Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usenet!ogicse!mintaka!wookumz.ai.mit.edu!rjc From: rjc@wookumz.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Amiga vs. Mac Message-ID: <1991Mar13.223831.870@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> Date: 13 Mar 91 22:38:31 GMT References: <4210.27db9aac@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> <1131@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> <4232.27de369d@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> Sender: daemon@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Lucifer Maleficius) Organization: The Internet Lines: 115 Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Amiga vs. Mac Summary: Expires: References: <4210.27db9aac@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> <1131@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> <4232.27de369d@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> Sender: Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: The Internet Keywords: In article <4232.27de369d@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> rlcollins@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Ryan 'Gozar' Collins) writes: >In article <1131@caslon.cs.arizona.edu>, dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) writes: >> In article <4210.27db9aac@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> rlcollins@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Ryan 'Gozar' Collins) writes: >>>To the market the A500 and classic is geared to, speed is not an issue, >> >> Bull. Speed is *always* an issue. Period. That is why reseach money is >> constantly being spent on hardware and algorithm development. Motorola could >> probably sell the 68040 for an order of magnatude (or more!) less if anyone >> wanted a 1Mhz 68040. > >But people buying a Classic or A500 are not going to be doing to much CPU >extensive tasks. The user will probably use his computer more for >wordprocessing or telecommunicating than anything else. Most people I know >haven't begun to use all the power in a 4.77MHz originaly PC, let alone all >the power in a 7MHz 68000. The speed we were refering to was AppleTalk, and the speed of Mac screen redraws. Sure Speed is not an issue when you are running programs that don't need speed, but what about GUI's like Xwindows, or something that takes lots of screen redraws? PC's have a fast text mode, but try running windows on anything less than a 25mhz 386! The price you pay for a GUI is speed, and since the Mac DEMANDS a GUI and won't let you use a shell, speed is an issue. >> If someone tells you the speed of his computer is not an issue, he is either >> such a neophyte user that he has yet to tax the CPU of his computer, or he >> is lying. The wonderful thing about computers is that they give you the >> ability to do amazing things. The other side of the coin is thatthey also >> reveal to you the things you could do if you had just a few more megs of ram, >> or a slightly faster CPU. > >Of course I would love to have 16MHz 68000 and 4 megs in my ST, but I can't >afford it right now that I'm still in colege. (Well, I would really love to >have a 32MHz 68030 with 8 megs of RAM in my ST, but I REALLY can't afford >that right now!!! :*) > >>>only ease of use and marketbility. The Classic is ideal for education due >>>to the fact that it is compact and very easy to network. >>> >>>Logically, to the new computer user, could you really recommend an Amiga >>>500 over a Mac Classic? (especially a computer neophyte?) >> >> Certainly. Workbench on the Amiga is every bit as easy(*) to use as >> the Maciintosh. > >What do you tell that new user when he comes to you with his Excel >worksheet and asks you how he can use it in his Amiga? Why would he have an Excel worksheet when he hasn't even bought a computer yet? That's like saying 'An Amiga user comes to a Mac user with his proprietary Video Toaster format file with ultra secret specifications and asks how the Mac can process the file.' >The only people I would recommend something other than a Mac or IBM clone >are people that use computers a lot, and can figure out how to get things >done. Unfortunately, these people already know what they want, so they >don't even ask others. 2 million Amigas have been bought, most of them A500 by teenagers and kids. From what I've seen on local BBSes, most of them have figured out quite easily how to do their school reports and homework on the Amiga. The IBM is HARDER to use than a Mac or Amiga, it doesn't have a GUI. From what I've seen, most firms HIRE a consultant, and send the employees to be TRAINED to use a single piece of software like Lotus. In fact, they teach classes on 'How to use AutoCad, Lotus, Dbase, etc' at my local college. I think it's total bullsh*t that the Mac and IBM are the only computers that are easy to use. I Found MS-DOS very awkward, and Mac very restricting. In fact, I get very annoyed whenever I use the Mac, because I naturally like to do powerful things in shells, like find | grep | sed | cat. Regardless of what people think, a totally 100% iconic interface gets in the way. >Many of my fellow students are realizing that they need a computer for >college, but the business majors already realize that they need an IBM >clone, the non-tech majors (English, Music) see the Mac in plentiful >quantities and realize thats the computer thats easy enough for them. The reason they see it this way is simple: _advertising_ Mac's aren't any easier to use than GEOS running on a Commodore 64, or CP/M running on a Kaypro. I see no difference between lauching a program by typing its name or clicking on a picture. >It's a sad fact. Hell I'd rather see the world full of Amigas and Ataris >too, but I really don't see that happening. Welp, IBM has the business market, but that's it. Add up the number of Commodore 64's, Nitendo's, Segas, Amiga's, Ataris, Spectrums, and Coco's in America and Europe, and they probably outnumber IBM and Mac'sused in the home. Sorry, but Macs are WAY too expensive for the home. I recently saw a press release today, that Apple slashed the prices on the Mac IIfx from $10,000 to $9100. Wow, I'm impressed, it still costs more than any personal computer. Hell, I can buy a NeXT, 33mhz Amiga, 25mhz 486, Atari, or SparcStation cheaper than that. It only comes with 4mb of ram, and a 40mb HD. The cheapest version is $6k Mac IIfx with only a floppy drive. >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Ryan 'Gozar' Collins Question for IBM Users: rlcollins@miavx1.BITNET > |||| Power Without How DO you move/copy a rc1dsanu@miamiu.BITNET > / || \ The Price!! Subdirectory? R.COLLINS1 on GEnie >------------------------------------------------------------------------------