Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!lethe!torsqnt!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uc!nic.MR.NET!hal!ncoast!allbery From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Left in Dust? (was: Adobe Type Manager) Message-ID: <1989Sep23.005117.7490@NCoast.ORG> Date: 23 Sep 89 00:51:17 GMT References: <15514@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <1179@adobe.UUCP> <459@amanue.UUCP> <20020@usc.edu> <1211@cbnewse.ATT.COM> Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) Followup-To: comp.sys.mac Organization: North Coast Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, OH Lines: 85 As quoted from <1211@cbnewse.ATT.COM> by macduff@cbnewse.ATT.COM (Roger R. Espinosa): +--------------- | change anything? Why do you *have* to upgrade? When I was at grad school, +--------------- Because my 1MB machine doesn't have the memory to load a word processor, the print drivers (Grappler LQ style), and a document larger than about 10 pages at the same time. (I need WP features I can't get in the cheaper WPs -- I was absolutely horrified to discover last night that MacWrite II doesn't have widow/orphan control, so once again I'm back to MS Word. (aargh!)) And ATM is d*mn near a *requirement* -- ever see any 2 1/2-size fonts lying around? I can't build my own, the proper sizes don't exist; ATM will solve that, albeit rather expensively on a per-face basis. And 1MB won't be enough. Add that one reason for my wanting to use the Mac is so I can keep a notepad window around for quick notes (I *constantly* do this, usually on scratch paper that quickly gets lost) and to be able to pop up references quickly. Sure, I could do this with MiS-DOS Sidekick, but I mean keep the window *around*, not hot-keyed into and out of existence. And Notepad II v2.1 is much nicer than Sidekick. As for a better screen: the telecom window I'm using right now fills almost the entire Mac SE screen. Okay, so where do I keep the notepad window *around* at on here? Answer: I don't. I need a second, or a larger, screen. (I'm not interested in color -- monochrome is absolutely fine with me.) One more comment: what if I want to use the notepad while I'm doing a download? You got it -- MultiFinder. Which is absolutely impossible. For a month or so I did this on my 386 box courtesy of MS Windows. I'm not particularly enamoured of Windows -- but it *worked*. And it *worked* in one meg of RAM. And it *worked* on a Hercules clone video board which had sufficient resolution for me to keep a notepad window around. And it *didn't* cost anywhere near as much as Apple wants. Have I finally made it clear why I'm upset? Has it finally percolated through to people that THE MAC COSTS A LOT MORE THAN MS-DOS HARDWARE THAT DOES THE SAME THING? Oh, sure, I could go back to DOS to "solve" the problem -- but DOS has its own disadvantages and so does MS Windows. (Read: YECCH!) But that's the choice I'm faced with, and I don't like it. I'm not talking about being at the absolute cutting edge except insofar as things like VM are probably going to become necessary in the future courtesy of software developers, I'm talking about assembling a system that does what I need it to do on a day-by-day basis, with the option of being able to use the newer software that will come out *if* it should become necessary for me to use it. +--------------- | reaching farther both in terms of software and hardware - there's no reason | why 70% of the computer world out there (I guess) needs anything more | powerful than WriteNow. +--------------- I'm not 70% of the computer world out there. I want to use Mac WP on a regular basis to make my job easier, but I cannot. Not everyone in the computer business makes $50K a year. +--------------- | VM. Sounds really cool, and yes, it is really neato, but *necessary*? For the | *rest* of *us*. Nope. Memory is getting cheaper, and if the programmers out | there can get back to tight coding, there shouldn't be a massive leap into | 5 Meg applications. +--------------- I can foresee some of the more useful (as opposed to simple) applications of IAC wanting to use VM-related techniques, if not in System 7.0 then in System 8.0. Also, if you'll kindly explain how to cram 32MB of RAM or more into an SE/30? There are *physical* limits to what fits into the chassis. For that matter, the 4MB limit in the SE which is fine now is going to be strained with 7.0. +--------------- | out of anything anymore. Word Processors that *need* 1024K? C'mon. It | used to be possible in 64K. +--------------- This after claiming that VM wouldn't be necessary. Ashton-Tate was glad to provide prior disproof. I assure you, however, that FullWrite will *never* be found on my Mac. ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc allbery@NCoast.ORG uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@hal.cwru.edu bsa@telotech.uucp, 161-7070 BALLBERY (MCI), ALLBERY (Delphi), B.ALLBERY (GEnie) Is that enough addresses for you? no? then: allbery@uunet.UU.NET (c.s.misc)