Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!pasteur!cory.Berkeley.EDU!navas From: navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David C. Navas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: NeXT/Amiga Flamage: Get a life. Message-ID: <12628@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 10 Apr 91 03:25:55 GMT References: <10834@uwm.edu> <46833@ut-emx.uucp> <1991Apr9.014258.5903@cc.helsinki.fi> <46969@ut-emx.uucp> Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU Reply-To: navas@cory.Berkeley.EDU Lines: 65 And now for that sequel I promised you a bit back... :) In article <> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >Memory is cheap. It's now less than $200 for 4MB, and prices are >still dropping. It's almost like complaining that someone is wasting >paper clips. Who cares? Oh, the joys of living in the modern throw-away society. #define JOKE_MODE I have a friend who collects paper clips for his Mac. Wanna gues what he does with them :) #undefine JOKE_MODE I mind, and very much so. Not just the 4MB -- I mind the paper clips too. I'd rather not have my backyard littered with your trash, thank you. But that argument's for another newsgroup. Look, Mike, let's take an extreme example: Let's say I write an algorithm O(n) time which performs in 60K. Let's say somebody else writes an algorithm O(n) time which performs in 2megabytes. Wanna guess, regardless of the complexity of the two algorithms -- both order-n, you see -- which will finish first? Every time? This is a real-world example. My partner and I each wrote fill routines that performed exactly as described -- his was slower, every time. And this was on an SG-machine with 12megs and 300meg local harddrive, no sloucher!! When the number of polygons rises to 1200 or so, there is a definite slowdown! This is precisely the reason that adding more memory to the NeXT is not doing the job right. While I'm sure it will improve Next's performance, it is not solving the original problem -- the Operating System is too big. As an example of a tight operating system , consider the following: GeoWorks Ensemble is a multitasking, virtual memory operating system containing device independence and scalable outline font technology. It runs on a 640K 8086 machine. It may not be the best example, it is certainly not the only example -- but I helped code some of it, so I know it. :) [I no longer work for the company, for anyone that wonders.] The NeXT is a nice machine, with some interesting UI concepts, but let's not get carred away with the marketroid-stuff and call it America's next Apple Pie, okay? Every system can stand to learn from everyone else's, and NeXT needs to visit a dietician (sp?). NeXT == Not eXtremely Tempting. [Sorry, getting tired of that capitalization] > >-Mike -Dave David Navas navas@cory.berkeley.edu 2.0 :: "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Also try c186br@holden, c260-ay@ara and c184-ap@torus