From: lmccullo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Michael McCulloch)
Subject: Re: Sun OR NeXT?! - help
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 15:52:07 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.102314.33@cuphub.cup.edu>, John Neubert writes:

>In article <92280.082407MKK2@psuvm.psu.edu>, MKK2@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>> how to convince management you want a NeXT?  Try this:  Say, "I'd like
>> my workstation to be a NeXT."  If they say, "Sorry, can't do that," then
>> you look really forlorn and say that that's too bad, but you'll have to quit.
>
>What moronic nonsense.  If the person takes this type advice, he's as
>much the problem as the advisor.  What does the person do, my friend,
>when, taking your advice, he ends up on the street (especially in these
>"best of all possible worlds"/times)?  The best advice is for the
>individual to use the Sun at work (it's really a great machine itself,
>notwithstanding all the [appropriate because of the setting] bashing done
>here) and use the good tax dollars he'll receive in salary to buy a 
>NeXT for his own personal exploration if he is so inclined.  He might
>still convince others at NIST by this means.  However, the "well,
>I'll take my toys and go home" attitude is immature and counter-
>productive.
>
Well, I don't agree with the original post -- that you should 'quit' but
a little bit of looking 'forlorn' and pounding home the message that you'll
get more done (especially if you program at all) may be in order.

I'm an engineer and have had experience with all kinds of platforms and all
kinds of software. I believe the NeXT is best all around tool I've ever used.
My solution to the problems at work -- buy your own machine and take it to
work. I write many of the programs I use to get my engineering work done,
and in combination with the publishing environment on the NeXT (which is
improving all the time), I do better work and higher quality work than most
of my counterparts (IMHO of course). The cost (for me) is offset by the
fact that my hair is on my head (i.e., doesn't get pulled out).

I worked with a SPARC at a previous job, and once embarked on putting a 
GUI on a text-based signal processing app I had written. In all fairness I
used SUNview (the current dev tools have probably improved), but I quickly
ran into having to write tons of code (mostly for just positioning and
initialization of GUI items) and promptly couldn't justify the time it
would take. But on the NeXT -- things are very different. I've even taken
old DOS FORTRAN programs and added a nice GUI on top. I've done so much of
this that I believe my boss may consider moving all of our 486 PCs to 
NeXTSTEP if the X performance doesn't suffer tremendously.

While PATRAN on an SGI, and other top notch (and expensive!!) engineeering
programs are not matched on the NeXT, use those tools on the machine
available when you _have_ to -- but use the NeXT when you don't.

And one more thing: I thoroughly checked the tax laws and could not find
an _honest_ way to deduct my NeXT purchase. The key here is that my
employer was willing to provide a computer (yeah, but not the one I wanted!).
If any accountants know different -- please TELL ME!

Michael McCulloch
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