Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!vd09+ From: vd09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Vincent M. Del Vecchio) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Not another NeXT defector???!!! Message-ID: Date: 4 Nov 90 19:43:26 GMT References: <2909@unccvax.uncc.edu> <27337f93-fe.1comp.sys.mac.misc-1@tronsbox.xei.com> <3818@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, <1990Nov4.064648.28113@agate.berkeley.edu> Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 46 In-Reply-To: <1990Nov4.064648.28113@agate.berkeley.edu> > Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.mac.misc: 4-Nov-90 Re: Not another NeXT > defect.. Brian Kendig@set.Princet (2832) > If I had to choose a new computer right now, it would be a > NeXTstation. Without a moment's hesitation. > [bunch of specs deleted] > All for, at university prices, $3200, I believe. Well, yes, the hardware is incredibly impressive, but as of yet, there still isn't much software to speak of. Also, keep in mind that while these things are still being sold primarily to large organizations (primarily educational, I believe), the standard Unix pricing schemes (read: EXPENSIVE!) for software are likely to remain in effect for what software is available. > Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.mac.misc: 4-Nov-90 Re: Not another NeXT > defect.. Raymond group@garnet.ber (813) > Where's the smiley? NeXT's Unix is a very complete implementation of > 4.3 BSD Unix, one of the most stable and popular Unixes around. The > kernel is Mach, one of the most advanced kernels around with facilities > for things like parallel processing. Won't see that on a Mac anytime > soon. Well, whether or not A/UX is more "useful" than regular 4.3BSD is debatable. Certainly 4.3BSD is a lot more standard (though there are a few differences between Mach's BSD emulation and more standard BSDs, like SunOS or Ultrix) and easier to port to than Apple's own mix of SysV and BSD. But from what I've heard (still haven't really seen A/UX) Apple also has a lot of pretty nice extensions, like Commando and the ability to run Mac applications (not available on most Suns) in a pretty much protected environment. As to "won't see that on a Mac...", BZZZZZT. Try again. Here at CMU they have developed something called MacMach, which is basically a complete port of Mach to the Mac (most easily done here since Mach was/is developed here). Also, a third party has developed something called MachTen, which is a version of Mach which runs under the MacOS, supposedly on all machines from the Classic up. (MacMach, for the most part, goes around the OS, and you can, to a limited extent, run Mac programs from within it.) See recent posts on comp.os.mach for details. -Vince vd09@andrew.cmu.edu