Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!noose.ecn.purdue.edu!dirac!gibbs.physics.purdue.edu!murphy
From: murphy@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: What to buy??(numbercruncher)
Message-ID: <5320@dirac.physics.purdue.edu>
Date: 19 Jun 91 18:06:23 GMT
References: <1991Jun17.102210.29176@news.iastate.edu> <1991Jun17.233023.9110@menudo.uh.edu> <1991Jun18.122614.28459@news.iastate.edu>
Sender: news@dirac.physics.purdue.edu
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept, W.Lafayette, IN
Lines: 33

In article <1991Jun18.122614.28459@news.iastate.edu> taab5@isuvax.iastate.edu writes:
>In article <1991Jun17.233023.9110@menudo.uh.edu>, jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J Eric Townsend) writes:
>>In article <1991Jun17.102210.29176@news.iastate.edu> taab5@isuvax.iastate.edu writes:
>>>   Why should he support the Amiga?  I'd like a simple straight answer to
>>
>>Gosh, there're *maybe* that many SparcStations up and running, and
>>Mathematica is available for the Sparc...
>
>   Here is the gist of the problem: Wolfram charges low prices for the 
>MAC version of Mathematica because there are so many MACs being used by
>students who would want Mathematica for their system.  Wolfram can also
>charge high prices for the Sparc version of Mathematica for the reasons

Although it has been a few years since I talked to people at WRI, I recall
that they said that someone (an independent developer) would have to do the
front-end development for the Amiga.  Only when that is done will ther be much
of a consideration for porting the MMA kernel to the Amiga.  Now consider the
other Unix boxes.  The kernel is probably quite portable across Unix systems.
WRI has had to generate an X-windows interface and a NeXTStep interface plus
some other odd Unix window interfaces.  It doesn't cost WRI that much to 
generate variants of the front-end and almost nothing to service the kernels.

I agree that the Unix versions do cost too much, but as was pointed out
earlier, corporations and universities have deeper pockets than the
average home user.  Why does MAC get MMA, because they have more '020 and '030
systems with nice windows I suppose.  PCs got MMA about 2 years after MACs
did.  The other element that hasn't been considered is that maybe some 
corporation said to WRI, "We need MMA for MAC, here's $$$$$$ to port it."
MatLab got ported to HP workstations because NASA Langley wanted it and
paid for it.

Bill Murphy
murphy@physics.purdue.edu