CompuServe Messages

Andy, I don't know if I follow your comparison of NeXT and Amiga. I'll try to clarify my point: NeXT has a user-friendly UNIX implementation called Mach. It's object oriented programming design is called NeXT Step. Those that use NeXT Step at Purdue tell me it's wonderful; I'm not a programmer, so I take their word. One man in particular is Alan Braunsdorf, an Amiga programmer and NeXT Administrator for campus. The software that runs on the NeXT is very attractive to professional types: Lotus Improv, FrameMaker, WriteNow, Sybase, SoundWorks, SoftPC, SAS, Adobe Illustrator, Mathematica, TopDraw, Oasys, TextArt, Diagram!, FloppyWorks, ClickArt, Calling?, Squash!, 3270 Vision, Transarc, PaperSight, Communicae, Teleconnect, MacLinkPC, MapArt, MediaStation, Co-Xist, Allegro CL, Unix Mumps, WingZ, Adobe Type Library, OCR Servant, Adobe Touch Type, Fortran 77, Oracle, Word Perfect, etc. (Taken from a NeXT ad in NeXT World). My points, Amiga v. NeXT had more to do with my thesis that UNIX doesn't have to baffle end-users. The next component of my thesis is that UNIX is a critical market for the rest of the decade and the next century. I congratulated CBM-USA for their commitment to UNIX inspite of the rest of CBM being luke-warm to it. I think the radical thing about Commodore doing UNIX is "Geez, Commodore is doing UNIX?" View the statement through the eyes of one who sees Commodore's historical distribution strength through mass markets. Is Commodore's vision of UNIX intended for mass markets? Maybe it should be. We seem to agree here that marketing has got the pricing wrong for this product, in light of Don Curtis' comparative stats. Andy, does that help explain my angle? Hal Grigdesby, Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University – via Whap!