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From: jjfeiler@nntp-server.caltech.edu (John Jay Feiler)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: WANTED: objective info. on NeXT vs. Amiga
Message-ID: <1990Nov12.075546.4915@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 12 Nov 90 07:55:46 GMT
References: <90313.054820DLV101@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Nov10.045915.4226@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1990Nov10.080947.22492@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 43

knrgroup@garnet.berkeley.edu (Raymond group) writes:

>Can't say that my opinions are completely objective, since I'm a NeXT
>software developer, but here's my two bit worth.

>jjfeiler@nntp-server.caltech.edu (John Jay Feiler) writes in a 
>comparison of the NeXT and Amiga:
>>NeXT:  Mach, not UNIX, but close.  Won't be able to take advantage of the
>>"shrink-wrapped" unix binaries to be available soon.....

>NeXT has 4.3BSD Unix with a Mach kernel.  4.3BSD Unix is considered by many
								     ^^^^^^^
but not all...
>to be the most complete and powerful Unix around.  It is also the most
>popular in academic computing.  The Mach kernel has facilities for things
>like parallel processing.  

A strong point in favor of NeXT.  See below.

>Which "shrink-wrapped" unix binaries do you refer to?  The NeXT should be
>able to run most 4.3BSD unix binaries.

One of the big selling points of AT&T S5R4 Unix, (supposedly a confluence
of AT&T and BSD) is a standard binary code format.  In other words, one will
be able to go into (instert national software store name) and by Jim's
Boffo Application for 68030 Unix, and it will run on an amiga, or ANY OTHER
MACHINE, BY ANY VENDOR, THAT HAS A 68030 AND RUNS S5R4.  No more individual
binaries for each machine.  Unless NeXT conforms to this binary code
standard, it will not be able to benifit from this large increase in
software market, and consequent greater availability and quality
of software.  

I happen to prefer the Mach kernel to the Unix kernel, but S5R4 is a big win
in this respect.

>> [the NeXT] comes with Objective-C, which has its good and bad points 
>>compared to C++...

>The NeXT now comes with a C/C++/Objective-C compiler.  You can compile 
>straight C++ code with this compiler. 
I stand humbly corrected.

	John Feiler