Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
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From: rehrauer@apollo.hp.com (Steve Rehrauer)
Subject: Re: A new Amiga needed...and soon!
Lines: 57
Message-ID: <1991Jun25.174944.15705@apollo.hp.com>
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Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
References: <1991Jun24.223616.16742@crash.cts.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1991 17:49:44 GMT

In article <1991Jun24.223616.16742@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes:
>I sure hope C= has some neat tricks up their sleeve...I've just heard three
>pseudo-rumors that have me worried.  I'm not trying to play -MB- here, but
>I think they're cause for general concern.
> 
>1. The discussions betw-_en IBM and Apple involve the exchange of Apple's
>   software and interface technology for POWER RISC chips.
> 
>2. On October 21st Apple will unveil three new CPUs: an '040 tower, an '040
>   desktop, and an '030 based Classic.  Their new laptops, or palmtops are
>   due in the next couple of months, maybe sooner.

This is not meant as a flame, but why do you care?  Anything Apple does
with any RISC (I personally doubt very much whether the RS/6000 architecture
will ever fly in an Apple box) is going to be far, far up the price scale
from C= products.  Ditto '040 boxes from Apple.

>3. NeXT is accquiring MC88000 family RISC chips for the next generation 
>   of their workstations.

>NeXT is a threat for the UX systems since Commodore is now a low-end UNIX
>workstation vendor.

NeXT and Commodore seem to be playing very different segments of the
Unix market.  NeXT has the chutzpah to say, "Different is better".  E.g.:
DisplayPostscript rather than X/Motif; Mach rather than SysV or Berkley;
and now (apparently) 88K rather than MIPS or SPARC (or perhaps PA-RISC? :).
They may very well be right, but recent experience somewhat close to home
has shown that "better" doesn't always mean "successful". :-<

Commodore, on the other hand, seems to be saying, "Standard, standard,
standard -- and by way, did we mention 'standard'?"  A particularly sexy
application might cause me to buy a NeXT.  But if I wanted a "vanilla,
read: 'standard'" Unix box, especially if I wanted to develop an application
and cover the largest possible hardware/OS base with it, I'd certainly NOT
consider a NeXT.  Doesn't mean the NeXT is "bad", just different -- and
MS-DOS continually proves that the majority of computer buyers don't want
"different".

>I think it'd be great for an '040 UNIX based tower setup to combat
>Apple...

I'm sure Apple wouldn't notice.  Seriously, what makes you folks think that
inviting direct comparisons with Macs would be good for the Amiga?  I mean,
even as a sidelines observer (I don't own an Amiga) I have to say that the
Amiga is an interesting machine.  But if I were Joe ComputerNaivePerson,
and assuming I'd even heard of the Amiga, it would take very little time to
convince me that a Mac was a "better" buy, even at 2x - 3x the price.

(Please send flames directly to me; I don't want to clutter this group with
the traffic -- we've all heard the arguments anyways, and I think even the
most rabid Amiga supporters know what I'm trying to say.)
-- 
"Did you check the car to see if it's okay for   | Steve Rehrauer
 a long trip, Sam?"  "Well, the wheels are still | rehrauer@apollo.hp.com
 on... and here's the key...  Yep, everything    | Hewlett-Packard
 checks out!"  -- Freelance Police               | MA Languages Lab