From: bwc@waikato.ac.nz (Ug!)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Acorn
Date: 12 Apr 92 17:10:56 +1200
Organization: Vooniersity fo Kaiwato

(Dag H}kon Myrdal) writes:
> 
> 	 PC                    Acorn                     benefit if PC chosen:
> 	 ------------          --------------------      ---------------------
> 	 486/33                roughly=A5000/ARM3        0
> 	 4Mb RAM               2Mb RAM, 2Mb ROM          about 1Mb =#25
>        100Mb IDE             40Mb IDE                  price difference =#100
> 	 Colour SVGA(1)        Colour MultiSync                           =-#80
> 	 Windows 3             roughly=Risc OS           0
> 	 Dos 5                 roughly=Risc OS           0
> 	 ????                  Draw, Edit, Paint         maybe = -#80 ???
> 	 ????(2)               Outline fonts             maybe = -#50 ???
> 	 ????(3)               Printer Drivers           ???
> 	 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 							 -#85 !!!

Hmm.  Some good points there.  However, remember that a 486 has a floatin point
unit thrown in (not even available yet for ARM 3).  Also, you really needn't
pay for printer drivers on either machine.

Windows 3 comes with Paint and Edit equivalents.  It doesn't come with a
Draw equivalent.  I'm not sure what the cheapest Draw equivalent would cost,
but I suspect in the order of #100.
 
> (1) According to the price list from one of the Norwegian PC importers,
>     a SVGA monitor can be bought from about #200, but if you want a
>     multisync, you will have to splash out a further #100
>     Other price differences quoted, is from the same source...

Yes.  Then again, the monitor bundled with the A5000 is not the greatest.

> (2) Adobe Type Manager, which gives similar performance (IMHO not as good
>     as Acorn's, but nevertheless...) is said to be a part of Windows 3.1
>     Currently, you have to pay extra for it, though...

No.  Microsoft have bundled TrueType with Windows 3.1.  TrueType is the Apple
font format for System 7, and is said to be a bit faster that Adobe Type 1
stuff.

I had heard a rumour that Acorn were considering TrueType also.

> (3) When you buy a printer, it is now common practise to get a printer driver
>     for Windows with it... (IMHO Acorn's solution is still better... :-)

Why?  Whether you get a specific printer driver for your printer, or a generic
one, just as long as it works is all that counts.
 
> Of course, this figure is not nessecarily the only one to come out of
> a calculation like this. You could easily come to other conclusions if
> you wanted to. The point is that Neil's assumption that the PC is
> better value-for-money than the Arc is not "The Truth"...

I agree wholeheartedly.  The way I would value a system is on useability and
interchangeability.  For both of those, RiscOS rates much higher than Windows/
DOS.  While the single applications under Windows are much much better than
what is available for RiscOS (Ami Pro, Excel 4, Word for Windows, Corel Draw),
RiscOS applications seem to be able to combine together much easier to give
you moreoverall functionality.

Still, that is changing.  With OLE, it should be possible to embed nearly
anything in any other application.  However, RiscOS is quite capable of doing
this sort of thing, it only someone would define it.  Impulse II is a start.

I wuould like to see some form of Publish/Subscribe and object embedding in
RiscOS.  Then I wouldn't even *look* at Windows.  It's far to slow (even 3.1)
to really be productive.
								Ug!