ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) (11/12/90)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Microsoft And Friends In article <90313.225702RFM@psuvm.psu.edu> RFM@psuvm.psu.edu writes: >I've wondered about Microsoft sometimes myself, but let's face it: if Intel >keeps driving the Mainstream PC market, Microsoft is in the catbird's seat. >Would I drop DOS? No way, not for UNIX, at least. Prejudiced, Maybe. Butt >more, DOS is where all my software apps are. I could play along with this viewpoint... yes, that to a lot of users, the machine is largely a set of applications. (You have to remember that the same set of apps running on a real multi-tasking windowing big-screen system is a real screamer against something like Windows which makes my 386 feel like a PC-XT. The applications, yes, but on what platform? NeXT is a wonderful platform for running 123 and WordPerfect (say). Similarly, WingZ on the Sun really kicks in as compared with anything you can do with Windows or the Mac). >Hence I'm vitally interested in >what Microsoft is doing. How does that follow? Microsoft is just one player in a big game. NeXT, Sun, Amiga etc. all have powerful acts in place. Microsoft is neither very innovative nor very fast; I don't see how it is axiomatic that they figure as central players. > As for OS/2, it's time is coming (albeit slowly) It's the 32-bit >operating system (if the future is 32 bits). DOS Extenders are patches, >more in the genre of temporary fixes than permanent solutions. As far as I'm >concerned, Windows was a dog, is a dog, adn will continue to woof. The next >REAL step forward is to 32-bit systems, and Windows can't touch that. >OS/2 is in our futures. How does that follow? You start off by agreeing that OS/2 today is a dead duck. What is to prevent it from staying a dead duck? Since you think applications are so important, isn't it striking that there are more 100% GUI applications for the NeXT and for the Sun than for OS/2 (this is from the Applications Watch column of _Personal_Workstation_). Think about this: $3k buys you a NeXT with 8M of memory, big screen, megapixel display, a real multitasking OS, cshell windows if your IQ is better than a basketball player, a spectacular frontend, a consistent imaging model, a 400 dpi postscript laser printer addon for $1500, etc. No amount of money can buy a Intel box of the same performance, and the closest that you can come with a 486 will cost something like $10k. SPARC/Mips boxes running Unix are far better candidates for our future (in the sense that I would bet on them) than Intel and Microsoft. A few weeks ago, Sun announced the Sparcstation 2, which delivers 28.5 mips and 4.5 MFlops, all this with less investment in VLSI technology than the 486. You can buy SPARC chipsets for $30, when Intel (monopolist) hawks anemic 20 MHz 386 chips for $300. You have to have your head in the ground to ignore the impending death of Intel-Microsoft... sure sound like PC Magazine in emitting the official line on OS/2! Nothing personal of course.. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Ajay Shah, (213)734-3930, ajayshah@usc.edu The more things change, the more they stay insane. _______________________________________________________________________________