mrc@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Crispin) (05/20/91)
I would like to ask everyone who has been involved in the NeXT vs. Amiga tirade to please stop. There are plenty of us on comp.sys.next who are thoroughly tired of it; and I imagine the same is true for comp.sys.amiga. I took the trouble yesterday to take a good hard look at the Amiga at a computer store. The conclusion is unavoidable; it is ridiculous to make a comparison between a NeXT and an Amiga. These are two fundamentally different products with fundamentally different end-user audiences. The only thing that both machines have in common is that they are *both* fringe products serving a niche market. Neither of them are making, or likely ever to make, a significant impact in the main market. This sniping at each other is in effect fighting over stale crumbs on the floor and ignoring the cake. NeXT'ers who fantasize that NeXTstep presents, or is ever going to present, any serious competition to OSF/Motif or SUN are engaging in dangerous self-delusion. Amiga'ers who fantasize that the Amiga presents, or is ever going to present, any serious competition to the Mac or PC are engaging in dangerous self-delusion. In spite of being niche products, both can be, and are, useful engines in the niche environments for which they are suited. In this case, the niches have little in common with each other. So let's call a truce on it, OK?