From: Neil Harrington on

"C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2009120811535011272-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
> On 2009-12-07 22:29:49 -0800, rfischer(a)sonic.net (Ray Fischer) said:
>
>> Roger Matthews <rfm(a)aber.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> But you would have to send them back to the manufacturer every time the
>>> battery needed replacement!
>>
>> No, Apple's computers really do have removeable batteries.
>
> The 2009 MacBook Pros do not. This is a major gripe. You cannot have an
> extra battery and Apple charges $179 to replace the battery on a 17"
> MacBook Pro.

That too seems to reflect Steve Jobs's original marketing philosophy. I
remember when the first Macintosh came out, it had NO color and NO expansion
slots (arguably the very things that had made the Apple II such a huge
success), and my understanding was that the owner couldn't even add more
memory if he wanted to -- which he probably would have wanted to do, since
that first Mac had only 128K. Any change of memory or anything else required
taking the machine back to Your Friendly Apple Dealer.


From: C J Campbell on
On 2009-12-08 12:02:20 -0800, "Neil Harrington" <never(a)home.com> said:

>
> "C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:2009120810574916807-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
>> On 2009-12-07 04:05:54 -0800, Shawn Hirn <srhi(a)comcast.net> said:
>>
>>> In article <4b1c9c09$0$1648$742ec2ed(a)news.sonic.net>,
>>> rfischer(a)sonic.net (Ray Fischer) wrote:
>>>
>>>> RichA <rander3127(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Because they'd corner the market? Hardly. Their aspirations about
>>>>> replacing PC's haven't and won't come to pass. It comes down to
>>>>> design. Apple products are plagued by a soulless European minimalism
>>>>
>>>> Rich is an effete snob who doesn't realize that Apple's computers are
>>>> designed in California. And judging by Apple's stock price they seem
>>>> to be doing quite well.
>>>
>>> Let's see. As of close this past Friday ...
>>>
>>> APPL = 193.32
>>> HP = 36.80
>>> DELL = 13.46
>>>
>>>
>>> Hmmm ...
>>>
>>> Apple shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.
>>
>> I do NOT!
>>
>> However, Apple is one of the few stocks I own that has not lost about 50%
>> of its value in the last year.
>
> Then you're in the wrong stocks, C J. This has been a very good year for
> stocks, though there is some question as to how long that will continue.

Well, I have to admit that everything has gone up since the big crash.
That is why it is stupid to get out *after* a stock market falls; you
may not be able to get back in at all.

>
> My best performing American stock is SXC Health Solutions (SXCI), up 184% on
> the year as of yesterday's close. Unfortunately I wasn't holding it all
> year, but I did get in early enough to double my money.
>
> Better still (but again, I was late getting into these) are some of the
> Chinese stocks. Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN) yesterday was ahead 327% YTD.

I have a fair amount of Chinese stocks. They are doing quite well.
>


--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

From: C J Campbell on
On 2009-12-08 13:02:39 -0800, "Neil Harrington" <never(a)home.com> said:

>
> "C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:2009120811535011272-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
>> On 2009-12-07 22:29:49 -0800, rfischer(a)sonic.net (Ray Fischer) said:
>>
>>> Roger Matthews <rfm(a)aber.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>> But you would have to send them back to the manufacturer every time the
>>>> battery needed replacement!
>>>
>>> No, Apple's computers really do have removeable batteries.
>>
>> The 2009 MacBook Pros do not. This is a major gripe. You cannot have an
>> extra battery and Apple charges $179 to replace the battery on a 17"
>> MacBook Pro.
>
> That too seems to reflect Steve Jobs's original marketing philosophy. I
> remember when the first Macintosh came out, it had NO color and NO expansion
> slots (arguably the very things that had made the Apple II such a huge
> success), and my understanding was that the owner couldn't even add more
> memory if he wanted to -- which he probably would have wanted to do, since
> that first Mac had only 128K. Any change of memory or anything else required
> taking the machine back to Your Friendly Apple Dealer.

Yeah, that attitude was showing up even with the Apple II. Remember the
original floppy disk? Who else would have tried to sell a
quarter-density floppy disk drive for twice what a normal drive cost?

And then there was Lisa...

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

From: Neil Harrington on

"C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2009120813182575249-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
> On 2009-12-08 13:02:39 -0800, "Neil Harrington" <never(a)home.com> said:
>
>>
>> "C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in
>> message
>> news:2009120811535011272-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
>>> On 2009-12-07 22:29:49 -0800, rfischer(a)sonic.net (Ray Fischer) said:
>>>
>>>> Roger Matthews <rfm(a)aber.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>> But you would have to send them back to the manufacturer every time
>>>>> the
>>>>> battery needed replacement!
>>>>
>>>> No, Apple's computers really do have removeable batteries.
>>>
>>> The 2009 MacBook Pros do not. This is a major gripe. You cannot have an
>>> extra battery and Apple charges $179 to replace the battery on a 17"
>>> MacBook Pro.
>>
>> That too seems to reflect Steve Jobs's original marketing philosophy. I
>> remember when the first Macintosh came out, it had NO color and NO
>> expansion
>> slots (arguably the very things that had made the Apple II such a huge
>> success), and my understanding was that the owner couldn't even add more
>> memory if he wanted to -- which he probably would have wanted to do,
>> since
>> that first Mac had only 128K. Any change of memory or anything else
>> required
>> taking the machine back to Your Friendly Apple Dealer.
>
> Yeah, that attitude was showing up even with the Apple II. Remember the
> original floppy disk? Who else would have tried to sell a quarter-density
> floppy disk drive for twice what a normal drive cost?

Yes. List price for an Apple floppy drive in 1983, when I bought my Apple
IIe, was $500! My Friendly Apple Dealer sold me the second one for $380.
Those were the old full-height drives, and I could have gotten one of the
newer half-height (or slimmer) drives for something over $200 -- probably a
better drive, too. How things have changed. I think the last 3.5" floppy
drive I bought cost me about $20 -- and checking NewEgg just now I see
they're about $8, the couple that they're still selling.

>
> And then there was Lisa...

I remember the $10,000 Lisa very well, though I never got very close to one.
I went up to the big Applefest in Boston that same year, 1983, where they
had a Lisa, but where they had it it was so mobbed I couldn't get within 30
feet of it.

As I recall, the original plan for the Macintosh was that it was to be a
low-priced version of the Lisa, sort of a Chevy to GM's Cadillac. But that
idea didn't seem to last very long.



From: Neil Harrington on

"C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2009120813154516807-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
> On 2009-12-08 12:02:20 -0800, "Neil Harrington" <never(a)home.com> said:
>
>>
>> "C J Campbell" <christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmail.com> wrote in
>> message
>> news:2009120810574916807-christophercampbellremovethis(a)hotmailcom...
>>> On 2009-12-07 04:05:54 -0800, Shawn Hirn <srhi(a)comcast.net> said:
>>>
>>>> In article <4b1c9c09$0$1648$742ec2ed(a)news.sonic.net>,
>>>> rfischer(a)sonic.net (Ray Fischer) wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> RichA <rander3127(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Because they'd corner the market? Hardly. Their aspirations about
>>>>>> replacing PC's haven't and won't come to pass. It comes down to
>>>>>> design. Apple products are plagued by a soulless European minimalism
>>>>>
>>>>> Rich is an effete snob who doesn't realize that Apple's computers are
>>>>> designed in California. And judging by Apple's stock price they seem
>>>>> to be doing quite well.
>>>>
>>>> Let's see. As of close this past Friday ...
>>>>
>>>> APPL = 193.32
>>>> HP = 36.80
>>>> DELL = 13.46
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hmmm ...
>>>>
>>>> Apple shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.
>>>
>>> I do NOT!
>>>
>>> However, Apple is one of the few stocks I own that has not lost about
>>> 50%
>>> of its value in the last year.
>>
>> Then you're in the wrong stocks, C J. This has been a very good year for
>> stocks, though there is some question as to how long that will continue.
>
> Well, I have to admit that everything has gone up since the big crash.
> That is why it is stupid to get out *after* a stock market falls; you may
> not be able to get back in at all.

Absolutely. I would say the rule is, If you're going to panic, panic EARLY!
The first people to get scared out of the market don't do badly at all,
though of course this assumes the market is going to keep going down. It's
the poor guy who hangs in there tenaciously, but with steadily increasing
fear and uncertainty as the market goes down, and finally throws it in just
as the market bottoms -- that's the guy I sincerely feel sorry for. And of
course there always are some people who are doing that, selling out right at
the bottom.