Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!news
From: melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger)
Subject: Re: Amiga/NeXT flames (Was Re: Amiga OS *IS* state...)
In-Reply-To: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu's message of 9 Apr 91 08:31:08 GMT
Message-ID: <yd8G8k8l1@cs.psu.edu>
Sender: news@cs.psu.edu (Usenet)
Nntp-Posting-Host: sunws6.sys.cs.psu.edu
Organization: Penn State Computer Science
References: <46907@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 91 20:43:16 GMT
Lines: 42


In article <46907@ut-emx.uucp> greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) writes:

   It's _not_ a great deal in any way for the single user.  That was exactly what
   I was saying before.  Steve Jobs markets it as all a student needs for
   college, when it's definitely the _wrong_ box if you're not putting it on a
   network, and I have only heard of one college that was planning on putting
   ethernet jacks in the dorm rooms...

I think MIT is putting ethernet in the dorm rooms.  And why can't you
use a 105MB NeXTstation do write papers, play games, or do spreadsheet
work?

      I know three people.  Think about it.  What other machine are computer
      literate people going to buy?

   Hmmm...  Now considering the national ranking of the UT CS department, I'd be
   willing to bet that a good number of the people here are computer literate. :)
   Well, I don't know a single person who is still looking at buying a NeXT,
   including those who were planning on it a couple months ago.

What can I say, perhaps there is a difference b/w the students as Penn
State and the ones at UT CS :-).

   What computer literate person _would_ buy a NeXT?  You get a non-standard Unix
   port on a box that has shipped less than 30,000 units built buy a company that
   several competent businesspeople have predicted will fail within a year.
   Sounds like a _great_ investment to me...

Why is the Unix non-standard?

   I can tell you right now that if I was looking for a high speed Unix box I'd
   be buying a SPARC.  If I was looking for a practical Unix box with a standard
   OS I'd be buying an A3000UX.  Under NO circumstances would I buy a NeXT.  (Of
   course, right now I'd be waiting for the next generation RISC boxes anyway.)

A Sparc II?  I think NeXT has better price performance than Sun.  At
least they did with the older models.  Anyway, HP has the machines to
beat.  $12,000 will buy you a 57 mip monochrome machine.

-Mike