Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!hal!ncoast!mikes
From: mikes@NCoast.ORG (Mike Squires)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Will the Next sell?
Summary: if speeds the same software base will decide
Keywords: NeXT competitors
Message-ID: <1989Dec3.050323.6691@NCoast.ORG>
Date: 3 Dec 89 05:03:23 GMT
References: <4283@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <30217@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <1989Nov26.041027.24776@NCoast.ORG> <7520@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu>
Reply-To: mikes@ncoast.ORG (Mike Squires)
Distribution: na
Organization: North Coast Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, OH
Lines: 20

In article <7520@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> rfellman@ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman) writes:
>I just learned that a 68040 microprocessor running at the same speed as
>a 68030 is apparently more than THREE TIMES FASTER than the 68030.  When (if?)
>NeXT comes out with the '040 CPU board (this Spring?) they won't have to worry
>to much about the '486.  It will also support mutiple CPUs and has
>a built in floating-point unit which is much faster than the 68882.
>
A 68040 NeXT will be running at about the same speed as a 486 UNIX box.  At
that point the sofware base will be the biggest factor.  At this point the
NeXT has attracted software developers in some areas but not in many others.
Those who work in those areas or who rol their own will be happy; those who
don't (or can't) will buy something else.  If NeXT can get enough developers
to port applications to the NeXT, then they'll have succeeded.

At this point, in the fields that I have some knowledge (statistics and
courseware in the social sciences) there seems to be practically nothing
for the NeXT.  That is not surprising, as most software for the social
sciences (at the undergraduate level) still runs primarily on the Apple II.
There is now some stuff for the IBM PC and a little less for the Mac 
(except that the exciting stuff is on the Mac).