Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-ses!hpcea!hpnmdla!waynec
From: waynec@hpnmdla.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: OS/2 vs Unix (was Re: OS/2 vs AmigaDOS)
Message-ID: <340009@hpnmdla.HP.COM>
Date: 16 Jun 89 00:19:46 GMT
References: <1025@taurus.BITNET>
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA
Lines: 19

A 20+ MHz '386 with a 150-300 Mb 16 ms disk drive, a tape drive
for backup, a CAE quality high-resolution (1024x7868 or greater)
19-inch CRT, and 16 Mb of RAM and you have around a $20K system.
The above is a very typical CAE system.

The '386 processor (incl.  box, motherboard, and power supply) is
just the [cheap] tip of the iceberg.  You don't buy a 20+ MHz
'386 just to run a word processor, for example.  If you really
need one of the faster '386 systems, you are either doing
significant database or file-server stuff, or are into something
like CAD with significant graphics or simulation processing
needs, all of which require significant additional costs.  I
guess you might just be into the sound of having a '386.  The
[non-CAE, non-database] program developer is one of the few
people who can really benefit from a high-performance system
without a lot of the more expensive extras.  However, there had
better be a lot more users than developers for any product if it
is going to be profitable.  Therefore, we should be focusing on 
the bulk of '386 customers -- the users, not the developers.