Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!boulder!alumni.colorado.edu!fozzard From: fozzard@alumni.colorado.edu (Richard Fozzard) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: SPARCstation 2 --> workstation wars Message-ID: <28337@boulder.Colorado.EDU> Date: 18 Oct 90 17:01:19 GMT References: <9010180146.AA09967@mcs-server.gac.edu> Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder Lines: 62 In article <9010180146.AA09967@mcs-server.gac.edu> scott@nic.gac.edu writes: > >This is why I'd like to see a less hardware-dependant NextStep. NeXT could >move from hardware/software to more of a dependance on software - which is >where the money is. NeXT could really clean up if they were running >NeXTStep on Suns and {Dec,VAX}Stations, IMHO. 3 cheers! I have said this ever since NeXTStep appeared - the fact that apps I develop on a NeXT won't run on all the Macs and Suns we have around here is what has kept me from being able to convince anyone here to approve buying any machines. Just like UNIX, X-windows is taking over everywhere (against the better judgement of right-thinking folks :-) >If Apple came out >with a comparable machine (a Mac with 105M, 8M, '040, etc) and offered >it for $3000 min to educational institutions, they would sell like >hotcakes. > >Of course, Apple is not doing that. > Now, now, let's be realistic. As anyone who works with both NeXTs and Macs knows, a "comparable machine" is not one with the same CPU, RAM, and HD. A 25Mhz '030 cube with a 300MB HD and 8MB RAM launches and runs apps only slightly faster than an 8Mhz '000 Mac SE (and far slower than a 16Mhz '020 Mac II), and 4MB RAM + 100MB HD on a Mac will hold as many simultaneously running apps and store as much as on the cube. Of course, the cube will have UNIX; but wasn't the whole point of NeXTStep to *hide* us from UNIX? I don't want to get into a flame war of Mac vs NeXT (I like both, for different reasons), but remember that Apple *is* offering two (arguably) comparable machines, the '020 LC and the '030 IIsi (about $2000 and $3000 to education, respectively, with 3rd party large monochrome monitors). And they are already (unlike the slab, they are not waiting for Motorola to release the '040) selling like hotcakes. Both of these have an expansion slot and provide color capability for just the cost of a monitor - two strikes against the slab in educational markets. It remains to be seen whether the slab will sell like hotcakes - such were the predictions about the original cube, also. >I've heard that NeXT will work with anyone who wants to license NextStep >and DPS to get it ported to new machines. This is great, this is good. >In nearly the same paragraph, I basically heard that they expected >schools to do it (it wasn't an outright statement, but that is what >it sounded like to me). This is not the way to go. I think that >NeXTStep would at least port fairly easily to Sun-[34], Mac IIs, and >VAXStations. Sparcs and DECStations (how about Personal Iris!) would >be another story, but quite doable. You seem to be a little confused here - why would it be easy to port to a Sun-4, but not a "Sparc"? Sun-4s *are* "Sparc"s! Aside from these minor disagreements, I echo your sentiments - I would really like to see NeXTStep compatibility on something other than vaporware IBM AIX systems. Then maybe I could finally buy a NeXT or two for around here! -- ======================================================================== Richard Fozzard "Serendipity empowers" Univ of Colorado/CIRES/NOAA R/E/FS 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 fozzard@boulder.colorado.edu (303)497-6011 or 444-3168