Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!davoli From: davoli@natinst.com (Russell Davoli) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: NeXT | I love my SE (was:68040 for the Mac? Message-ID: <19719@natinst.natinst.com> Date: 18 Feb 91 16:50:17 GMT References: <1991Feb16.020056.11742@NCoast.ORG> Organization: National Instruments, Austin, TX Lines: 63 In article , melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > > In article <13469@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> krk@cs.purdue.EDU (Kevin Kuehl) writes: > > Or you could look at it this way -- for $700 more than a IIfx you can > get a pair of IIsi's. This allows two people to use computers instead > of only one. I can't claim I came up with this idea, I got it from > the Facilities Manager at Purdue. :-) > > When you look at it that way, the IIsi looks pretty good. Actually, > it's not too bad. Apple didn't cripple it by limiting it to 8 megs of > RAM? It does have the 030 so virtual memory will come with 7.0. As > for the FPU, oh well. Word 4 will run just as fast. What's this about crippling the IIsi by limiting it to 8 Meg physical memory? As higher capacity SIMs become available, you're supposed to be able to expand physical memory to something like 65 Meg. > What's with this I don't want Unix? I want preemptive multitasking, > networking, virtual memory and memory protection. I definitely want memory protection -- too bad UNIX seems to be the only popular OS that offers this on micros. For a personal machine, the virtual memory stuff seems most necessary, and preemptive multitasking would be nice if it doesn't slow down response to me. I'm generally satisfied with the cooperative multitasking on the Mac, except when things like the print spooler take over. Reminds me of printing on the next with its 0.8 OS release. Ugh. > Unix + mips + Display Postscript + Interface Builder + Objective C + Networking > = Increased Functionality > > The reason most Mac people don't understand this, and rightly so, is > because the multitude of applications haven't arrived yet. Word > Perfect and Lotus Improv were just released within the past month. > Adobe Illustrator and Quark Xpress still haven't shipped. The 040 > NeXT has only been shipping for two months. We're at the beginning of > the NeXT "revolution"(for lack of a more applicable word). It will be > more obvious in a year. > > -Mike Maybe so. I'm still skeptical and I'll believe it when I see it. I remember all the hype around the Amiga for its first year and it's still a fairly minor player in the market. To be fair though, NeXT seems to be much more organized and focused than Commodore ever has been, IMHO. I guess my big beef with this thread is that we're all spending lots of time trying to convince each other that our machine exactly the features that Everyuser must have to become productive. Despite the coolness of the NeXT, I don't plan on buying one soon, mostly because I can't get the discount prices. I also don't plan on buying a new Mac to replace my aging Mac Plus as my home machine simply because I don't do a lot with it besides games at home. Coming home from work, I don't much feel like programming and would rather invest my time in something else, like reading Shelby Foote's excellent history of the Civil War. Anyway, I guess my point is that despite the effort both sides have expended to convince me that I should buy their machine, I'm staying put because my needs justify neither at this point. Whew, it feels good to get that off my chest. -Russell Davoli