Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:21763 comp.misc:3853
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!elroy!ames!ncar!gatech!udel!princeton!phoenix!caromero
From: caromero@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (C. Antonio Romero)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.misc
Subject: Re: NeXT secrets
Message-ID: <4021@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 17 Oct 88 21:32:12 GMT
References: <15478@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <157@gloom.UUCP>
Reply-To: caromero@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (C. Antonio Romero)
Followup-To: comp.misc
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 50

In article <157@gloom.UUCP> cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf) writes:
>In article <15478@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, 128a-3aj@e260-3b.berkeley.edu (Jonathan Dubman) writes:
>> There's no comp.sys.next yet, so this goes here.
>I don't suppose that you get the alt net?  they have alt.next...

Not all of us get it-- we get a lot of alt groups (alt.rhode-island???)
but not alt.next...  Most of this traffic is going to comp.misc, so I'm
sending followup there.

>> 6.  Mac software.  Let's be realistic; I don't care how great the user-
>>     interface is, the Mac user-interface is darned good and there's tons of
>>     software for it.  
>>     The software is good.  I am sure the machine COULD run Mac software.
>>     If an Atari ST can run Mac software (I actually saw it!) then this can.

Well, about that Atari trick:
It works pretty well, even coming out about the same speed as a Mac SE.
The only problem: You have to have a set of Macintosh 128K ROMs.
Legit copies are actually not that hard to find (not PROMS,
genuine from Apple ROMS, are available mail-order if you look around
enough).

I'd think an emulation could be managed at a speed well above that of
the SE, since the NeXT has a fair amount of coprocessor support the 
Mac lacks, and the extra muscle CPU...
One trick the Atari emulation mamaged that the NeXT would have some
trouble with: Can the optical drive read and write Mac floppies? ;-)

>Ok, let us be realistic... porting from one brand of unix to another is
>fairly simple.  

Unix ports of existing applications shouldn't be too hard, for the most
part... except for one little detail: NeXT's decision to not use X windows.  
I don't know how having NeXT's own windowing system to cope with will
slow down porting anything with an interesting interface...

>> And, finally, the big question:
>> 
>> 8. Who do they REALLY intend to sell this machine to?  Come on- Steve Jobs
>>    does not set his sights low.  And to be honest the higher education market
>>    just doesn't strike me as that big with the current bureaucracy.  

Well, Jobs isn't exactly part of the current bureaucracy, much of the
time... although I can't imagine this machine not being in fierce demand
about a year from now for the publishing market-- figure in a year,
they'll have both desktop publishing applications and color monitors
ready, and I think sufficient market demand will cause Steve to
reconsider his "University only" policy.

-Antonio Romero       romero@confidence.princeton.edu