network you have and they want to sell service.  Their RS6000 is
a good box and is selling well.  IBM wants to connect to everyone else.  Of
course, they would like you to consider their boxes first, but they are not
so arrogant about it.
 
I fully remember when I was going through the early pains of MPE/XL and
PA-RISC.  DEC was advertising that "DEC has it now!"  They were arrogant and
nasty and they made jokes and snide remarks about HP and its users.  I
endured all that crap, and even though DEC was right, that they had 32 bits
then, I had faith in HP, because HP was not arrogant then.  They were
learning, they were trying and they accepted help from their users and anyone
else who wanted to help them.  DEC later went though their troubles and came
close to biting the big one.  They got rid of their CEO, Ken Olson, and got
humble real quick.  Now their Alpha boxes are dynamite and they seem to be
selling well.  I also deal with DEC and they are a lot more agreeable now
than 8-10 years ago, and the arrogance is gone.
 
I find Microsoft to be humble and very business-like over all.  When they
introduced MSN and tried to ram it down everyone s throat, they quickly
realized it was the wrong approach.  They changed their focus to the Internet
instead and real quick.  They learned and realized that you can t push a
rope.  Microsoft did not go around insulting AOL and Compuserve users trying
to cow them into singing up on MSN.  This is something Apple should learn.
  Before you interject, yes Microsoft conducted one heck of a media event
with Windows 95.  Yes, it was late.  But it has few bugs and I am glad to
inform Apple and its fans Windows 95 is a success and no amount of
misinformation on your part is going to change reality.  I understand that a
lot of people were expecting Windows 95 to fail and were ready to jump on the
"See, I told you so!" bandwagon, it just did not happen.
 
Witness this month s BYTE magazine which has an excellent article about NT vs
UNIX. (I crack up, however, when they refer to UNIX as a secure,
mission-critical platform.)  In one of the sidebars, there is an interview
with someone from SUNSOFT and someone from Microsoft.  The SUN advocate just
spends time pissing and moaning about NT s shortcomings and makes grand,
false statements (he sounds just like a Democrat running for office.)  On the
other hand, the person from Microsoft answers the questions posed and points
out the various advantages of NT in solving real world problems.  Not once
does the Microsoft rep complain or shoot down SUN.   He comes across as
someone from a humble, positive company.  The SUNSOFT weenie so espouses the
SUN lines and comes across so arrogantly, that you just skip over his
comments as they bring nothing to the discussion.
 
Well, Apple and its supporters are like that SUNSOFT weenie.  BTW, I have a
silly question for Apple.  If Macs could do everything Windows 95 can do, and
this in 1984, then what the heck has Apple been doing for the last 12 years?
 They should have computers connected directly to the brain, or at least full
voice recognition.
 
Apple and its supporters do not tell you what you can do with Macs, they just
tell you the Macs are light-years ahead of PCs.  They never tell you haw this
helps you solve problems better than with a PC.  No, they just piss and moan
about Windoze or other cutesy names.  To get a good flavor for these tactics,
go to Apple s web site.  They even have a corporate piss and moan section
about Windows in their advocacy area.  In it, they list 50 areas, most of
them fairly obscure and only dealing with Windows 3.x, not Windows 95 and
certainly not Windows NT, where they state Macs are better than Windows.
 They are disingenuous in many respects and present outdated information as
factual.  Talk about a philosophy which is ingrained in a corporate entity.
 And to top it off, some of the stuff they mention is plain wrong or just
lies (must be written by Democrats).
 
Go to Microsoft s web site and there you will find no pissing and moaning
about Apple or SUN or any other competitive product.  What you will find is
tons of information about how Microsoft s products interface to or are
available on other platforms including Macs and UNIX.  If you want to find
out how to solve a business problem dealing with computers or communications,
they will have all sorts of stuff for you, solutions, strategies, examples,
white papers, etc. . .
 
<start of aside>
Every once in a while, HP takes off on a VIA.  The last one was when Wim
Rowlands stated that NT would never be on PA-RISC and a few weeks later, HP
got into a menage a trois with Novell and SCO.  Well 8 months later, Wim is
history and HP is doing lots with NT, at least on the Wintel platforms.  What
a stupid decision it was not to have NT on PA-RISC.  Did I mention this
before?
<end of aside>
 
When I answer someone s question about using Windows 95 in general or talking
to an HP 3000, I usually get a zinger from Apple bigots.   What they do not
realize is that they just help dig Apple s grave.  Now someone is even
refering to me as his adversary because Apple is in deep trouble and I
question their capability to extricate themselves from the pit they dug
themselves.  I have received some hate mail from other vociferous Apple
users, and they say nastier things.  But they sure are funny.  Could it be
they consume a lot of Applejack?
 
I contend they, along with other Apple fans, would be far better advised to
help people solve their business problems with Macs, rather than call all PC
users idiots.  I should think that a web page with information on how to
connect the Mac to an HP 3000 for use as a terminal and through ODBC to
access IMAGE/SQL would be far more beneficial than ranting about having no
IRQs to set.  I have seen numerous posts on this very listserver about
wanting to connect Macs to IMAGE/SQL.  I only saw one response dealing with
an obscure company perhaps having an ODBC driver for Macs.  What does this
mean?  The vaunted Mac cannot do everything a lousy backward Wintel
Windoze-based PC can?  Heresy.  This can t be true!  Well maybe it is and
maybe a little humility and a change of attitude would help. If the Mac can
connect to IMAGE/SQL through ODBC, then please answer the questions, post
some information about it, mention a web site with the information, do the
tests, share the results, tell us!  If the Mac cannot connect to IMAGE/SQL
for client server applications, then just say so, and don t bring the Mac
subject back up until it does.
 
Wirt s posting about how an Apple plotter works well on an Apple computer
versus how difficult it was for a user to connect an IR device to a PC, was
just plain misguided.  From his note, one gets the feeling that since Macs
cannot connect to IMAGE/SQL then client server is misguided and doomed to
failure.  Maybe so, but it really sounds like sour grapes to me:  "Macs can t
do it, but it doesn t matter, it s a stupid idea anyway."
 
At my web page, you will find no pissing and moaning about Macs or anything.
 I do not spend time making sauce of Apple (pun intended).  What you will
find is information about solutions and methods to make further use of your
HP 3000 with Windows 95 and Windows NT.  I receive quite a large amount of
private e-mail asking questions about resolving Windows 95 and NT problems,
and I try to answer all of it.  I also receive numerous phone calls about the
same issues.  Sometimes I can answer and sometimes I cannot, but I never turn
anyone away.  Recently, I attended an HP-centric conference and in
preparation for it, I downloaded various free utilities and the Windows 95
service pack to my notebook.  I was happy to make these available for
licensed users to take with them.  Whatever I can do to help my fellow users,
I will do.  If the Mac clique has a problem with this, then it s too damn
bad.  It is not my fault Macs are not useful with HP 3000s.  If this
statement is wrong, then show me and others how you can connect to IMAGE/SQL
or ALLBASE/SQL.  BTW, this is a dare.  If Macs can do it, users win.  If Macs
can't do it, the users do not have to waste time trying to make it work.
 Either way the users win.
 
<Start of aside>
As HP 3000 users and proponents we must guard ourselves from the Apple
Syndrome.  When we compare the HP 3000 to UNIX, we have a tendency to get
downright nasty and Appleish.  It happens to me as well.  It is important to
avoid that lest we give the HP 3000 a bad image (pun intended.)  Alfredo has
placed ads about how the HP 3000 is used to solve business problems and for
that, I applaud him!  He carries on the good fight in print and at his web
site, even with a link to Apple's web site with a clever little derogatory
remark about Microsoft :-).  Wirt also carries on the good fight with all his
articles, postings and various other musings, but diluting his pure thoughts
with Apple juice does not help convice others that his position is correct.
 I do what I can within my modest means by promoting IMAGE/SQL at various
users groups, answering what questions I can on this list and supporting a
web site with HP 3000 information with more to come.  There are others web
sites replete with HP 3000 information such as  Robelle, Adager, Allegro and
3K Associates, to name a few.  This is how it should be done.  Spread
positive information and share it with everyone, and be of good cheer..
 
An anecdote in passing.  Two weeks ago, I assembled the components for
building a more powerful NT server.  I have intentions of doing certain
things with NT and MPE, more on this later and at my web site.  However, as I
was collecting the various components (motherboard, case, memory, CPU, SCSI
adapter, SCSI CD-ROM, PCI LANIC, PCI video, USR modem, keyboard, mouse, etc.
. .) , I had some difficulty locating a SCSI disc drive.  For some reason,
nobody in the Houston area carried SCSI disc drives.  Finally, I went into
MicroCenter (I must have been desperate to go in there!) and asked them.
 They said no, they did not have any, but I should try their Apple
department.  I walked out, befuddled.  I went to Computer City and they said
they had one and pulled out a Quantum 1.3gb drive with the MacOS logo on it.
 I said, "wait a minute, this is for a Mac, I want to connect it to a PC, not
a Mac."  The rep said, hey, SCSI is SCSI, it makes no difference.  I replied,
"Are you calling my dear friends Wirt and Bruce, liars?  They tell me and the
world, Apple works superbly because it is NOT an open system.  Apple sets its
own standards and they are fully integrated.  This disc drive cannot possibly
work on an antiquated Wintel machine, take it away, you pompous twit!"    So
I mail-ordered an antiquated, Wintel-compatible  HP3725S 2.14gb SCSI disc
drive.
<end of aside>
 
I contend that if Apple and its supporters learn some humility, Apple will
survive and flourish.  I am quite optimistic about their chances of success.
 If their supporters tone down their rantingd or better yet start sharing
useful, constructive information on how to use Macs to solve problems, Apple
will be much better for it.  Take care of the little things and the big
things take care of themselves.
 
 
But what do I know?   I use Windows 95 and Windows NT. . . and  oh yes, an HP
3000.
 
Kind regards,
 
Denys. . .
 
P.S. As of yesterday, as I write this, Compaq reported a 40%+ increase in
sales for the first three months of 1996 over the same period last year.  HP
reported a 132% increase in PC sales over last year.  Apple reported a 22%
drop in sales over last year.  They now have a 6.5% share of the market, down
from 9.6% same time last year.   If you go to Apple's web site to look at the
report for the second quarter, you cannot get it, even though it is listed
there.