REWING@TRINCC.BITNET (10/22/88)
First of all, BELIEVE IT. Apple is committed to bigger and better Mac products which have been in development long before the next announcement. It helps when your engineers are power junkies and have a big R&D budget to boot (hell, it bought a cray). Second, if you really believe that NeXT will be able to sell "the cube" at $6500 to everyone, then Jobs has you for a sucker. When the machine finally is available for mass consumption (2nd quarter '89?), it will probably be around $10 grand. I've talked to a few of our engineers and they say its nice on paper, but then they smile alot and begin acting real strange like they've got something up their sleeve. I'm sure that Sun and Apollo aren't napping either. IF Jobs had introduced the machine a year ago like he was supposed to, he would have really busted some heads. Now he's only slightly ahead of everyone with the window closing rapidly. Andwith some companies the window is only 90 to 120 days. Oh me? I actually like the NeXT machine for one thing: programming. Its about time that someone made the task alot easier than Mac programming. HE'll have the lead on that for awhile. I do hope he doesn't make the same mistake with the Mac and only supports one or two languages like I've heard. Education sites love the latest thing, and will change to suit their needs in a heartbeat. And finally, Apple II development continues on! And stronger than ever! Nuff said. --Rick Ewing Apple Atlanta PS. The Motorola sound chip *is* sweet. I sure hope we're thinking about that chip more in future plans.
jm7e+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU ("Jeremy G. Mereness") (10/23/88)
>First of all, BELIEVE IT. Apple is committed to bigger and better >Mac products which have been in development long before the next >announcement. That doesn't make me feel any better, Rick. The point of my message is that I am afraid a renewed amphasis on the Mac to counter the NeXT machine will again drive Apple // work into oblivion. The gs does not have enough power to support the optimum use of the Ensoniq chip. I know because I have been working on a music project for the last two years (much more intensive than DiversaTune). Two MHz can't handle it. But the DOC is beautiful. It drives one of my synthesizers. I keep coming back to the // because it is easy to develop on, has a great deal of resources, and the DOC. Apple, however, has never demonstrated that they are interested in this kind of ambition for the machine. >Second, if you really believe that NeXT will be able to sell "the cube" >at $6500 to everyone, then Jobs has you for a sucker. When the machine >finally is available for mass consumption (2nd quarter '89?), it will >probably be around $10 grand. I'll differ with you here. First of all, the machine is going to educational institutions like this one. Second, at $6500, the machine barely covers the requirement that it be affordable to the student. Any more, and you can forget it. Besides, why do you think he made a deal with IBM? IBM makes memory! Cheap! Apple has to go overseas to get marked up memory chips while Jobs sells a 8-meg machine for $6500. It may bomb yet, but I'll find out if the NeXT is for real in about 4 weeks. And it looks like Jobs has learned a lot since Apple. But that's moot. I want a faster gs so I can make this program work. Apple gave the gs a voice, but didn't give it any breath. I don't understand that. Capt. Albatross jm7e+@andrew.cmu.edu ============ Bureuacracy takes all the fun out of computing. disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are made under duress of academic stress and is often prone to overzealous error. The author, not enjoying the prospect of remaining eternally ignorant, therefore welcomes any replies that would further that end.