Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!convex!ewright
From: ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Not another NeXT defector???!!!
Message-ID: <108301@convex.convex.com>
Date: 6 Nov 90 18:00:19 GMT
References: <2909@unccvax.uncc.edu> <90308.005234KJSTEELE@MTUS5.BITNET> <1990Nov4.075323.1536@agate.berkeley.edu>
Sender: usenet@convex.com
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation; Richardson, TX
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In article <1990Nov4.075323.1536@agate.berkeley.edu> knrgroup@garnet.berkeley.edu (Raymond group) writes:

>>d) If you've got a Mac, you won't have to abandon all your old software;
>>you'll be able to run it without changing machines all the time.
>
>You'll be able to run NeXTStep, X windows, MS-DOS (with the upcoming SoftPC
>for the NeXT), and perhaps, if someone comes out with a Mac emulator
>for the NeXT, Mac applications on the NeXT.  

NeXTStep and X-Windows are not applications programs, they're part of
the environment. MS-DOS?  Buying a NeXTStation is a very expensive
way of getting a PC. (And remember that is still "upcoming"; there's
a lot of NeXT software that's been "upcoming" for the last two years.)
If the best you can say about the NeXT is that maybe, someday, it will
be able to emulate the Mac, why not just buy a Mac?

Also, recall that no one has succeeded in emulating anything better
than (an accelerated) Mac Plus.  Legal emulators require Macintosh
ROMs and Apple has taken steps to make the new ROMs harder to come
by.  David Small, who developed the Macintosh emulators for the Atari ST,
has said that it will never be possible to emulate the color Macs, even
on a 68030-based Atari, because the video hardware is too different.
I suspect that this will probably be true with the NeXT also. 


>NeXTStep applications, by the
>way, are as easy to use as Mac applications and more powerful because of
>better hardware, virtual memory, true multitasking, etc.  

Just as easy? From what I've seen, NeXTSTep applications are a lot *easier* 
to use.  There are no manuals to read, no commands to learn, no file
formats to worry about; they don't use up CPU time, require a lot of
RAM, or take up no space on your hard disk.  Just go down to your
local software store and tell the sales clerk you want to see the
Emporer's New Program. :-)