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From: barad@willy.usc.edu (Herb Barad)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Need advice on Coral Lisp and Smalltalk
Message-ID: <4789@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: Wed, 21-Oct-87 14:43:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: oberon.4789
Posted: Wed Oct 21 14:43:17 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Oct-87 13:34:48 EDT
References: <31805@gt-cmmsr.GATECH.EDU> <912@pur-phy>
Sender: nobody@oberon.USC.EDU
Reply-To: barad@willy.usc.edu (Herb Barad)
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 40
Keywords: Coral Lisp, Smalltalk80, Mac II

In article <912@pur-phy> cca@pur-phy (Charles C. Allen) writes:
>(I'm posting this as a followup as well as a mail message since I
>think others might be interested).  I have in front of me a packet of
>info from ParcPlace describing their Smalltalk-80 system.  I have also
>talked to their support personnel a couple of times.
>
>The real kicker is that the above prices are for NO SUPPORT.  Support
>costs $1000/year for a site with 1-20 workstations.  If you want to
>get upgrades (that includes bug fixes) you either have to buy the new
>version, or buy the support package.  Ack!  I have a little trouble
>visualizing the kind of market they're going after.  It certainly
>isn't people like me.

I have no trouble visualizing who they are going after.  I have been
using PS (the name of their Smalltalk-80) for quite a while now on a
Sun workstation.  This product for the Mac II is just a port of that.
I have a feeling that it will provide toolbox support, but I'm not
sure of it.

PS is a high performance, high quality development environment.  It is
FAR supirior to Apple's version.  I have used version 0.3 of Apple's
Smalltalk on a 2Meg Mac plus.  I'm extremely happy with it considering
the price (at the time, it was $50).  Apple's Smalltalk is much
cheaper, but not a professional development environment.

The price mentioned for PS is not all that high for industry.  That's
who they are going after.  They cannot compete with Apple's $50 price
just because of the complexity of PS.  By the way, there IS a
university discount and it is quite nice (90% DISCOUNT).

So, in summary: if you are an individual and cannot shell out the
cash, then Apple's Smalltalk is probably a good start.  If you are
part of a larger group (industry or academic), then PS is worth
looking at.

Disclaimer: I don't represent ParcPlace Systems or have any ties with
them except being a satisfied customer.
Herb Barad	[USC - Signal and Image Processing Institute]
email:	barad@brand.usc.edu	or
	...!sdcrdcf!oberon!brand!barad