Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:44968 comp.sys.next:4511
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: What do I want to see in the Apple of the 90's?
Message-ID: <9137@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 22 Dec 89 07:02:27 GMT
References: <3326@hub.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 51

in article <3326@hub.UUCP>, 6600pete@hub.UUCP says:
> Xref: cbmvax comp.sys.mac:47799 comp.sys.next:4507

>> One can also buy an Amiga for 1/2 the price of a MacSE and get
>> much better hardware.

> And no software, relatively speaking. 

Relative to what?  Relative to the PC, no.  Then again, relative to the PC,
the Mac could be said to have very little software, numerically.   Relative
to what I need, the Amiga is missing one real application, a really good
schematic capture program.  I haven't found an acceptible one for the PC
or the Mac, either, but there are excellent ones for Apollos.

> And no interface consistency. 

Most of the applications I'm using are pretty similar.  Nothing you need to
dig out a user manual for.  There are good ways and bad ways to make things
consitent; the next Amiga OS release does this the good way -- it makes 
consistency much easier to program than inconsistency.  It doesn't force
the programmer to do things one particular way, since it's not always the
best solution to do things any particular way.

> And periodic forced graphics upgrades to run new software.

Huh?  You may need some more memory, but other than that, every application
I've seen will still run on the original Amiga 1000.  There will be enhanced
graphics chips available, but never required, and they just plug into most
Aigas.  That's better than forced motherboard upgrades just to add a meg or 
two of RAM.

>> I hear that there is even a MAC emulator for it (AMAX?)

> And the emulator won't run Virtual, System 7.0, and I don't think Color QD.

I haven't tried the Virtual INIT or System 7.0, but it runs pretty much 
everything that's around.  Unless System 7.0 requires a ROM upgrade for all
128k machines, it shouldn't be a problem.  Obviously you'd need an MMU for 
virtual memory, just like any Mac would.  There's currently no support for 
color Quickdraw, that's true.  

You seem to know so much about Amigas; have you ever actually used one?
Recently?

> Pete Gontier   | InterNet: 6600pete@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu, BitNet: 6600pete@ucsbuxa
> Editor, Macker | Online Macintosh Programming Journal; mail for subscription
> Hire this kid  | Mac, DOS, C, Pascal, asm, excellent communication skills
-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
                    Too much of everything is just enough