Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Amiga OS *IS* state of the art, but the NeXT is better Message-ID: <20267@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 2 Apr 91 16:05:26 GMT References: <7827@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <86aJZ2w164w@ozonebbs.UUCP> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Distribution: usa Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 44 In article melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > >In article <86aJZ2w164w@ozonebbs.UUCP> vsolanoy@ozonebbs.UUCP (Victor Solanoy) writes: > Some of the weaknesses you mention are probably a result of the limited > abilities of the 68000 processor used in 'stock' Amigas... and not the > operating itself. >True, this is why it's nice to use a machine that uses a 15 mip 68040 >in its base model. That's also why it's not nice to use a machine that uses a 15 MIPS 68040 as its base model (though in truth, the discontinued 68030 NeXT is the base NeXT model). Software can set higher goals with a higher base processor, but it also requires that base processor just to squeak by. The first generation 64K/4.77MHz 8088 IBM PC, 128K/7.8MHz 68000 Mac, the 256K/7.16MHz 68000 Amiga 1000, and the 4MB/25MHz 68030 NeXT were each in this category for what they were trying to achieve, though they were not all in the same computer class (I see three different ones there myself). The basic performance of the 68040 generation NeXT, to the average GUI user at least, is on the order of what 2nd generation Amiga users have been enjoying for a long time. While it won't number crunch faster, an A3000 does nearly everything else faster than a 68040 based NeXT. And you haven't seen a 68040 based Amiga yet. >Of course, most developers probably aren't going to bother with the Amiga at >all. Or the NeXT. MOST developers develop for MS-DOS. A visable percentage are developing for MS-Windows as well, and for the Mac. Standard UNIX, or perhaps one of the standard UNIXs, is another growing target. Amiga has lots of development in a few specific areas. NeXT has the kind of fringe the Amiga did in its early days, and some hired guns, which are of course nice, and something I wish C= had had the startup money to afford. That is an effective, if expensive, way to get acceptance for a new system, as long as you can afford to pay the big companies and scare away the little guys. >-Mike -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.