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From: cfw@aplpy.jhuapl.edu (Chuck Waltrip)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: TT's and NeXT
Message-ID: <1990Dec20.021356.8472@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
Date: 20 Dec 90 02:13:56 GMT
References: <4169.275eb314@cc.helsinki.fi> <1990Dec7.165317.13779@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <12551@milton.u.washington.edu>
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In article <12551@milton.u.washington.edu> iho@akbar.UUCP (Il Oh) writes:
>cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes:
>>jalkio@cc.helsinki.fi writes:
	[...stuff deleted...]
>But then again, the NeXT isn't much of a Unix box.  The Unix consultants
>I work with are quick to point that the NeXT "just happens to run Unix"
>instead of being designed as a Unix box.  If you've used a Sun Sparcstation
>or a DECStation, you'll know what I mean.  They don't cost _that_ much
>more than a NeXT.
	Well, I've used a DECstation and I'm afraid I don't know what's
	meant here.  If it means that the NeXT does not use unix for the
	sake of unix but for what unix enables it to do, then I don't
	understand what criticism is implied here.  The NeXT implementation
	of unix is built around the Mach kernel.  This bit of pioneering
	has resulted in the usual trials associated with pioneering but
	gives them a headstart on what will eventually be the mainstream
	(or one of them, anyway) when OSF/1 is generally available.

	Having looked at both DECstation prices and NeXT prices recently,
	I believe the price difference for a working system is quite
	substantial.  When you consider that a NeXT comes with software
	pre-loaded so it is possible to get by with just the floppy
	diskette rather than the tape systems the DECstation requires, the
	difference is more substantial.  And when you compare annual
	software maintenance costs, a DECstation is quite out of reach
	for me.  That's not to say that the DECstation isn't a great
	machine...I love it!  And DEC's a great company and I'd love to
	be able to afford their support for my software.  But as someone
	who has looked into this recently, I don't feel that NeXT is
	somehow foisting off a second-rate unix.  On the contrary, they
	seem to have a very well-thought out plan to which unix is vital.

	Having said all of this, I should point out that I certainly
	am not a disinterested party having just ordered a NeXT (but
	I'm keeping my 5 year old 1040 which is still useful thanks to
	many great people who post to this newsgroup).
>--
> "And now, adding color                 |    Il Hwan Oh
>  a group of anonymous, Latin-American  |    University of Washington, Tacoma
>  meat-packing glitterati"              |    iho@cac.washington.edu
>         -- Pink Floyd, Final Cut       |

c.f.waltrip <cfw@aplpy.jhuapl.edu>
Opinions expressed by me are strictly my own.