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From: knrgroup@garnet.berkeley.edu (Raymond group)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Not another NeXT defector???!!!
Message-ID: <1990Nov10.230125.28446@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 10 Nov 90 23:01:25 GMT
References: <1990Nov9.195958.15383@midway.uchicago.edu> <1990Nov10.192652.29728@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1990Nov10.223123.26393@agate.berkeley.edu>
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nick@cs.edinburgh.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) writes:
>I would buy a NeXT as my next computer if
>  (i)  I could find one.  I think there's a single dealer in the UK...

Businessland is the UK dealer for NeXT. There is also a NeXT U.K.
No Businesslands in Scotland?

>  (iii) I could get support/maintenance.

Businessland or NeXT should be able to take care of this for you.

>  (iv)  I could run top-notch MIDI sequencing software...

There is some public domain stuff currently available and some very good
commercial products are coming out in First Quarter 1991.  FirstChair by
Imagine, Inc. and MusicProse by Coda are two products in development.

>  (v)  It provided a good environment for developing and working with
>       MIDI applications

I don't know about MIDI tools.  There is, however, the DSP chip (for
CD quality sound and music) and DSP port.  There are also a Sound object
and a Music object in the AppKit for programmers.

>  (vii)  I could move material between home and work easily

The new NeXTs come standard with 2.88 MB floppies, compatible with 700K
and 1.4 MB MS-DOS formats.  You can also upload and download software with
a modem.

>  (viii)  NeXT stood a good chance of being in business for a while.

NeXT is heavily capitalized and should be around at least a couple of years
even if they don't sell any machines.  However, I'm optimistic that they'll
sell a large number of their new NeXTs.