Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!usc!samsung!xylogics!transfer!lectroid!angmar.sw.stratus.com!jmann
From: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: SPARCstation 2 --> workstation wars
Message-ID: <2793@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
Date: 19 Oct 90 20:06:24 GMT
References: <9010180146.AA09967@mcs-server.gac.edu> <28337@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <7669@dog.ee.lbl.gov> <1990Oct19.181008.24196@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>
Sender: usenet@lectroid.sw.stratus.com
Reply-To: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
Lines: 32

In article <1990Oct19.181008.24196@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>,
brtmac@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (Brett McCoy) writes:
|>
|>I've never used, touched, or even personally seen a NeXT so I can't say
|>how it might compare with a Mac, but I have used Macs and I use
SPARCstation's
|>extensively and I can tell you that a SPARCstation completely and utterly
|>blows a Mac away.  Trying to compare an 8 Mhz 68000 Mac to a 20 Mhz SPARC
|>is one of the most rediculous things I've ever heard, and even a IIci, which
|>is the fastest Mac I've ever used, seems incredibly slow compared to my
|>SPARC.  Also, NeXT computers have virtual memory, something that a Mac
|>user has probably never heard of.  So it's applications are larger, only
|>the part of the program that is actually executing needs to be in memory,
|>unlike a Mac where the entire application has to be loaded before it will
|>run.  The amount of disk space you devote to swap space is the only limit.
|>Physical memory (RAM) doesn't control how many programs may be resident and
|>running at once, only how quickly they can run.  The Mac will never be able
|>to compare to machines like Sun workstations and NeXT's until they come out
|>with an OS that supports true multitasking, virtual memory and paging.
|>
Define "fast."  Sure, a SPARC-station is faster than a Mac or 68030 NeXT
if what you mean by fast is "how long does it take to compile program X" or
whatever.  If by "fast" you mean "how long does it take user X to do A,
then go over and do B for a while, then learn new application C, then
go back and paste some stuff from B to A" the Mac and the NeXT are both
faster than the Sun.  And if by "fast" you mean "how long does it take
to develop an application that does Z" well, the NeXT blows both machines
away.                                          

Jim Mann
Stratus Computer
jmann@es.stratus.com