From: gordie@kaleida.com (Gordie Freedman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: NeXT vs Mac (Again) was "Need to convince b
Date: 28 Jan 93 05:25:57 GMT
Reply-To: gordie@kaleida.com
Organization: Happy hacker bait and tackle shop

In article 24012@pellns.alleg.edu, smytonj@murr11.alleg.edu (Jim Smyton) writes:
>Great. Now I know NextSTEP 3.0 is cool.  I used it today, and aside from a  
>new folder look and a funky preference file that screwed up my docks, I  
>did not see any big advantage over 2.x.  For the an office worker, which  
>is what this thread was originally about, these changes will probably not  
>mean squat.  Tell me when an 040 NeXT running Mach and NextSTEP will run  
>at the same speed as an 030 Mac running 7.1 and I will be slightly  
>interested in getting off the cases of the people who keep saying NeXT is  
>better than Mac.
>

>Tell me when NeXT will put out hardware that is compatible with anything  
>else.  The monitors use different scan rates, the printers use the  
>computer's PostScript, and this whole hooking up to a Mac network thing is  
>bupkis.  Sure the Mac sees the NeXT as another Mac, but wouldn't it be  
>nice if through all this, there was some kind of compatibility between the  
>machines?
>
>One thing the NeXT does do better than the Mac...The little spinning disk,  
>that I see so much of, looks much better than the watch, on the Mac, which  
>I see so little of! 
>--
>Jim Smyton  (smytonj@alleg.edu)      
>------------------------       

Do you use a NeXT every day? My wife, a nonprogrammer student, is quite into
3.0 vs 2.x - as I am, although I base this on "office work" and software
development too. Look at where NeXT is selling their machines (and where orders
are for NS486) - lots of office workers taking advantage of the benefits
you get from 3.0 stuff. 

Most people who complain a lot about the NeXT (especially the "its too slow" 
complaint) don't use them everyday. I use a mac Quadra, Sparc, and NeXT every day 
and I am by far most productive with office work on the NeXT. (Not to mention SW 
development, and not to mention the type of SW you can develop with 3.0 - distributed 
objects is major, as is the clean/consistent/integrated interface between all the
apps). Remember, the NeXT is using virtual storage to run many different apps
simultaneously, with display postscript eating a lot of memory. Macs drive me
nuts when I get to stare at the spinning wheel during fun tasks such as copying,
printing, retrieving mail, etc.

Maybe you use the NeXT everyday and just don't like it. Maybe not - it takes
time to really see the advantages of what's available. 

When NS486 is ready, you'll be able to spend around $5k and get one hell of 
a machine - something that should be competitive in speed with whatever Apple
is selling for that price (remember for $5k we're talking color and the full
NeXT development system - compiler, editor, project/interface builder). And,
IMHO, a much better, more integrated, more powerful OS. Yeah, I know - when's it
going to be ready? ... Help, NeXT, are you listening...

And don't get the idea I'm a Macaphobe -there's lots of great stuff on the Mac. I 
just hate to see the NeXT/NeXTStep get flack - and though I like a lot of what's
on the Mac, I'd pick a NeXT over it hands down.

---
Gordie Freedman: gordie@kaleida.com Sigs are for kids


Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy