Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!psuvax1!news From: melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: SPARCstation 2 --> workstation wars Message-ID: Date: 17 Oct 90 23:35:02 GMT References: <9224@helios.TAMU.EDU> Sender: news@cs.psu.edu (Usenet) Organization: Penn State Computer Science Lines: 42 In-Reply-To: daugher@cs.tamu.edu's message of 17 Oct 90 19:59:46 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: client2.cs.psu.edu Seriously, it is clear that the workstation wars will continue for the forseeable future, escalating at an ever-increasing rate and forcing a shakeout (e.g., HP/Apollo). Consequently, knowledgable users will put less emphasis on horsepower (as long as it's adequate) and more emphasis on compatibility, upgradability, etc. Thus, I'd like to see NeXT make a commitment to providing an upgrade path for the NeXTstation and NeXTstation color, even if it's just to say "We intend to offer a board swap when the NeXT 3 arrives." Otherwise people may hesitate to buy a non-upgradable computer--anybody want my Sun 3/50 real cheap? :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter C. Daugherity Internet, NeXTmail: daugher@cs.tamu.edu Knowledge Systems Research Center uucp: uunet!cs.tamu.edu!daugher Texas A & M University BITNET: DAUGHER@TAMVENUS College Station, TX 77843-3112 CSNET: daugher%cs.tamu.edu@RELAY.CS.NET ---Not an official document of Texas A&M--- This brings up an interesting question. Should we buy cubes or slabs? The cube will be more upgradeable. You should just be able to drop in another CPU board and upgrade to the next generation CPU. But it costs $2000($3000??) more than the slab. So, do we pay $2300 for the slab now, and buy another slab in 2 years because there isn't an upgrade path, or do we spend the extra money for a Cube now(the difference will almost by a new slab in two years)? NeXT shouldn't have too much trouble being competitive. Motorola announced that the next generation of the 88000(its RISC) chip will perform somewhere between 60-100mips when running at 25Mhz. And I'm sure NeXT has been listening to my advice on using a RISC in their NeXT generation machine.:-) NeXT doesn't have to make faster machines than Sun as long as they have better system software. If speed was all that mattered, then Sun would have crushed Apple a long time ago. -Mike BTW. I think the reason that a Sun 3/50 can't be upgraded is a political decision brought to you by Sparc Inc.(aka Sun)