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From: fiddler@concertina.Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: '040 Mac
Message-ID: <143212@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 1 Oct 90 18:16:00 GMT
References: <1990Sep26.181933.239@fog.ann-arbor.mi.us> <8745@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
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In article <8745@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>, epan@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Eric C. Pan) writes:
> 
>   In regards to Bill's article, I am sorry to point out that whatever the new   
>   '040 will be... It will not be "a computer for everybody"... I am sorry, but 
>   I can't imagine everybody having either an '040 machine or a i486, i960 machine   
>   in the next 2 years....

This will probably turn out to be more a lack of your imagination than a reflection
of future trends.  (On the other hand, maybe we'll see a world-wide economic crash
and *nobody* will be buying anything...)

> 	Just like not every person on this network work with a IIfx... some of  
>   us simply don't use that much.... the fx and the '040 is clearly intended to    
>   compete with the workstation class machines... If I buy a IIfx or an '040, I 
>   will definitely make sure I have System 7.0 or A/UX to take advantage of the 
>   proc. power and its subsystems.... if you are not going to do some high power 
>   computing or have loads of money to spend, why would you be getting an '040 or 
>   i486, i960?

Silliest thing I've ever heard of.  Current '030 machines are faster and have more
internal memory (and often mass storage) than most workstations did just five years
ago.  Don't see that these machines are causing anyone undue hardship because of
their blazing performance.

It's not like they operate so fast that you can't keep up with the keyboard, or
screen displays are becoming unreadable for everyone but the fastest speed readers.

New, faster, processors just mean that the same work you're doing now will get
done faster...if you're having to wait for any process to complete, certainly you
could deal with less waiting.  (Multitasking, async I/O and all the rest would be
nice, but I can wait for it to appear on my home machine.)

Just because a processor has so much more power, it doesn't mean that you have to
wait until you have reached a higher moral plane before you can use it.  That sort
of thinking came about when hardware was *really* expensive, and users wanted to
avoid "wasting cycles".

I'm working now with a 15MIPs (whatever that is) workstation.  I wouldn't mind
using a 30 or 50 or 100MIPs workstation..and all I do is write manuals.

Go a head and wait until you're "ready" for a faster machine, we'll just go on ahead
a bit.

--
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  The only drawback with morning is that it comes 
    at such an inconvenient time of day.
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