From: zmonster@athena.mit.edu (Eric M Hermanson)
Subject: Re: Mac multitasking?
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 19:55:57 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.061512.8008@athena.mit.edu> mflafeer@athena.mit.edu (Mohamed F. Lafeer) writes:
>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."

Boy, how easily you forget our discussion, M.Firoze.  You never did show me
how seemlessly a Mac plugs into a Novell Network.  You never did show me
how quickly a 68030 Mac Powerbook Multitasks 12 applicatoins running at the
same time.  You never did show me these "apple events" talking to each other
in every application that you own (which they can't do because software
is not written to take advantage of apple events).  You never did show me
how simple it is to obtain data from a SYBASE database and incorporate it
into one of your applications.  You never did show me the CD-quality sound
(44kzH) coming out the the Powerbook speakers.  You never did show me drag
and drop capability as far as changing text color, or sending folders in a
multimedia mail message.  You never did show me the built in Webster dictionary
on your hard drive.  You never did show me Mathematica bundled on your system
when you buy it.  You never did show me full MIDI and ISDN capability.  You
never did show me a lot of things that NeXT can do, and Mac can't.  I DID,
however, show you those things on the NeXT, and I was about to show you
the multitude of new software available for NeXT until you decided to 
end the learning experience and go out and buy an overpriced Quadra. (ugh).



>
>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.

NeXT has stated time and time again that NS486 will be FULLY compatible
with NeXTstation applications.  Of course the BINARIES are different, the
two systems use different CPU's, but a program developed on one environment
will compile on the other environment.  Applications will contain the code
to both platforms, and the particular platform you are running the application
on will extract the proper binary code.  This is called Fat Binaries.  
Incidentally, they only take up 10-15% more hard drive space, contrary
to popular belief.

>
>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

The fact that there are millions of Macs will soon become unimportant.  If you
choose to use this type of reasoning, then NeXTstep 486 will be supported
by millions more systems than MacOS will.  The installed base of Intel is
much larger than that of Macintosh.  NeXT will gain market share in that
area beginning in Q2 93, when NeXTstep486 ships.

Eric