Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Path: utzoo!utstat!philip
From: philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough)
Subject: Re: World GeoGraph
Message-ID: <1990Jul13.212421.8326@utstat.uucp>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 90 21:24:21 GMT
References: <3504@crash.cts.com>
Organization: Statistics, U. of Toronto

In article <3504@crash.cts.com> lbotez@pro-sol.cts.com (Lynda Botez) writes:
>I had a chance to read Byte Magazine's July issue from cover to cover (I
>was in Cabo San Lucas for a few days) and came across an article reviewing
>geography software (the article was entitled "The World According to
>Micros").
>
>Amazingly, one of the programs that was mentioned (and given a fairly
>decent review) was "World GeoGraph"; an Apple IIGS-only software program.
>I've been reading Byte for awhile now, and find it extremely informative
>but totally lacking as far as referring to anything connected with the
>Apple II (it seems to be delegated to the "toy" or "antique" category).
>And there you have it, folks.  Too slow; lousy resolution.  Come-on
>Apple.  We need a hardware upgrade.   
To say that World Geograph is too slow is just not true. It may not be up
to the speed of software running off 386 and 486 based computers( which is
basically Byte's bread and butter with the occasional foray into the A3000
and MacII worlds), but I have had no problem running it off a server, from
a hard disk or from a floppy. The graphics are rather nice, and while the
GS does not have VGA resolution, keep in mind that VGA is only now just
catching on. Until recently you had CGA( and the GS's graphics are much
better than CGA) as the main video mode for educational PC software.


I do agree that the GS needs some improvement in the speed and video areas,
but let's not overstate what is required. An evolutionary approach, such as
the "rumoured" ROM04 at a low cost, and better integration with the Mac is
something I would like to see and I'm sure Apple will act responsibly, as it
always has, and proceed accordingly. To do otherwise would certainly sour
the relationship between GS users and Apple to the detriment of both.

Perhaps Byte will be so kind as to tell us why a company as large as IBM can
come out with a "home" computer of the likes of the PS/1 ?

There's more to computing than speed. If you want speed, buy a Risc
workstation.

Philip McDunnough
University of Toronto
philip@utstat.toronto.edu
[my opinions]


