rg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rick Francis Golembiewski) (10/15/88)
For those of you with 80 col. terminals I'm sorry about my last two posts I typed them in on an Andrew (IBM RT) workstation, whose' default is more then 80 col (It also uses a proportional font so that also messed me up), so here is a repost of the two messages for those of you who couldn't read them: > On the other hand, it is clear that the flock of hackers who >were attracted to the amiga (like, uh, leo? he has been asking about >it on alt.next ... sob) may now flock to the NeXT machine. C= is going >to have to do something soon ... Humm.. WEll that $10K price tag that you mentioned may just make it a little difficult for some of us to go out and buy a NeXT Machine (Do you have $10K, lying around? I know I don't) Plus, with the NeXT Machine just being released, ask your self this: How Long is it going to take for it to have descent software (I mean software WRITTEN for the machine, not some PD UNIX stuff ported over), loo*+[vX's been out for almost 4 years and just now is the software begining to actually use the potential of the machine (and there is now a pretty strong base of it too, certainly Next not as much as Apple or IBM, but hey they've been around longer and they cost a Lot more $$$ too.). In any case, Is the NeXT Machine REALLY out? I've Heard "The NeXT Machine is comeing out next month..." for a long time now, so is it really out? And at $10K? I though It was supposed to be far less ($5K? $3K? I've heard both before...) Also, I've heard so MANY RUMORS about what the machine is suppoed to contain, does anyone have the company's official specs? I'de like to know (so that if the price ever comes down, and it's work it...). In any case the Amiga (good old A1000 +2Megs :-) ) suits my needs very well (I would like more colors, resolution and speed a 68020 or 68030, but NOT at what I'de have to pay for them now!) since it provides multi-tasking (protection would be nice, but I can live without it, mostly) , GOOD graphics and sound (Go and use an Apple II+ for a while and tell me about BAD graphics...) and it is of comprable speed (Maybe not as fast as a Mac II or 386 in pure processor power, but it fairs pretty well compar=:he SE, and an AT) so all in all the Amiga is STILL a good machine. You CAN buy better machines, but hey if you REALLY want power go pick up a sun 4 or a Cray ;-) , but I bet that you can't get one for near the cost of the amiga. **************************************** >Laugh (Cry?) as you may, the Intel 386 will be the processor of choice >for business in the future. Business leads to home use, and thus Intel >will dominate. Humm... Is the Amiga really a Business computer? I'de say that most of the sales are to home or small busniness (people how can't afford a 20Mhz 386+ VGA card + VGA Monitor+ Hard Drive). >Microsoft, WordPerfect, AshtonTate, Bor(ing)land, and LOTUS define THE >STANDARD Maybe for the IBM, but can't you also get WordPerfect for the Amiga? And I'm sure that someone MUST have made a better spreadsheet by now. I've used some of these programs, (WP, Turbo C and Pascal, LOTUS, MS Word), and frankly I'm not really impressed with most of them after all the IBM does not offer an ideal user interface. Also Turbo C is missing some functions (ie many ANSI functions that Lattice has!). > You can bet the >machines yet to come will not be limited to 1 Meg of Graphics/Sound >or have a MEASLY processor speed of 7+ MHz (or even 14+ MHz with CMI 2x). You can also bet that memory for those machines will cost $$$$ (have you priced static rams lately?) also have you ever calculated how much memory VGA takes up? I bet you that it is less then 1 MEG ie (640 x 480x4(?)-> c. 150K) and also have you looked at how much VGA monitors/Cards are running ? Also, I read in Personal Computing that VGA was considered a block to productivity because it was so slow. Also, I'de say that 14Mhz is a pretty good speed for todays standards (16Mhz 286/386 machines are not all that cheap, in fact right now the Average processor speed would probabily be around 6Mhz {remember lots of 4.77Mhz PCs.... and 6/8 Mhz PC however this is a guestimate...} ) >Fixed disk storage, and possibly optical disks are a must for any >serious computer user. They are available on the Amiga, the cost is a little bit more, but if you look at total system cost I'de say the amiga will still run you less then any other comprable system. >Forget the IBM compatability, rather, think about MS-WINDOWS/PM compatability Are you sure that you aren't just a little biased in that? Also, I've heard that windows has its problems (Promblems dealing with 286 Protected mode memory {might be an older version, I'm not very sure on the matter}). Anyway I'de say that IBM compatibility would give you both (since MS does produce MS-WINDOWS for the IBM doesn't it? :-) Anyway, I don't believe in forcasting doom for the amiga, yes in X number of years it will be obsolete but it has STAYING POWER! Like my good friend the Apple II+, yes made back in 79 and there are still a heck of a lot of them around (and I probabily have more software for that apple then I'll ever have for the amiga). Well those are my opinions, no flames intended only I don't really agree with your predictions.