From: mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Utilities Unlimited vs NewTek's cottage industry paradigm
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16f (9/19/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith
Date: 24 Sep 92 04:02:56 PST
Organization: Amiga makes it possible

In article <1992Sep21.221845.8387@cs.olemiss.edu> skip@cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
> In article <ALANB.92Sep21181630@swordfish.sdl.mdcbbs.com> alanb@sdl.mdcbbs.com (Alan Braggins) writes:
> >>>>>> On Sun, 20 Sep 1992 06:08:26 GMT, skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) said:
> >
> >> I know that some may disagree, but I'm all for change and wish that C=
> >> would do as Apple does in that respect.  As it is now, C= will have to
> >> stay compatible with the 68000 for years to come.	Maybe I'm wrong, but
> >> I'd bet that things like VM and MP would be much easier if all of the
> >> machines had an MMU.  I'd like to see C= support 3.0 and above only on
> >> the higher-end machines and keep 2.x for the 68000 machines, allowing
> >> for the same sort of split as 6.05 ans System 7 on the Mac.
> >
> >> I'd better go put on my flame-proof suit after that last comment.  :-)
> >
> >Dave Haynie has pointed out that a new OS which offers VM on some platforms
> >but not others (e.g. without MMU) is quite possible.
>
> Hey, I'm all for it, but I hope that they'll also provide the option for
> turning VM off.  After using a 486 with 4M under Windows and Suns with
> 8M under UNIX, I've decided that adding more memory is the only solution.
> Waiting for the machine may not bother some people, but I've gotten used
> to way that my Amiga responds and the lag from VM really bothers me.
>
> However, it does seem that the Amiga needs VM for bragging rights.  :-)
>

I used to be in your camp on this one, SLU, but my experience with
Windows and OS/2, two desktop environments that feature VM, MP, and
iconification of entire applications, I have seen the light.  Let
me use OS/2 as an example, since it is now my favorite operating
system (as a user)...  OS/2 has this feature called WorkFolders,
where you can group program and datafile objects...  When you open
the work folder and open the applications inside, you are working
with the set of software tools you logically work with together.
When you close the folder window, all the applications associated
with that work folder close down.  But if you iconify the folder,
by clicking on it's "hide" gadget (like Amiga's zoom gadget), the
folder and windows close up and when you open the iconified folder,
those apps' windows open to where they were.  Thanks to VM, I can
take the software project I am working on, with GNU Emacs and a
command shell window and hide it so I can go do some modeming
without having those windows around to clutter up the screen.
Mind you, those programs are still running, but they are swapped
to disk and using zero CPU time.  Thanks to VM and OS/2, I typically
have several apps in this iconified state (I never turn
off my machine and it never crashes thanks to MP :)  Typically, I
have 2 or 3 copies of Emacs running and several shells.  I find
it to be extremely convenient.

I still use my Amiga a LOT.  I am now running GNU C on both machines
and writing lots of C++ code and porting back and forth.  The 486
is significantly faster at the CPU intensive things I tend to do
(compile, compress, etc.).  And it is refreshing to not worry about
crashing the machine during a modem transfer (my code rarely has
bugs :).

> Skip Sauls
> skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu

--
Amiga programmer of: GRn, MailMinder, Budokan, Beyond Dark Castle, Dark Castle
Sega Genesis programmer of: Dick Tracy and Marble Madness.
Mike Schwartz  (ames!zorch!amiga0!mykes or mykes@amiga0.sf-bay.org)
1124 Fremont Ave.
Los Altos, CA 94024

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy