Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!thad From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Apple System 7.0 Message-ID: <18268@cup.portal.com> Date: 12 May 89 09:59:03 GMT References: <17148@usc.edu> <24279@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 126 Re: the Version 7.0 of the Macintosh System Software article in WSJ ... Another perspective appeared on page D-1 of the San-Jose Mercury-News, Wednesday, May 10, 1989, reprinted here in its entirety without permission and WITH all the typos, misspellings and misteaks (sic :-) of the original article. Of note is the 36-point headline and the word "peak" (instead of "peek"). The following article copyright 1989 by the San-Jose Mercury News; my comments follow the article. APPLE OFFERS PEAK (sic) AT LATEST SOFTWARE By Rory J. O'Oconnor Mercury News Computing Editor Apple Computer Inc., aiming to keep pace in the desk-top computer market, disclosed Tuesday details of a new version of the principal software for its Macintosh computer line. The software will give the company's computers some of the advanced capabilities of rival operating systems offered by International Business Machines Corp. and many work-station vendors. Version 7.0 of the Macintosh System Software will improve the computer's ability to run several programs at once, a process known as multi-tasking. It will also add a capability called inter-process communication that will allow programs to easily exchange data on the fly. For example, a portion of a spreadsheet budget could be incorporated in a word processing document. If the spreadsheet were changed, it would automatically update the relevant parts of the document. The new program also adds built-in communications features, better screen display, beefed-up printing and a modified user interface, Apple said. Apple revealed its plans simultaneously to reporters and to 1,500 software developers gathered in San Jose for the company's annual software development conference. The Cupertino-based company emphasized that the new software is a "work in progress" and that test versions won't be delivered to developers until the fall. Company representatives declined to say when users could buy the software. The software will operate on all Macintosh models, from the entry-level Macintosh Plus to the most expensive Macintosh IIx computer. The machines will require at least two megabytes of memory to use the software, a boost from the single megabyte that is now standard for the Macintosh. Apple said the software would help it compete against rivals which are adding Macintosh-like user interfaces to their operating systems. While competitive machines using the OS/2 and Unix operating systems both "superficially emulate" the Macintosh, "they attempt to do in four to eight megabytes what we do in one or two megabytes," said Randall S. Battat, vice-president of product marketing. Despite hurling barbs at Unix, which is used in many desk-top work stations, Battat insisted that Apple wasn't competing in the work-station market. But one analyst called Apple's attempts to distinguish between high-end personal computers and work stations "absolute rhetoric." "They have no choice but to compete in the work-station market," said Ashok Jain, publisher of the Macintosh Market Report in Irvine. ---------- end of article ---------- I was contemplating making some sarcastic remarks. So I will! :-) From 1984 on, AT&T (more or less) marketed their UNIXPC (aka 3B1 aka PC7300) (mfd. by Convergent Technologies, of San Jose, CA). This is a 10MHz 68010 box, multi-user, virtual memory demand paged, with from 512K (yes, 512K) RAM to 4MB RAM, and from 10MB to 67MB HD. Runs SysVR2 with CT enhancements and XT layers, etc. See June 1986 BYTE for a 12-page product review (of the stripped-down, entry-level system). Comes with two traditional shells (sh and ksh) and the "User Agent" (now called "Faces" on AT&T's latest 386 Unix color systems) windowing environment ... windows have drag bars, sizing gadgets, front-to-back, scroll bars, and even help gadgets. 3-button mouse, hi-res screen, built-in modem, 3 phone ports, serial and parallel ports, 3 expansion slots, a PC-BridgeCard (8MHz 8086 card) which runs DOS in a window under UNIX. Etc etc etc. Has IPC, UUCP, Ethernet, etc. Also has VoicePower, a computer speech system which is still included in AT&T's latest office switchboards (controlled by the 3B1). In any event, I have four (4) of these, configured: 1) 3.5MB RAM, 85MB HD, 5 serial ports, 3 phone ports, one tape, one parallel 2) 4 MB RAM, 85MB HD, 3 serial ports, 3 phone ports, one parallel port 3) 1.5MB RAM, 85MB HD, 1 serial port, 3 phone ports, one parallel port. 4) 512K RAM, 20MB HD, 1 serial port, 3 phone port, one parallel port. Note that full AT&T SysVR2 UNIX runs quite nicely on the 512K machine, and that's the one I showed at the recent West Coast Computer Faire. It was running animated ray-traced images, a spreadsheet, a slide-slow, GNU Emacs, GNU cc, and other stuff all at the same time. In 512K RAM. Let that sink in for a moment. In fact, I believe this is the exact same UNIX that will initially be sold by CBM for the Amiga, even to the Phone Manager include files (commented out). And from 1985 on, the Amiga computer has been marketed, first with 256K RAM, then 512K RAM, then 1MB. The operating system supports multi-tasking VERY nicely, has IPC, uses any of 68000/68010/68020/68030 (and 68040, per the latest Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual), and is backed by 3 custom RISC chips for graphics, sounds, DMA, etc. The standard system has a UNIX-like command interface AND a windowing environment (which is about the fastest windowing system I've seen on any computer); people are welcome to visit and see my systems at the office, lab or home; everyone who has has been astonished at what the system is capable of doing, compared to the Mac II and other systems which are available for side-by-side comparison. The Mac II's very slow disk I-O (compared to the Amiga, Sun, etc.) is almost reminiscient of the C64 in comparison (and that's the Mac II with either Finder or A/UX). Amiga-UUCP is presently available (in source form, yet!), and GfxBase has been demonstrating for some time and marketing since May 8, 1988 the X11 system for the Amiga (with performance on the A2500 exceeding even many Sun systems). Ethernet has been available on the Amiga for quite some time. 'Tis sad when publications such as the WSJ and S-J M-N print "articles" that have NOT been well researched and are obviously more a "press release" than a news story. The S-J M-N is notorious for its shoddy reporting during the past 3 years (and 3 editors of the Computing Section); not a good image for the "premiere" newspaper of Silicon Valley. The opinions in this posting are my own, posted from an account on a system to which I personally subscribe, and do not reflect official policy of any of my companies. Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]