rock@lighthouse.com (02/07/90)
BusinessLand officially received word today that IBM would be offering both NextStep and Motif on their soon-to-be-announced RISC machines (RIOS?). Better yet, they will also be offering NextStep (in addition to Presentation Manager) on their PS/2's. The announcement of NextStep on the PS/2 is really significant. If all goes well, this means there will be rather many more Next- compatible machines in the world. Our sources say the new RISC machines will probably be announced "next week." Roger Rosner Lighthouse Design, Ltd. NeXT Mail: rock@lighthouse.com or ...!uunet!lighthouse!rock
melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (02/07/90)
In article <1990Feb6.181347.4457@lighthouse.com> rock@lighthouse.com writes:
The announcement of NextStep on the PS/2 is really significant. If
all goes well, this means there will be rather many more Next-
compatible machines in the world.
Roger Rosner
Lighthouse Design, Ltd.
NeXT Mail: rock@lighthouse.com or ...!uunet!lighthouse!rock
How compatible will these machines be? I've heard that software that runs
on the IBM machines with NextStep will still need a major rewrite to run
on the Next.
-Mikewalters@chance.uucp (Chris Walters) (02/07/90)
In article <C==k0o2@cs.psu.edu> melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > >How compatible will these machines be? I've heard that software that runs >on the IBM machines with NextStep will still need a major rewrite to run >on the Next. > >-Mike I also heard IBM uses C++, not ObjC. Anyone know for sure? -- chris "My days are in the yellow leaf; | Chris Walters the flowers and fruits of love are gone;| MITRE McLEAN, (703)883-6159 The worm, the canker, and the grief | walters@community-chest.mitre.org are mine alone!" -- Byron | walters@euler.mitre.org (NeXT mail)
rock@lighthouse.com (02/08/90)
In article <C==k0o2@cs.psu.edu> melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >How compatible will these machines be? I've heard that software that runs >on the IBM machines with NextStep will still need a major rewrite to run >on the Next. The press release states the machines will maintain the same NextStep API (application programing interface). Thus, programs written for the NextStep environment on any machine should require only a recompile to run on any other. Of course, hardware differences will necessitate software changes. For instance, I doubt the IBM machines will have DSP chips, so programs making extensive use of the NeXT's sound capabilities will need to be changed to run on the IBMs. (Allegations that IBM has replaced Objective-C with C++ in their NextStep environment are plainly ridiculous. Eliminating Objective-C would require a lot of effort and would severly hamper efforts to port. (However, creating an additional AppKit interface for C++ would make a number of folks happy.)) Programs written for the current AIX machines will certainly need extensive modification to use NextStep well, as they use a completely different windowing universe. (Of course, command line Unix programs should port among all 4.3 machines without hassle.) However, AIX programs that use X should port quite easily after MIT releases the NeXT X. They'll just be ugly as sin. Roger Rosner Lighthouse Design, Ltd. NeXT Mail: rock@lighthouse.com or ...!uunet!lighthouse!rock
bruce@atncpc.UUCP (Bruce Henderson) (02/09/90)
In article <94651@linus.UUCP>, walters@chance.uucp (Chris Walters) writes: > In article <C==k0o2@cs.psu.edu> melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu > (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > > > >How compatible will these machines be? I've heard that software that runs > >on the IBM machines with NextStep will still need a major rewrite to run > >on the Next. > > > >-Mike > > I also heard IBM uses C++, not ObjC. Anyone know for sure? > -- chris > not true..... Under NeXTStep the GNU Obj-C compiler [ala NeXT rel 1.0a] is used porting of applications is trivial for people who have written thier code according to the guidelines in the Tech. Doc. It takes about 1 to 5 days if you were smart enough to use the Interface Builder [ie. WingZ should have a really tough time!] and not make too many Mach calls. They have made a lot of AIX 3 calls mimic Mach so that alot of the major calls should work pretty much as expected. One drawback is that there is NO SOUND~!!!!!! Other than that, I am really excited about shipping my 'ware on many platforms!!!! Bruce Henderson