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From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: The NeXT and the Mac
Message-ID: <5094@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 89 06:10:22 GMT
References: <2928@pur-phy>
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Organization: Mendou Zaibatsu, Tomobiki-Cho, Butsumetsu-Shi
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My comment on all of this is:
. a NeXT is a Unix workstation with an user-level interface of the Xerox type
. a Mac is a PC with a user-level interface of the Xerox type.

There is such little overlap between the two a comparison is difficult.

This is true even in price.  You get a bottom of the line Mac for much
cheaper than a bottom of the line NeXT.  On the other hand, a NeXT is
significantly cheaper than a comparably-equipped Mac.

I've been a systems programmer for both the Mac and the NeXT.  I hope
never to be a Mac systems programmer again.  The Mac has got to be one
of the most programmer-hostile machines I have ever had to work with.
By comparison, the IBM PC is a joy ride.

The NeXT has a wonderful tool -- Interface Builder -- that makes the
development of applications quite pleasant.  Unfortunately, the
programming interface under it -- Application Kit -- is often
"backwards".  Often you can't do what you want directly.  Perhaps the
nastiest thing are the two parallel sets of objects under Cell and
Control that really should have been a single set.  However all this
is still leaps and bounds better than what exists on the Mac.

The NeXT has real memory management and real multi-processing.  You
cannot call MultiFinder "multi-processing."  I can get a lot more done
a lot faster on the NeXT.

The Mac has a more intuitive graphical interface.  I rarely use the
icon based interface on the NeXT, preferring instead the Unix shell
(and as an old TOPS-20 hacker I'm a shell *hater*).  The Mac has a
more convenient form of diskettes.

Some of the things I dislike about the NeXT are the things that make
it Macish.  I hate double-clicking, for example; I wish I could use
both mouse buttons.  I think there's been a bit too much "cutesy" in
both interfaces.  But that's just opinion.

Mark Crispin / 6158 Lariat Loop NE / Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2098
mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU -- MRC@PANDA.PANDA.COM -- (206) 842-2385
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