Item 1646160 93/06/16 14:39 From: CGEIGER@NEXT.COM@INET# Internet Gateway Subject: NEXTSTEP vs. NT - Computerworld Article (June 14, 1993) Hello, Here is more great NEXTSTEP press. This is the ComputerWorld article from this week. Conrad Geiger International NEXTSTEP User Group Program _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ NextStep 3.1 for Intel: Users say it sizzles on 486 machines and is the best OOP Platform Computerworld's Firing Line is an evaluation based on interview the major users at corporate and educational installation. The product under evaluation is being used in live application environments. By research manager Michael L. Sullivan-Trainor June 14, 1993 Computerworld Magazine "The CW Guide to Object-Oriented Programming" page 121 Next, Inc.'s NextStep for Intel Evaluators said Next, Inc's NextStep for Intel is a robust implementation of the operating system and development environment. They were surprised that performance on the Intel platform exceeded that of Next's proprietary hardware. The relative shortfall of commercial applications for NextStep is of continuing concern. But the evaluators claimed the NextStep development environment outweighs this issue. It was more than three years ago that Apple Computer, Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs started his second Silicon Valley venture. But the company, Next, in Redwood City, Calif. has not approached the raging success of Apple. After burning through an estimated $200 million in venture capital, the company's proprietary hardware and operating environment had achieve little more than niche status at most user sites. That may have changed last month. With a blizzard of announcements, Next said it has abandoned its proprietary hardware to become a software-only company. The first fruit of that realignment is NextStep 3.1 for Intel, a version of the Unix operating system and NextStep designed to run on Intel Corp.'s i486 and Pentium processors. Like its predecessor, NextStep for Intel includes the multithreaded, multitasking Mach operating system kernel and (in the developer version of the environment) a variety of object-oriented programming tools, such as the NextStep Interface Builder, for rapid application development. The evaluators participating in this survey were all beta-test users of NextStep for Intel. They also used NextStep on Next's proprietary hardware, some since the Next "Cube" first became available in 1990. Despite their enthusiasm of NextStep for Intel, the evaluators were concerned about Next's longevity. They cited the relative shortage of commercial applications for NextStep -- an estimated 600 vs. more than 50,000 for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows environment. They were also concerned that Next would be unable to make NextStep a commercially viable alternative to upcoming operating systems from Microsoft and other vendors. Reliability Based on a variant of the Unix operating system called Mach, NextStep is a stable and reliable platform, the evaluators said. The telecommunications firm, which is developing customer service applications demanding high-speed transaction processing, experienced some programming difficulties. The evaluators also said NextStep provides a file recovery mechanism at least equal in capability to other Unix implementations. Telecom firm: "I've never experienced a failure on NextStep, mostly because it's a Unix operating system." Integrator: "We're doing things with NextStep that it doesn't normally support by extending the development environment." Performance If nothing else, NextStep for Intel revealed the performance deficiencies of Next's now-defunct hardware. Using a variety of name-brand and clone PCs, the evaluators said NextStep ran considerably faster on the 486 machines than on the NextStation. None of the evaluators had yet tested NextStep on Intel's Pentium processor. Developer: "I was shocked to see how fast it ran, especially on cheap hardware." Telecom firm: "We gave it a rigorous performance evaluation...We got a 67% performance increase compared to the NextStation. (Second headline, p. 122) USERS WERE CONCERNED ABOUT NEXT'S LONGEVITY BUT GAVE NEXTSTEP FOR INTEL HIGH RATINGS Technical Support Next's technical support was difficult to measure, given that the evaluators had very little need to contact the company. In the few cases where technical support was required, the evaluators were dealing with arcane programming issues that had yet to be resolved in the beta-test version of the operating system. Documentation was viewed by the evaluators as merely "adequate." Ease of installation Information systems managers and users know that t operating system upgrades and installations can be arduous. Many companies, such a Microsoft with Windows NT and IBM with OS/2 2.1, have now begun to deliver their operating systems on CD-ROM, a method pioneered by Next more than three years ago. Once the physical installation has been completed, NextStep includes a wealth of utilities for networking and hardware configuration that vastly reduce installation time. Utilities to connect to Novell Inc.'s NetWare and Apple's Appleshare can be operated by novice users, evaluators said. Developer: "I was surprised at how seamlessly everything cam together." Telecom firm: "It's plug and play. You load it and it goes." Integrator: "We were able to turn out a new [NextStep-ready] system in an hour." Ease of programming Despite fourth-generation languages, end-user programming tools and the object- oriented resolution, NextStep still holds sway with these evaluators. With a wealth programming tools, browsers and an integrated development environment, NextStep has always garnered rave reviews from developers. The evaluators said the same of NextStep for Intel. They unanimously agreed that the object-oriented NextStep development environment reduced programming efforts by anywhere from three to 100 times those of other platforms and languages. Developer: "NextStep is giving us a 100-to-1 magnification over conventional programming environments." Telecom firm: It is "the best environment known to mankind for object- oriented software development. It's not worth talking about because no one will believe you." Ease of conversion The evaluators had all ported applications from NextStep 3.0 (for Next's proprietary hardware) to NextStep for Intel. All agreed that the porting effort requires no more work than a simple recompilation. The developer said he lengthened his porting effort by making unnecessary changes to his application code. When he ported the code a second time without changing any code, the conversion to NextStep for Intel went flawlessly, he said. Developer: "It was better than [Next] told me it would be. It was a dream." Integrator: "It was fun to watch developers saying, "I don't believe it. I [ported an application] in two hours." Ease of use The evaluators generally compare the NextStep user interface to the Apple Macintosh, and they agreed that the Macintosh has a slight edge in usability. They also said operations such as transferring date a among NextStep applications were far easier than in Macintosh or Windows applications. Developer: "Compared to the Macintosh, there are some things that I miss." Telecom firm: "For end users, it's on par with the Apple Macintosh." Integrator: "I've put it on the desks of executives who refuse to touch a DOS or Macintosh system." Range of services From a developer perspective, the evaluators said NextStep for Intel has no peer. Starting with the complement of developer tools such as Interface Builder and extending to the enhanced and simplified Unix utility programs, NextStep has few rivals as an operating environment, the evaluators said. Developer: "Everything a person could think of is in Unix, and Next has packaged those [Unix] commands into good user interface objects." GRAPHICS INCLUDED IN ARTICLE: RATINGS (Bar Chart) Ratings are based on user expectations on a 1-to-5 scale, where 1 is below expectations and 5 is above expectations. Ratings are presented in order of importance to users. Microsoft's Windows NT ratings are based on a separate user evaluation conducted Feb. 22, 1993. Overall rating NextStep 4.3 Windows NT 3.6 Reliability NextStep 4.3 Windows NT 4.0 Performance NextStep 4.5 Windows NT 3.5 Technical support NextStep 4.3 Windows NT 3.3 Ease of installation NextStep 5.0 Windows NT 2.8 Ease of programming NextStep 5.0 Windows NT 3.3 Ease of conversion NextStep 4.8 Windows NT 3.0 Ease of use NextStep 4.5 Windows NT 4.3 Range of services NextStep 4.8 Windows NT 3.5 FEATURES NextStep 3.1 for Intel features: - Runs on Intel i486 or Pentium platforms with a minimum of 8M bytes of RAM and a 120M-byte hard disk. - Available in $795 user version or $1,995 developer version - Supports Ethernet and Token Ring network adapters; PostScript printers; Microsoft and Logitech mice; and VGA video as 2-bit gray scale. NEXT RESPONDS The following are Next's responses to issues raised in this evaluation: - Availability of commercial software: Next has more productivity and business applications to serve its customers than any other Unix or workstation vendor. With SoftPC from Insignia Solutions, Inc., NextStep will support DOS and Windows applications, providing our customers with access to that application base. NextStep for Intel will significantly expand the market for commercial software developers, resulting in many new NextStep applications during the next few months. - NextStep and industry standards: Next was the first Unix vendor to integrate NetWare client software. We have announced that we will support the Open Software Foundations' (OSF) Distributed Management Environment, the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture and the OSF's Distributed Computing Environment standards. Our philosophy is to work with customers and strategic partners to adopt and seamlessly integrate industry standards that promote interoperability. - Challenges: The greatest challenge is getting the word out about NextStep as broadly as possible and letting customers know how many customers are re- engineering and automating business processes using NextStep. A first step is having developers experience the benefits of NextStep. We are offering that through our $299 evaluation kit. - Viability in enterprise computing: Our primary market is the corporate desktop. We offer a combination of strengths that no other operating system vendor has, including the ability to build client/server applications five to 10 times faster than traditional methods; the ability to deploy extremely robust, enterprise wide applications; and the ability to make enterprise computing as easy for the user as stand-alone computing is today. - Third-party tools: NextStep is open to support tools and languages from third parties. We currently have third-party support for Fortran, Cobol, Smalltalk, LISP and a variety of fourth-generation languages. COMPUTERWORLD Product Evaluation Council Alamo Rent-A-Car, Inc. Alliant Techsystems, Inc. Amerada Hess Corp. America West Airlines American Greetings Corp. American Industries, Inc. American President Cos. AT&T Avon Products, Inc. Barnett Banks, Inc. C.R. Bard, Inc. Bell Atlantic Corp. Bergen Brunswig Corp Borg Warner Corp. Bradley University Carolina Freight Carriers Corp. Carolina Power & Light Co. The Chase Manhattan Bank NA Cigna Corp. Clark Equipment Co. Colonial Williamsburg Commonwealth Edison Co. Consolidated Freightways Inc. Corestates Financial Corp. Dresser Industries, Inc. Dr. Pepper Co./The Seven-Up Co. Electronic Data Systems Corp. Federal Express Corp First National Bank of Chicago FMC Corp. Federal Reserve Bank Freeport McMoRan, Inc. Fuller Co. Grumman Corp. Guilford Mills, Inc. Harsco Corp. International Paper Co. Kmart Corp. Lever Brothers Co. Long Island Lighting Co. Miles, Inc. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. MCI Communications Corp. Mellon Bank Corp. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. New Mexico State University Northeast Utilities People's Bank PNC Financial Corp. Preston Corp. Primerica Corp. Prodata, Inc. Public Service Electric & Gas Co. Ryder System Inc. SCM Office Supplies Group Sprint Corp. Tribune Broadcasting Unum Life Insurance Co. Witan Industries Worldcorp =END=