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From: melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: NeXT/Amiga Flamage: Get a life.
Message-ID: <#54G+r2i1@cs.psu.edu>
Date: 6 Apr 91 02:37:15 GMT
References: <3&8Ghkzh1@cs.psu.edu> <1991Apr05.214640.25369@ariel.unm.edu>
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In-Reply-To: nwickham@triton.unm.edu's message of 6 Apr 91 01:36:37 GMT
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In article <1991Apr06.013637.28281@ariel.unm.edu> nwickham@triton.unm.edu (Neal C. Wickham) writes:


   Don't get the wrong idea.... software support is a real part of the game.  I'm
   not being critical of NeXT for having snob appeal ....I would like an expensive
   sports car myself someday.... its just that with computers, you're limited by
   the software that is available.  That is what Mac users always throw up in Amiga
   user's faces: Amiga is nice but there is not very much software for it.  I've
   heard several times that a better computer than Amiga is the Sinclair (?) but
   there is not any software for it.

True, software is the most important thing.  That is a major advantage
the NeXT has over the Amiga, except in video, of course.

   So gloom and doom is also part of the equation and is very important to the 
   discussion.  Maybe the prospect of the NeXT failure is simply something you
   are unwilling to consider in your evaluations; but the NeXT failure I believe
   is likely.  More than anything else, it is what is keeping me away.  I don't
   want to dump four or five or six thousand dollars into something only to see
   that it will be nearly totally useless in a couple of years!  I don't care
   that it has mathmitca now or WP now or Lotus now.  I beleive your unrstrained
   excitement and you blind faith in Steve Jobs or a black machine is what is 
   childish.  Maybe you could grow up just a little.  Your childish behavior 
   may cost a lot of people a lot of money.

How long do you plan to keep your current computer?  I would say after
5 years, you will buy a new computer anyway.  So what happens if NeXT
fails?  You use Word Perfect on brand Y computer?  Lotus on a PC?
Illustrator on a Mac.  FrameMaker on a Sun?  Wingz on every computer
in existance, except the Amiga.  If you choose your software wisely,
you aren't locked into one computer company.

BTW, aren't there still people who use the TI/99.

   Let me ask you again.  Do you believe that there will be enough NeXTs out 
   there to support a healthy software market?

Yes.  I think software companies will see NeXT as a major player in
next two or three years and they will port their wares to the NeXT so
that they can get a larger share of the market.  Once a company gets
entrenched in a market, it's hard to get them out.  examples: Lotus on
the PC, Excel on the Mac, WP on the PC, Word on the Mac.  Many
companies stuck with Lotus during their tough years because it was too
much trouble to change.  Same with A-T and dBase.

-Mike