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From: chari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: A kind word...
Message-ID: <1989Nov22.031038.11013@nueces.cactus.org>
Date: 22 Nov 89 03:10:38 GMT
References: <4275@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Nueces Inc.
Lines: 63

stefan@lbl-csam.arpa (Stefan gottschalk) writes:

>Hmm.  Everyone who experiences it says the NeXT has the best user interface 
>around.  After all, just about everyone is accustomed to the Mac interface, so 
>the NeXT comes across like an old friend.  But some of my peers are doubtful 
>of the NeXT's value-  

>"it's too slow," 

Compared to what? My machine is slow compared to the sparcstations I
use. The difference is, however, that I USE my NeXT more than I use
the sparcs. There are always four or more apps running on my system at
home at one time while, but, when using a sparc, I never have anything
more than a few xterms going. I think the speed is adequate and that
it could be faster but, it is nothing to cry about. It is like that
because it is churning away on a very nice and powerful object
oriented illusion to keep us sane and happy.

>"it's too expensive," 

Hah. I sold my Mac II and software for about $1000.00 less than what I
paid for this machine with a 330 meg drive. I would have to say it is
relatively inexpensive. (then again, you should have seen my mac!)

>"it doesn't have any software," 

Yeah. I guess all that useful stuff in /NextApps is just a bunch of
zeros taking up filespace. I find I am missing three applications.
Illustrator, FrameMaker and a good Terminal program. Frame is out,
Illustrator is coming and hopefully NeXT will dump Terminal and Shell
and give us a decent emulator. In the mean time, I'm looking forward
to X on the NeXT so I can run xterm. (see below)

>"it doesn't run X or any other window system anything's written for."

Well, just wait a few weeks. There was an announcement on BIX (Byte's
bbs) stating that NeXT X was finished and almost ready for release.
I'm pretty sure it is R3 and not R4 but, that R4 is coming soon.
Apparently, a window on the NeXT becomes an x root window. I don't
really know anything more than that.

>Well, frankly, I love my NeXT.  But many of the people whose 
>opinion I respect most are very critical of the machine.  They say it won't 
>(or shouldn't) survive.  This upsets me.  I need something to rebut with.  So, 
>I'd like to know who out there believes the NeXT has a future in a world of 
>Macintoshes, PCs, Sparcstations, etc., and why.  

Well, I say 'like what you like'. It is silly how we get into these
product wars al the time. I have a hunch that NeXT is not going to
crash and burn in the near future. Hell, they've even made it into a
music video along with many other indulgent little devices (Paula
Abdul's "The Way That You Love Me"). The NeXT is hardly in a postition
to fail with a marketplace full of sub-flakey systems like Suns but,
that's another story.

Chris


-- 
Chris Whatley
Work: chari@pelican.ma.utexas.edu (NeXT Mail)		(512/471-7711 ext 123)
Play: chari@nueces.cactus.org (NeXT Mail)		(512/499-0475)
Also: chari@emx.utexas.edu