Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!lll-winken!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!caen!sdd.hp.com!usc!isi.edu!venera.isi.edu!jas From: jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: System 7.0 vs. NeXT Step Message-ID: <16568@venera.isi.edu> Date: 30 Jan 91 21:41:31 GMT References: <16549@venera.isi.edu> Sender: news@isi.edu Distribution: comp Organization: USC-ISI Lines: 42 In-reply-to: melling@cs.psu.edu's message of 29 Jan 91 23:57:10 GMT In article melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >In article <16549@venera.isi.edu> jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) writes: > > > Plus, it will run all of your Mac software which NeXt won't. If you > can live with the NeXt software selection, can afford the box, and > need the things it offers (why would a standard person need UNIX? I > don't know), then go for NeXt. Hell, buy a Vax! A Cray, even... > >Why did people buy the Mac over the Apple II or the IBM PC? Duhh... >How much more expensive is the NeXT compared with a IIci or IIfx, >anyway? I haven't seen a price list lately? Everyone knows that NeXT >does have a low-end machine. We can probably overlook that for all >while. After all, 17" monochrome and 16" color monitors aren't cheap. > >-Mike Why? Because, at the time, a Mac was a WHOLE NEW PARADIGM in personal computing, not just a few tweaks here and there, and little software to support it. Before, there was the promise of a whole new way of computing. Next isn't a whole new way -- it's a slightly different (possibly better) way to do the kinds of stuff you've been doing in UNIX and/or Macs for the past several years. It's NOT a paradigm shift, just a hardware boost with some software refinements. That's why there's a difference. How many PEOPLE need a IIci or IIfx? That's one thing the NeXt isn't -- a PERSONAL computer. You show me a person who needs a 68040 UNIX box with ??? MIPS, and I'll show you a person with too much time on his or her hands. .75 ;-) jas -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeffrey A. Sullivan | Senior Systems Programmer jas@venera.isi.edu | Information Sciences Institute jas@isi.edu | University of Southern California