Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!texbell!tness7!bellcore!rutgers!apple!bionet!agate!ucbvax!CORY.BERKELEY.EDU!dillon
From: dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: NeXT press release
Message-ID: <8810132303.AA03257@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 13 Oct 88 23:03:06 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 41

:>   The other VLSI chip, the Optical Storage Processor, controls the
:>256 Megabyte Optical Disk, making possible this new storage technology
:>The Optical Disk combines the vast storage capacities, removability
:>and reliability of laser technology with the fast access and full
:>read/write/erase capabilities of Winchester (magnetic) technology.

swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) Writes:
:Hmm, this looks suspicious to me.  Note that the the terms "vast
:storage capacities", "removability", and "reliability" are used to
:describe laser technology while "full read/write/erase" capabilites
:are associated with Winchester (magnetic) technology.  Does this mean
:that it is nothing more than CD-ROM and an old-fashioned hard disk
:packaged together?  I also noticed in the press release that blank
:optical disks will be available so some type of writing is possible,
:maybe the optical portion is WORM?  Earlier in the release it said
:"removable, read/write/erasable 256 Megabyte Optical Disk", but the
:above seems to contradict that.  Was NeXT trying to make their machine
:sound more innovative than it really is?

	Don't be silly, it is perfectly clear.  He's saying that it is
an optical drive with the same abilities that one normally sees with
magnetic drives, that is all.  Nowhere is there a hint that it is WORM...
in fact, he explicitly says that it is an erasable optical disk.

	How you contrived the possibility of an intermediate (standard) HD
and a WORM is beyond me, but such unthoughtful statements only hurt Sun.

	It is obvious that, running MACH and with an obvious UNIX 
configuration, the NeXT machine is set to compete directly with the
workstation market.  Considering the stated university pricing and the
large local storage, UNIX, ethernet (and thus NFS), etc...  the NeXT machine
has an incredible advantage over today's workstation market.

	... assuming availability, of course.  And here I am not even an
Apple advocate!  The machine will definitely hurt apple's attempts at 
gaining the low end workstation market in upcomming years.  Jobs has 
effectively curtailed Apple's future plans and threatened all levels of
the workstation market (except for the multi-processor machines) at
the same time.

				-Matt