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From: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Comparing computers (was: Mac Multitasking? Hee-hee!)
Message-ID: <4854@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sat, 22-Aug-87 20:53:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: jade.4854
Posted: Sat Aug 22 20:53:26 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Aug-87 22:12:51 EDT
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Reply-To: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer)
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In article <2731@husc6.UUCP> fry@huma1.UUCP (David Fry) writes:
<significant.  I envy Amiga's multi-tasking, but Amiga owners
<cannot truthfully say they don't envy the Mac's enormous
<toolbox that allows for fantastic control and a standardized
<user interface.  They must envy its fonts, its desk
<accessories, its clipboard, and its large application base.

Let's see about this. Accessories. Not needed on the Amiga;
multitasking covers for them. The clipboard is there; applications
just don't use it (silly them). Large applications base; I've bought
as much software for my Amiga as I have for any system (and I haven't
stolen any), and as I probably would for the Mac. I envy the IBM-PC
people that more than the Mac people. Toolbox: can't say - I'm not
familiar with it. Wanna loan me a manual so I can do an improved
implementaiton for the Amiga :-)?

<They must envy the seamless (from the user's perspective)
<interaction between the computer and printers, which has now
<been extended to the Fax modem.

Not much. For high-quality work I go to things that blow the Mac out
of the water. 300 dpi just doesn't cut it for camera-ready text.

<They must envy the
<fantastically generalized system design which allows the
<computer to use kanji scripts as easily as Roman, and have kanji
<appear effortlessly in menus, dialog boxes, everywhere. 

Not as much as I (as a Unix systems hacker) appreciate the
fantastically generalized system on the Amiga, which lets me do FM to
just about anything in the system.

The one thing I do envy is resources, which lets the user control more
than they can on the Amiga (but not a lot more - resetting menu
entries, etc can be done on the Amiga, too). Then I look at the code
that you have to write to deal with them, and get ill. 

<And starting this month they're going to envy Hypercard. 

I've seen HyperCard. It's about 90% of what I want in a hypertext
system.  Then again, infominder is about 90% of what I want in a
hypertext system, too. Just different 90%s. I envy that it's being
bundled with Macs. I shudder at watching it run on an 8 bit plane Mac
][. If it were available for an Amiga at $50, I'd buy one. At $100, I
wouldn't. Finally, the question of whether HyperCard can properly do a
hypertext system is still open. The answer apperas to be "yes," but I
want to see it done.

<Amiga owners, that's why we like the Macintosh: we have
<respect for a job well done.

Odd; that's why I like the Amiga.

<The Mac had a lot of problems when it started out, and Apple has taken
<great strides to get rid of them with elegant solutions.

The Amiga doesn't have a lot of problems, it's only got a couple. I
expect them to be solved well before the Amiga has been out for 5
years.

<Of course we wish would could multi-task now, but we're willing 
<to wait rather than sacrifice the other tangible benefits of our 
<machine, which are much more important in the long run.

I get tangible benefits from multitasking *now*. I don't have a lot of
use for what you claim are the tangible benefits of the Mac.

<Real people have real problems and they don't care or know
<about the technical internals of their computer.

Very true. And before saying "computer X is better than computer Y,"
you need to decide what you're going to do with them.

I use my Amiga primarily to develop code for the Amiga and as a
terminal to the Unix boxes I have to maintain. Other things I do on
the Amiga can be done on the Unix boxes without much problem; none of
the things I use a computer for would noticably benefit from having a
Mac around. On the other hand, the ability to do more than one of
these things at a time is a mondo win.

Show me a Multifinder box with a compile running in one window, and a
vt100 emulator doing a download in another, and then I'll be willing
to consider swapping my Amiga for a Mac.

For other people, other criteria are more important. Each person
buying a computer needs to consider what they are going to use it for.
I've recommended people buy IBM PCs, Ataris, Macs and Radio Shack
boxes.  It depended on what they wanted them for. Blindly pushing one
computer for all applications is a disservice to those who expect
expert advice from you.

	<mike


--
All around my hat, I will wear the green willow.		Mike Meyer
And all around my hat, for a twelve-month and a day.	mwm@berkeley.edu
And if anyone should ask me, the reason why I'm wearing it,	ucbvax!mwm
It's all for my true love, who's far far away.		mwm@ucbjade.BITNET