NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/sys/next/misc/24186

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 4.0 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!ukma!gatech!prism!gt2186a
From: [e-mail] (COBIA,FRANK NAYLOR)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
Subject: Re: Why is NeXT ignored?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 28 Jan 93 21:02:36 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 69

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>  NeXT is a toy, whereas Suns, SGIs, etc, are "real" computers:
>1) If I need a little more power than my 68040, I can't buy a 'fast' NeXT,
>whereas SUN has about a half a dozen models, some of which are very high
>performance. (and I may not even need to buy a complete new system!)
>2) Sun is directly upgradable to 24 bit, faster processors, and offers a
>variety of plug in Zorro cards. NeXT, on the other hand, forces a user to buy
>a NEW machine to get 24 bit color, only offers a faster 68040 for speed,
>and there exist virtually no plug in cards (since only a dimension supports
>them anyway!)


I will concede this point.


>3) People actually WRITE software for the Sun. NeXT is so stuck on their
>Objective-C crap, that no one actually writes anything. Just compare the number
>of X applications written on a Sun versus the number of NeXTstep apps written
>on a NeXT. Even the NeXT users who claim to know how to program in Objective-C
>DON'T WRITE ANYTHING. (Just take a look at the number of free 3.0 applications
>on sonata (even in incoming). Consider the number of games that exist, and
>consider NO speech program exists for the NeXT except commercially. I remember,
>when I owned my Amiga, speech came WITH the computer, and it even had inferior
>hardware, and games were abundant because EVERYONE could program an Amiga--with
>just a little C knowledge. I'll take a ton of applications in a non object-
>oriented language any day over NeXT, who forced Obj-C down our throats,

I think this is completely unfounded. There is a lot of quality public domain
software for the NeXT. I have used many other kinds of computers (including Sun
) but none have the quality of software on the NeXT. I have used software
packages on Sparc stations that cost thousands of dollars and I would not say
that any of it was very good. The software may have performed its task well
but it was always hard to use and I ofton had to use the screen redraw menu
to get the screen to display properly.


>everyone claims to like it, then never actually produce anything.) (I only
>use games as an example because, in general, people are much more motivated
>to write games than anything else, and since NeXT is proud of their college-kid
>market, it would seem THEY would be the ones to be producing tons of games.)

Speaking as a college student. The reason they have not written tons of
software is that they have too much homework to do. I know when I go home
for the summer and get a 40 hour a week job, I enjoy only having to work 40hrs.
At school I have to put in much more than 40 hours a week and that doesn't
even take into account the number of hours spent at my part-time job. All
my friends are the same way. When I do have free time I really do not want
to spend it doing a lot programmin.


>4) The ONLY benefit NeXT offers over Sun is the user interface. And if you
>consider that, how often to you hear Mac being referred to as a 'real'
>computer by anyone other than a computer illiterate?

I am not computer illiterate and I know that after using the NeXT I have come
to appreciate GUI's (Sun's is awful, even if you can call it a GUI). I used
to be a PC and UNIX user and thought that command lines were the only way to
go. The more I use my NeXT the less I find myself using the Terminal app. I
stay almost exclusively whithin the GUI. If I had to get another computer
and I could not get a NeXT then I would have to get Mac.

Frank

--
COBIA,FRANK NAYLOR
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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