Subject: Re: BK-ECONOMICS

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 14:59:00 GMT

GK>From: Good Knight <[email-masked]>
  >Date: Wed, 08 May 96 13:54:49 -1000
  >Subject: Re: BK-ECONOMICS

GK>Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff.
  >And there you have it....you now know a beekeeper that has a Mac
  >computer.

Happy to meet you, Jeff!

 And to know your beekeeping cpu is a Mac, Hi Mac!

Mac's are famous for their good graphics, and I lied, I do know one
beekeeper who uses a Mac, I forgot the CALIFORNIA BEE TIMES, the
newsletter of the California Beekeepers Association is put out by
some school kids using a Mac.

GK>>What is it going to take to wake up the tax supported institutions

GK>Well my poor old Mac doesn't quiet have the grunt of your 486-66 so I'm
  >not too sure what you mean by "the high end of the computer technology
  >market".

The high end to me means high price, and low market visibility. Most
beekeepers would not be found dead going into any computer store and
depend on the likes of K-MART or worse yet Wall Mart, bringing home
last years model of the great Packard Bell computer mostly at last
years high prices. They really are not all that bad, and I just picked
up one left over several years at a Wall Mart for 555$ adding 8 megs of
memory and a 28.8 bd modem (not from Wall Mart), it has made a fair demo
machine for Netscape and our local TELIS internet provider. Telis is a
division of MCI and provides low cost internet access. Here it is $12.
for 60 hrs a month, and has attracted 300 of our local folks to use the
Telis 800 number to get on the net. Not bad for a farm community of
13,000 with 80% of incomes in the low income level according to the
government.

GK>I agree that IBM compatible dos or windoze would have reached the larger
  >market but then why should the tax dollar only support IBM clones to the
  >exclusion of Mac users out there. I'm sure there are plenty of products
  >you could use on your IBM (I know I have a lot for my IBM) so don't be
  >too vocal when someone puts out something for other platforms that you
  >personally may not like. Everybody, even Mac users, are entitled to a
  >cut of the tax dollar.

I guess a better question is should our tax dollar's be spent for any
government activity that we can do for ourself. I suspect the answer
to that question is that though I may have a "end it all program" for my
beekeeping business I may not want to share it, or will price it out
of reason, and the government can do something that will benefit all
at a reasonable cost. So far..more times then not it has not worked out
that way, and to create programs that are not useful to all is IMHO a
waste of everyone's taxes and at the least hard for me to support.
It bad enough to be doing work that the majority of the beekeeping
community who do not have computers will never benefit from. I want
to see programs that will attract more beekeepers into the computer
age. In this area only 30 percent of the beekeeper homes have cpu's and
only one beekeeper is a hands on users and another's wife does the
books on a cpu, thats one out of ten commercial beekeepers. Part of the
problem continues to bee little to attract them into computing. From the
write up in the ABJ, it appeared to me that this would be the type of
program that could increase interest in beekeepers getting into their
computers, so I was very disappointed to see it continued the tradition
of limited value by restricting its use to one brand or OS of computer.
I also do not like the idea that if a beekeeper did become interested
and wanted to use the program he would be advised to get a Mac as I
don't believe that is what anyone should have for a first computer
today. I should have know better as I had to read the article in the ABJ
several times and never did find information on the availability of the
program.

I know it is promised that there will be versions for other platforms
other then Mac, but thats in the future but the promotion was yesterday
and beekeepers have short memories. In any case please let us know how
the program is working for you on your Mac and if you have found it to
be useful in your own beekeeping activities.

                              ttul Andy-

*NOTE  My post was not meant to be a MAC Attack, and I am happy that
so many of you are MAC owners and so proud of it. For most beekeepers
of the commercial bent the MAC premium has priced it out of our market
and we have had to settle for less then the best. In the future this
may change but then there are the "Winds of 95", and myself I am looking
at the Merlin flavor of OS/2 soon to bee released. A lot depends on
what and how you are using your cpu, but it must be remembered at least
here in California our beekeepers are not normally power users and will
continue to shop for price when looking for their first computer and
that will for the foreseeable future keep them out of the MAC market.

BTW: I have used a MAC for flight training, I failed, not sure if it was
the air sickness or the fact I could not land the plane without creating
a crater in the runway.

(c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document
in any form, or to print for any use.

(w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk.

---
 þ QMPro 1.53 þ þ Standards are wonderful.  So many to choose from!

---

From: [email-masked] (BCDICKENS)
Date: 17 May 1996 08:18:46 -0400

Andy, I too have a Mac but I use an IBM with Win95.  My Mac is in the
basement next to my Betamax for the same reason.  Intially, they both had
better technology but no market share.  The better mouse trap is not
always the best bet. 

------------------

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the
torments of man."
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Boyd C Dickens
[email-masked]