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From: fellman@celece.ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: What do I want to see in the Apple of the 90's?
Message-ID: <7614@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu>
Date: 15 Dec 89 04:39:08 GMT
References: <9986@zodiac.ADS.COM> <192@atncpc.UUCP> <1630@intercon.com>
Sender: nobody@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu
Reply-To: rfellman@ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman)
Organization: UCSD Dept. of ECE
Lines: 72

In article <1630@intercon.com> amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) writes:
>In article <192@atncpc.UUCP>, bruce@atncpc.UUCP (Bruce Henderson) writes:
>> So just abandon the "Old boat Anchor" today and start
>> living the future..... I did!!!!!!
>
>I'm happy for you.
>
>My "Old Boat Anchor" has:
>
> - A Resource Manager, permitting (among other things) international
>   localization *without recompilation*, including all of the system
>   software
>
> - Built-in facilities for handling non-roman writing systems and keyboards
>

I can't see how most people would care about this!

> - Color
>

By the end of the summer the NeXT should have color that will blow all
other workstations away: High speed graphics processor and
32bits including 8 bits transparency (alpha)

> - A printer that doesn't halt my machine when I print a page
>

If you are worried about this, then just buy a LaserWriter IINT. That's
what I have to do with my Mac.

> - Thousands of applications and hundreds of peripherals that I can buy off
>   the shelf
>

Right now (or VERY soon where indicated) I can get the following
high quality programs that satisfy all of my current computer
applications needs:
2 wordprocessors (WriteNow, Frame), drawing program(Top Draw),
paint program (Artisan, Illustrator(very soon), spreadsheet(WingZ(very soon)),
prog. languages(C, obj C, Fortran, Lisp), UNIX utilities w/ network services,
Spice, Mathmatica, scanner (Abatron), Graphics Terminal emulator
(Communicae), X-Windows (very soon), DaynaFile floppy drive.
You can get a book from NeXT that list many more than I have here.

> - A superior and more consistent user interface (IMHO :-))
>

You've got to be kidding. The NeXT's interface makes the Macs look
primitive.

>And it's a lot more affordable.  I think I'll keep it, thanks.
>
Last time I looked, my university price for a NeXT was much cheaper than
a comparable MacIIci. And that wasn't counting all of the free software,
DSP chip, or R/W/optical disk.

>Look, I don't mean to knock the NeXT, but is has a ways to go before it's
>competition for the Macintosh, except perhaps for a few specific applications.
>
>Amanda Walker
>InterCon Systems Corporation
>--

I do mean to knock the Mac, I think that they have taken a lot for
granted.  One can also buy an Amiga for 1/2 the price of a MacSE and get
much better hardware.  I hear that there is even a MAC emulator for it
(AMAX?)

-ron fellman (rfellman@ucsd.edu)
Assistant Prof., Department of Elec. and Comp. Eng.
Univ. of Calif., San Diego