Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!hamblin.math.byu.edu!news From: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: 68040 for the Mac? (Really Mac vs NeXT Wars) Message-ID: Date: 25 Jan 91 19:09:56 GMT References: <83414@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Sender: news@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Usenet News) Organization: Brigham Young University Lines: 64 In-Reply-To: macman@unix.cis.pitt.edu's message of 25 Jan 91 15:55:48 GMT In <83414@unix.cis.pitt.edu> macman@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Dennis H Lippert) write: >I have had a chance to spend a bit of time with a NeXT, and frankly find it to >be too much of a "multi-media blitz" in terms of the interface. I feel there >is no need for the 3-D windows, buttons, etc. The 68040 would probably run >even faster with a simpler interface (if you tell me to run unix on it, I'll >scream). I rather like my NeXTy interface, but have to admit I do use the terminal window more as time has gone by. Never-the-less, I think they did an excellent job with it. I (and my family) use a Mac at home and like it too. I bought (the school that is) a NeXT at work because my Mac wouldn't do the heavy stuff I needed there. >Here at the U. of Pitt, the educational price for the '040 flat NeXT is within >a couple hundred dollars of the baseline Mac IIsi. >(The IIsi is color, 40mb HD,whereas the NeXT is greyscale,\ > 80mb HD). I believe the minimal config for the disk is 105 MB, about 26 MB of that is free for file expansion. > But we were warned (my friend was the >one actually interested... I just got up the money for my Classic) by the >saleperson/user consultant that the 80mb drive will fool you as you can't get >much software on it... "It probably won't hold the stuff you'll usually run.", >and advised us to get a bigger drive. This is good advise. For any serious computing, you need the at least the 200 MB version on the NeXTstation, unless you want to go back to the floppy-swap times. But hard drives ARE a significant expense for most students. >Then there are the other things... >I have five years worth of Mac files... and software to go with them. >Who else owns a NeXT? You apparently have just the dealer (and the net!) to >talk to, as our salesperson (the NeXT specialist at the "Faculty Tech Center") >said that approximately 8 people on the Pitt campus have NeXTs (out of 30,000). >I personally know of 8 friends or more in the university community who have >Macs... from 512-upgrade-to-plus to a IIci. And literally dozens who own PCs. Certainly the NeXT user base is small compared to the two groups you mention. You mention better reasons for sticking with a Mac though- satisfaction with the machine in the past, and lots of accumulated software. Not really a smart move to discard that unless you need a big leap in performance and capability. I would guess the choice might be more difficult (between a NeXTstation and a Mac of similar type) for a person who is just moving into the gui market. It really depends on what you need your machine to do right NOW. If you need a good word processor, a nice game platform, an excellent variety of fairly low cost multipurpose software and well established gui, the Mac is the way to go. If you need a unix machine with the usual workstation capability and a gui which is quite good too (maybe you're a potential user of Mathematica in a big way [a notorious VM user]) the NeXTstation is certainly a candidate. The software will come, but it is workstation pricing for a lot of it. Out of the question for most students [and unreasonable anyway for most of it- in my opinion of course- I don't single out NeXT software here- the workstation software market is one of pretty gross price inflation for the most part- yes I know something about the reasons, etc.]. >Not only do you have to *buy* all new software with your new machine, you also >have to wait for someone to *produce* it. The NeXTstation does come bundled with some reasonable software; this is a calculated selling point. However, while there is a fair amount of third party software now, most of it is NOT directed to the student market (and budget),as stated above. I think this will open up somewhat but I doubt it will ever compete with the Mac Classic market which is where the bulk of Mac users are. I really think Apple should direct more of its corporate brains to this market than they have. The Mac is made for it and there is a great deal of continuing money to be made there with reasonable pricing policies. So much for the soapbox. Anyway: The new low-end Macs are fine machines. If you are in the market for an LC, you're probably not in the market for a NeXTstation. Good luck. -- __________________Prof. William V. Smith____________________ EMail: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu or uunet!hamblin.math.byu.edu!smithw SMail: Math Dept. -- 314 TMCB; BYU; Provo, UT 84602 (USA) NeXTmail: smithw@mathnx.math.byu.edu Phone: +1 801 378 2061 FAX: +1 801 378 2800