On 5/24/2023 5:13 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

<snip>

> PCs do everything with cards. This is actually an advantage, we are not
> tied to a single vendor choices. :-p

I recall going on a job interview at Apple, many decades ago, in their
networking group. Their roadmap was 230 Kb/s Localtalk built into the
closed-architecture Mac, with a 10MB Ethernet backbone.

The problem with that vision was that there were already network cards
for the ISA and Microchannel buses that were running Arcnet (2Mb/s) and
Token Ring (4Mb/s) and Ethernet (10Mb/s). Localtalk was too slow, even then.

I took a job at a company that was the first networking company, that
had started with network cards for the Apple II
<https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSo1sQsnabG1wCF7KXS3AZcnWuNaavU4Jfi83Sb6hRsK6l2KzYEFbd5BJPq6YUwoyHHNVs&usqp=CAU>,
Pet, and TRS-80, though by the time I joined that proprietary
architecture had been discontinued since it was too slow (about 250
Kb/s). The poor networking capability of the early Macs was a major
contributor to the success of the IBM PC (and all the clones) in the
enterprise market.

--
“If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards

In article <u4m72j$34ti3$1@dont-email.me>, sms
<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

>
> I recall going on a job interview at Apple, many decades ago, in their
> networking group. Their roadmap was 230 Kb/s Localtalk built into the
> closed-architecture Mac, with a 10MB Ethernet backbone.

no, that wasn't their roadmap, not even in the 1980s, nor was the mac
closed-architecture, a common and easily dispelled myth.

> The problem with that vision was that there were already network cards
> for the ISA and Microchannel buses that were running Arcnet (2Mb/s) and
> Token Ring (4Mb/s) and Ethernet (10Mb/s). Localtalk was too slow, even then.

the problem with that vision is it's totally wrong.

localtalk predates microchannel by several years (it was first on the
lisa) and was on every mac from the first one in 1984, giving software
developers numerous opportunities for apps. it was inexpensive and
could use ordinary phone cord for interconnect (via phonenet
connectors). many users could use the phone wiring already in their
walls (it used the unused pair). which meant that macs could be
networked for $15-20 per machine. its speed was more than adequate at
the time (mid-80s).

ethernet cards were faster, but they were also a lot more expensive,
both for the cards and necessary cabling.

> The poor networking capability of the early Macs was a major
> contributor to the success of the IBM PC (and all the clones) in the
> enterprise market.

nonsense. mac networking was well ahead of its time. it was easy and
inexpensive to network macs, printers and other peripherals together
and part of what launched the desktop publishing industry.