NewtonTalk.net September 2009 archive: Re: [NTLK] If only I had

From: SteveC <steve_at_craftsathome.net>
Date: Mon Sep 14 2009 - 10:18:03 EDT

Adding to the theories list... When the Intellivision computer was first
created, prototypes were sent to a thousand retail dealers or something like
that, and then were recalled. Mattel didn't really keep track of what went
out and what didn't, so some units never made it back to Mattel for
destruction. Every now and then one pops up on eBay, sourced from a dealer
that didn't (or couldn't) send it back. Maybe Apple has (had in the Sculley
era) the same kind of "loose tracking" policy about prototypes they send for
review.

* My brother bet me a while ago that I couldn't work Intellivision into a
conversation at least once a month, so this month you guys get to suffer. :)

-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net] On Behalf Of Dan
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 10:03 AM
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Subject: Re: [NTLK] If only I had the money...

I very much doubt that they could launch within a weeks time. If they
could, there would have been several shuttle missions that would not
have been delayed. Heck it takes them days just to move the shuttle
from the assembly building to the launch pad and locked into place due
to its slow moving nature.

I suspect that this is being offered by a former Newton/Apple developer.
I very much doubt it was a dumpster diver. Quite a few prototypes
have come on the market, and seems to indicate that Apple did not have
the "destroy it after building" mentality, or at least the developers
had the option of keeping it themselves. Of course there is a third
option: they kept it without Apple knowing about it. But if that were
the case I can't imagine one selling it or such. As it could be traced
back to them etc.

-Dan

On 9/14/2009 7:02 AM, Dale A. Raby wrote:
> Neither could I afford it. I gotta ask, though; how does anyone acquire
something like this legally? In my experience, most prototypes are
destroyed after their usefulness has ended... unless it is a government
funded project, in which case they are maintained in operational condition
at taxpayers' expense indefinitely. They could probably launch an Apollo
mission with a week notice.
>
> I digress... is this being offered by a former Apple employee or just an
innocent dumpster diver?
>
> Dale

====================================================================
The NewtonTalk Mailing List - http://www.newtontalk.net/
The Official Newton FAQ - http://www.splorp.com/newton/faq/
The Newton Glossary - http://www.splorp.com/newton/glossary/
WikiWikiNewt - http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
====================================================================

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Sep 14 2009 - 10:30:00 EDT