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From: khcg0492@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kenneth Holden Chang)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Not another NeXT defector???!!!
Keywords: next vs mac
Message-ID: <1990Nov4.161502.5342@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 4 Nov 90 16:15:02 GMT
References: <2909@unccvax.uncc.edu> <27337f93-fe.1comp.sys.mac.misc-1@tronsbox.xei.com> <3818@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
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Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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In article <3818@idunno.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@set.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) writes:
>Besides, Apple's tactics against IBM
>(that a GUI on a PC is an add-on, where it's built into the Apple) can
>be used against it here -- if you want A/UX you have to buy it and run
>it on top of the Mac operating system, whereas the NeXT is built
>around Unix to begin with yet still offers similar (but more powerful)
>Macintosh-like abilities.

Huh? A/UX is a full-blown operating system. You can run Multi-finder as a
process under A/UX, not the other way around.

As for the original question of Mac vs. Next, it still is a question of what
do you want to do with it?
a) If you are developing your own code and need speed, get a Next. There's
no real reason not to. 
b) On the other hand, if you're primarily going to use commercial software,
the Mac still has the advantage. Next users like to say, yes, this or that type
of software is available, but at present there's only one program available.
It's also first-release software so the features/interface haven't had a
chance to mature yet. For example, look at word processors. On the Next,
there's WriteNow. (Assuming it's similar to the Mac version), it's a very
nice, easy-to-learn program, but it's not feature-laden like Word or Nisus,
so if you need to produce a table or contents or an outline or some complex
layouts, you can't do it in WriteNow. You can, of course, do such in TeX or
FrameMaker, but those programs have a considerably steeper learning curve.

Question for Next users: Is there an equivalent of Expressionist which allows
one to produce equations graphically and then paste them into WriteNow?
--
*****************************************************************************
Kenneth Chang                       *  khcg0492@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Center for Complex Systems Research *   or
University of Illinois              *  kc@complex.ccsr.uiuc.edu
*****************************************************************************