Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!gatech!mcnc!decvax!mandrill!neoucom!wtm
From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Microsoft Windows and MS support?
Message-ID: <1082@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: 6 Apr 88 04:22:11 GMT
References: <496@xios.XIOS.UUCP> <1975@optilink.UUCP> <1060@neoucom.UUCP> <187@spked.UUCP>
Sender: wfd@neoucom.UUCP
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 47
Summary: GEM compared to Windows 1.03


Steve Croft points out that comparing GEM with Windows is not
exactly fair.  As much as it pains me :-) to admit, I guess he is
correct.

I should be more careful;  what I had in mind was GEM 3.0 versus
windows 1.03.  We only recently received Windows 2, which I have
not had the pleasure of being able to use yet.

As far as multitasking goes, the comparison of Windows 386 is
probably more farily compared to Concurent DOS 386 or with Desqview
2.01.


I still belive you get more for your money when you purchase either
GEM draw or GEM write (which comes with paint).  The GEM products
come with the complete desk environment (not just runtime).

Windows on the other hand seems to have left the development of
applications up to 3rd party developers.  I suppose that is alright
since that is how we make money, being 3rd parties.  While, I don't
own it, I have watched a person tinkering with Windows 2's paint
program -- it doesn't really seem to have evolved any since 1.03.

The last point still stands, I'd rank Microsoft's telephone support
as only one notch more helpful than Micropro's support for
Wordstar; not exactly award-winning.  Microsoft is a big company,
but not all big companies have bad phone support -- AT&T, for
instance is pretty good, but then they ought be be, seeing as they
are in the phone business.

Hardware compatibility is also an issue.  The guy that is working
with Windows has had some problems on non True-blue IBM equipment.
It has been my experience that GEM is more forgiving.  For instance,
I have not been able to get Windows 1.03 to work with the STB EGA
card that I use in my AT&T 6300.  GEM, on the other hand appears to
abide by the rules, and yet does not really seem to be slow by being
a good hardware citizen.  While windows may be a fine product, one
may find that GEM is the only viable windowing environment for
clone computers and/or weird video cards.

Of course, Windows will win in the end because Microsoft knows how
to court the media and developers while Digital Research has
neither the money nor apparent accumen to do so.  --  That is, of
course, assuming that Apple doesn't get its way!


--Bill