Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tank!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!sgi!shinobu!odin!odin.corp.sgi.com!portuesi From: portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Glimpse of a NEXT... Message-ID: Date: 19 Mar 90 10:13:56 GMT References: <1990Mar18.001043.23028@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> <1949@clyde.concordia.ca> Sender: news@odin.SGI.COM Reply-To: portuesi@sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) Distribution: comp Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mtn. View, CA Lines: 61 In-reply-to: stefan@hercule.cs.concordia.ca's message of 18 Mar 90 17:41:00 GMT >>>>> On 18 Mar 90 17:41:00 GMT, stefan@hercule.cs.concordia.ca (BUCHHOLZ stefan) said: > Hey, I just saw and use my first NEXT machine today. The machine did not > impress me. I doesn't impress me much either, but that largely has something to do with the machine I'm typing this message on... > It is extremely slow (display postscript), and the floptical > drive is as slow as a floppy (now that's slow!!!). I didn't think the display postscript on the NeXT was that slow, though there are certainly faster machines out there. The floptical drive is indeed slow, but the only mistake NeXT made with the drive was assigning it to a purpose for which it was not intended -- that of being the main storage device for the system. Since then, they've added a fast hard disk to the system, which greatly speeds up normal system operation. It's a good combination of having a fast hard disk for paging and the like, and having oodles of on-line storage for images, audio, dictionaries, utilities, and the like. > VERY nice display (B/W), > but as we all know: the look of a computer is the last thing to take into > account. only if you're an engineer. To the customer, the look of the computer is one of the first things they take into account. You have to understand that simple fact if you want to sell a computer system in today's marketplace. > the guy had a flight simulator on it, and it moved (no joke) about > as smooth as my 4.77 Mhz bridgeboard. which is hardly an authoritative benchmark between systems. The graphics in the flight simulator could have been written in PostScript for all you know. > I do hope though that Open Look is as > nicely implemented as the Step seems to be. What was that you said about the look of a computer? > Otherwise, as most of my > colleges have said: It's mostly hype. Only if you consider the Amiga mostly hype as well. The NeXT machine has one big thing in common with the Amiga. Both machines were the first to integrate several important features in their respective marketplaces (Amiga in the PC market, NeXT in the workstation market). The other thing the NeXT machine has in common with the Amiga is that it failed to make a significant dent in the marketplace, even despite Steve Jobs' reputation as a "pseduo-visionary" (my term), and the amount of exposure he's received in the media. --M -- __ \/ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics, Inc. portuesi@sgi.com