kelvin@cs.utexas.edu (Kelvin Thompson) (03/26/90)
Folk have been talking a bit about how fast the NeXT should or
shouldn't be. I think I'll take my turn at the soapbox.
For the past decade or two, the computers that have done really
well are those that have made possible a new use of computers.
Some examples that I'm (sorta) familiar with:
Vax -- First cheap mainframe. Made it possible for relatively
small groups to get mainframe power.
Sun -- First affordable workstation. Made it possible for
an individual to get near-mainframe power. (More
correctly, organizations could provide some individuals
with near-mainframe power.)
Apple ][ -- First personal computer with graphics. The ][
allowed two revolutions: spreadsheets, and educational
computers.
IBM PC -- I consider the PC to be just a re-working of the
Apple ][, except with a magic label that suits will buy.
Zero points for originality.
Mac -- Desktop publishing.
Iris -- Affordable interactive 3D graphics.
[Okay, so there are some historical inaccuracies. My main point
still stands.]
For the cube to make as big a splash as the computers above, it needs
to offer a significant quantum of new price/performance (it obviously
isn't going to be a "safe" copycat like the PC). I think the cube
*does* offer such a quantum leap, but that it hasn't yet found a new
application to match the new performance -- the NeXT hasn't found
its equivalent of Unix or spreadsheets or desktop publishing.
Until a year ago I held the opinion that I would always need paper
for some stages of document preparation. Whenever I needed to
leaf through a document quickly -- perhaps to check gross order
of topics, or to read a sentence whose general position I knew --
paper provided a better user interface. I could glance at a page of
paper faster than a Mac screen could update, so leafing through a
stack of paper was faster than scrolling through a computer document.
And then I got to play with a cube. The cube let me smooth scroll
through a document just as fast as I could leaf through paper....
*and* the cube gave me the usual ability to search for strings. The
cube let me do something with computers I never could before.
[To complete my thought: I *still* need paper for some activities --
like making proofing notes.]
The revolutions I listed above all amount to letting the user
see data in a new, convenient manner. The NeXT already offers
a minor proof that it can do this. The Apple ][ and Mac/Lisa
languished for a couple of years before finding their breakthrough
applications. The NeXT is presently languishing, but I think it
has the potential to bring a revolution as well.
--
-- Kelvin Thompson, Lone Rider of the Apocalypse
kelvin@cs.utexas.edu {...,uunet}!cs.utexas.edu!kelvin