Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!netcom!hue
From: hue@netcom.UUCP (Jonathan Hue)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Voice Mail on Amiga
Summary: (long)
Message-ID: <2657@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 5 Oct 89 04:00:52 GMT
References: <688@orange6.qtp.ufl.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175 guest}
Lines: 113

In article <688@orange6.qtp.ufl.edu>, sutherla@qtp.ufl.edu (scott sutherland) writes:
> directly into the back of the NEXT. You enter the mail window, ask
> for a voice mail attachment, talk into the microphone, end the input,
> and viola, an icon appears on the mail message indicating a voice
> attachment. HOWEVER, ONLY another NEXT machine can USE this attachment.
> Any other UNIX machine will get only garbage. The rep did not seemed
                                                                     ,
Viola?  What's a big violin got to do with a NeXT.  Oh, you mean"voila"
Another thing you can do with the Mail app is drag any icon into the
mail app's window.  If you drag an ordinary file (including executables)
it gets compressed and encoded into printing characters.  If you drag
a directory's icon into the window that entire directory tree is tar'd
(or something equivalent) before the compression and encoding.  But all
of this is invisible to you, all you see is an icon in your mail.  When
the recipient of the mail receives it, they can double click on the icon,
which will run it if it's an executable, have workspace open a browser
showing you all the files in it if it's a directory, or call up something
like Edit if it's a normal text file.  Generally, you want to drag
directories into mail because you can't drag the icons out of mail.  The
only way to save the files is to drag them out of the new browser into
another browser.  It's pretty handy when you want to send someone an
entire directory tree thru email.

Because the Speaker and Listener classes are provided in the NeXT libraries,
you can write applications which understand icons being dragged into their
windows.  This is similar to the postings about the "Crazy AmigaDOS idea".
For example, you could write an "ARC" app which would show Noah's ark, and
then you would drag files into the ark, which would ARC those files.  Then
you could drag the resulting file into your "Kermit" app (or maybe your
"tip" app) and have it automatically dial up some other system, log in,
and transfer the file.

Also, even though only mail app understand attachments, that doesn't mean
you couldn't hack something together to decode the file and play the sound
on a Sun SparcStation, it's already been done.
  	
> 	The speed of the NEXT is DISAPPOINTING!! Let me explain. They
> are using a 68030 chip, a 68882 math chip, a custom DSP, a fast hard
> disk, a huge optical disk, etc.. BUT the response time for moving
> windows, calling up applications, updating the screen, etc. is NO 
> faster than our own Amiga, with a mere 68000, no math chip, and our
> less powerful foursome (Gary, Denise, Paula, ObeseAgnes).

Considering that window moves are done by executing a loop written in
PostScript, I think its speed is f'ing incredibly fast .  Yes, if all you
want to do is blast pixels, you can go faster by scribbling on the frame
buffer yourself, but IMHO, the response of the NeXT is sufficient and
the benefits of Display PostScript window server definitely outweigh
the speed penalty.

It's not suprising that apps take a while to launch compared to the Amiga,
since good Amiga SCSI drives are at least as fast as those on the NeXT, and
some of their executables are big.

> file server as my storage device. But the desktop publishing package
> I am using is HUGE!! You NEED the 4 Meg just to run it. This is a 
> waste. We have software on the Amy that is just as powerful, and it
> runs on 1/2 Meg, with room to spare!! The NEXT people are the same.

OK, what application on the Amiga is as powerful as FrameMaker and will
also run in 512K?

> They have this large storage medium, and the default memory config.
> is, I think, 4 Meg. So they do not care if their code is compact. 
> They have so much memory and storage that they could care less if the
> program is much larger and more cumbersome than need be.

It would be nice if they were smaller, but with 1Mx9 SIMMs under 
$100, it's reasonable to have a 16MB NeXT.

> 	I also noticed that the NEXT people are deceiving many people
> about the unique features of their machine. The rep here was going
> on and on about how the NEXT is the ONLY machine that can launch a
> program from another program or file. He showed that by clicking on
> an icon of a document created in their DTP that, if the DTP was not
> currently running, the ICON would start it and the document could be
> read. WE have been doing stuff similar to this for years on the amy. 
> If I double click on an Anim icon on a fish disk, it loads and runs
> ShowAnim with itself as the input file. This guy from NEXT was pleased
> at the crowd response. I gather that none of them had seen the Amy 
> either. Unfortunately, the local Amiga dealer was only given a small
> booth, and he chose to display his HP stuff instead. TYPICAL! 

No, you just didn't understand what he was saying.  Under WB1.3, tell me
how you are going to double click on a file which doesn't have an icon?
With the NeXT, double clicking on a file in the browser (every file has
an icon) will bring up the appropriate app for the file (i.e. Edit, Preview,
WriteNow, etc).  And unless I'm mistaken, on the Amiga you will wind up
with two copies of an executable in memory (assuming it's not resident) if
you double-click on two different icons that use the same tool.  On the
NeXT it just sends a message to the app (starting it if necessary) to bring up
another window for that file (Edit for example).

> 	So the NEXT is a nice machine. I do not think it is a major a
> step in the evolution of PC's as it is being made out to be. And, as
> I previously stated, its performance does not live up to MY 
> expectations, given the hardware involved. BUT I WOULD GIVE MY RIGHT
> ARM TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE FLOPTICAL DISKS ON MY AMY!!! ;^)))

It isn't a major step if you only compare the features it has in common with
other computers.  IMHO, it is a major step when you consider the features it
has that no one else does, and how well they all work together.  Object-oriented
programmers interface to the user-interface, sound, and music kits, 44.1Khz
16-bit stereo sound, use of IPC between apps (gee, that sounds familiar),
Display PostScript based window server with compositing, Mach kernel,
high-capacity random access removable media, bundled with Dictionary,
Mathmatica, WriteNow, on-line user manuals, etc.  And, most importantly, it's
the first UNIX machine I've ever seen where you can get a lot of work done
without ever typing at a shell prompt.

Hey, if you like the Amiga, you've got to like the NeXT too.

-Jonathan