From: mflafeer@athena.mit.edu (Mohamed F. Lafeer)
Subject: Re: Mac multitasking?
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 06:15:12 GMT

I'm a powerbook user. I use the thing so much, I thought about getting a 
desktop computer now that I am nearly out of school. I called NeXT and got
their literature on the NeXTstation Turbo and NeXTstep. I was really
excited about it. I researched it, talking to proponents (in come cases,
fanatics) and detractors. Then I decided to buy a Quadra. Why?

Well, when I asked the simple question of why I should buy a NeXT machine, the
NeXT people responded that it can do A, B, and C. Great, but I went home and
realized my powerbook (180, 12mb RAM, 80mb drive, System 7.1) could A,B, and
C also.

So I went back to the NeXT camp and they said "Oh, we didn't know that little 
toy could do that, but have you seen how NeXT can do D,E,and F."

But, the Mac camp showed me how those, too, could be done on my "toy".

So I went back to the NeXT camp and they said "Oh, really? I don't believe
the Mac can do that. But the NeXT just does things better. It's a REAL
computer."

It seems to me that the NeXT camp still thinks Macs are Mac Pluses running
system 5 with 1mb RAM. I see my Mac doing all these neat things everyday.
The NeXT definitely has some advantages in implementation, but not enough
to justify moving to a computer system who's entire customer base is about 
equal to one week of Macintosh sales.

The NeXT camp is making a big deal about how easy it is to write software
on the NeXT. They show you how you can write an App in 10 minutes. Great,
but what can you run that App on? About 100,000 computers mostly in CS
departments, dorm rooms, and large corporations who are using them for
internal development.

On the other hand, if I write an App for a Mac, I've got millions of Macs it
will run on. There are Macs in dorms, colleges, homes, small businesses,
large businesses, and briefcases all over the world. Furthermore, products
like TCL, MacApp, and Serius Developer show that NeXT may not have the
monopoly on easy app development anymore.

As for this NeXTstep 486 thing. For me that was the main reason I decided
to get a Mac now, and look at NeXT again in a couple of years. Besides
the obvious reason that I want to be sure NeXT gets really accepted, there is
another reason.

The way I see it, there are two things that may happen with NS486:

1.) NS486 is a big hit. It's blazing fast on a Pentium. There are hundreds
and thousands, or even millions of NS486 users. But NS486 is not binary
compatible with NS68k. Fat binaries or not, I am not going to ship software
to a user without testing thoroughly on an Intel. So, if NS486 is going to
be a success, I'll wait for it to come out and establish itself in the 
marketplace before I move to NeXTstep.

2.) NS486 doesn't take off. PowerOpen or Windows NT or OS/2 with Apple/IBM,
Microsoft, and IBM's push keep NS486 out of the mainstream. NeXT will either
remain a niche product, or fade away all together. In this case, I'll stay
with the Mac and make the transition to PowerOpen and then, later, Taligent.

Either way, why buy a NeXT today? I need a computer today, so I'll buy a Mac.
And I'll enjoy a rich feature set, tremendous potential for new apps with
AppleEvents and new system enhancements, and the security of millions of users,
thousands of developers, and a multi-billion dollar market.

-M.Firoze Lafeer
mflafeer@athena.mit.edu