mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) (08/13/90)
In article <90224.193706JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu> JKT <JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu> writes: >>I've recently seen a new line of products at Fry's called "MySoft" >>or some such, with "MyWriter", "MyLabeller" and the like. The prices >>are around $20-$30/package, if I recall correctly. >>I've as yet to see anything similar to the MySoft line, or >>similar to it's prices. I have - it's called the Fred Fish library, and it's a LOT cheaper than MySoft. Do not rule out public domain software just because it's free. There is a LOT of quality software in there, some that would compare favorably to your first list. MySoft isn't PD, it's commercial. The prices are $10-$15/package. If you want PD software - well, you'll spend more on it for the IBM, because there's a lot more of it. Note that I didn't do side-by-sides because I prefer software I can get source to. I won't comment on your "quality" choices. I also asked some of the Amiga sales help at a local Amiga/IBM dealer. Their comment was that "IBM software is definitly cheaper, but the real difference is when you hit the expensive IBM software, it's of much better quality and has many more features." Now, on to another topic... >>If IBM hadn't designed their PC at >>all, we'd probably be right where we are now, except that most of the >>people using IBM-PC class machines would still be doing things by >>hand. That means they advanced the state of the art by much more than >>5 years by designing their PC at all. Oh come on. You make it sound as if IBM invented the home computer. By the time the IBM PC was introduced, Commodore also had computers rolling off the assembly line, and Motorola had already introduced the 68000 chip. Don't forget that Apple started shipping systems before CBM, and that Tandy wasn't far behind either of them. S100 bus systems were around before any of those, and people were buying them and using _all_ of them for the things people buy IBM pc's for these days. But only in small quantities, and with lots of overhead. IBM didn't invent the personal computer (or that name) - they legitimized it, and the clone makers made the damn things commodities. The claim that IBM not entering the PC market would have left it in the pre-IBM state uses pretty much the same basis as the claim that anything IBM had shipped would have become a standard. >>But that's true for _lots_ of IBM products. >>Unix might never have come into being, and >>everybody would have shared libraries and rings of security and >>>dynamic linking. But if they hadn't introduced it at all, we'd >>probably still be stuck in a world of business applications and >>technological applications needing different hardware to run on. Huh? I hope you aren't trying to say that IBM had something to do with the development of UNIX. No, I'm claiming that if IBM had had a modern OS in the late 60's - something along the lines of TOPS-10 or Multics - Unix wouldn't have been written. After all, it was only after they were told they couldn't have a 10 that T & R wrote Unix for the hardware available to them. >>Of course, I'm not going to buy an IBM PC now. With the 3000, CBM has >>managed to design a machine that's I think is worth spending money on >>(that's a first for them). Even with the overengineering, it's still ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>the most cost-effective path to a modern, multi-tasking OS that >>provides sufficient resources to meet my needs. I don't think you explained clearly enough what you meant by this. Do you mean you want to be stuck when you want to upgrade to a 68040 without being able to? Does it mean you don't want to be able to expand your 3000 at all? I have serious doubts you will only use one slot in your machine. I seriously doubt that I'll only use one slot, also. Chances are good that I'll never use any. If I could buy a 3000 sans Zorro slots for $2000, I'd do it. I've been using Amigas for nearly five years, and there's more hardware already on the motherboard than I've used on any of them in that time. I don't expect this to change in the life of my 3000. <mike -- Take a magic carpet to the olden days Mike Meyer To a mythical land where everybody lays mwm@relay.pa.dec.com Around in the clouds in a happy daze decwrl!mwm In Kizmiaz ... Kizmiaz