Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!boulder!wallwey
From: wallwey@boulder.Colorado.EDU (WALLWEY DEAN WILLIAM)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Single user vs. shared (was Re:
Keywords: X-terminals, process/task distribution
Message-ID: <18713@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 22 Mar 90 16:36:45 GMT
References: <52817@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <76700181@p.cs.uiuc.edu> <11731@nlm-mcs.arpa> <1087@lupine.UUCP>
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: wallwey@boulder.Colorado.EDU (WALLWEY DEAN WILLIAM)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 42

As far as the attack of the killer X-terminals, there really is only one
reason why there even are such things---

X-Windows SUCKS---

	It's so SLOW and Such a computer HOG in terms of both memory
and computer cycles. The Unix community has found that in order to
get performance greater than a pc-XT out of most "Workstations" running 
X, that they have to off-load much of the work to an  X-terminal--Which
easily increases the cost per user another $1500 or so!

What actually you are going to see in the 90's are the attack of the
KILLER PCs running OS/2.  PC's running OS/2 have all the benifits that
people have been talking about in single user systems, but beat the
performance/$$$ ratio better than any other computing system out there!
Where else can I spend $5000, and get a machine that compares in pure
performance to the top quality Suns and other workstations that sell for
up to $30,000. For that price it even includes a LARGE hard drive that
doesn't have to be shared, a co-processor based graphics system that
compares to the best workstations, and has the largest program base of
programs in the world?  

A side note:
   Motif, probably the X windowing system that will become the true 
standard for UNIX, was actually a copy of MicroSoft Windows Look And
Feel with the added 3-d effect.  It was proposed by MicroSoft and HP (I think?)
to the OSF!  My own wimpy 10 MHz 286 running MSWindows is "snappyer" than
the $25,000 worksations running Motif that I use here at the 
University.   I can't wait until I get OS/2.  OS/2 is supposed to be
faster than even MSWindows.  You can just imagine how fast it would be
on a 386 machine compared to running UNIX and Motif on a 386 machine!  
Another feature of OS/2 that will come out next year is that it will have
a "Page Desciption Language" built in that compares with PostScript
--(why do you think APPLE corp dropped its Adobe stock and formed a
co-development agreement with MicroSoft----they saw the "writing on the wall").
This feature is completly device independent and is also used in displaying
graphics to get the the highest quality "WYSIWYG" like Next's Display
Postscript.  This means that also an OS/2 shop can use $1000 laser
printers rather than $6000 ones that a Unix shop would be required to
use to get the same quality of output!

Dean Wallwey