Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: simple multitasking examples
Message-ID: <89751@sun.uucp>
Date: 15 Feb 89 00:22:08 GMT
References: <2225@van-bc.UUCP> <89581@sun.uucp> <6405@dayton.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 31

In article <89581@sun.uucp> cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis) writes:
>I expect multitasking will evolve in much the same way. People will get
>it and use it just like they used hard disks originally, like a giant
>floppy. Run a program, exit, run another. After a while they will do
>something that they couldn't do before, nor even thought of doing before
>and the light will go on. Poof, converted for life. 

In article <6405@dayton.UUCP> joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson) replies:
>I suspect the majority of netters out there started out computing on
>mainframes or super-minis or someothing.  Probably a lot of DEC Vax and
>PDP-11 expertise out there.  And we all have our Unix boxes.  All these
>are multi-tasking machines.

Ahh, but it is the wrong kind of multitasking! All of those "early" 
computer users used terminals. And terminals impose a sort of serial
mentality on you, run the compiler, run the editor, run the compiler,
run the editor. UNIX has some spiffy job control, but how many people
_really_ use it? When you start to see the power of multitasking on
a personal scale is when you can push a window to the back and bring
up another application, even running them side by side exchanging 
data. The other incorrect assumption is that "netters" are a majority
or even a significant fraction of the Amiga customer base. Even if
*every* estimated reader of this group owned an Amiga we'd still make
up less than 10% of the installed base. Believe me, when Jerry Pournelle
says he can't live without multitasking you can be sure that it has 
"arrived." 


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.