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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy
- Path: sparky!uunet!psinntp!radical!jbrow
- From: Jim_Brownfield@radical.com (Jim Brownfield)
- Subject: Re: 100 Mips Intel NeXT (processor comparison)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec25.000002.2836@Radical.Com>
- Sender: jbrow@Radical.Com
- Reply-To: Jim_Brownfield@Radical.Com
- Organization: Radical System Solutions, Inc.
- References: <1992Dec24.190008.25875@ohsu.edu>
- Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 00:00:02 GMT
- Lines: 46
-
- In article <1992Dec24.190008.25875@ohsu.edu> filibert@vista (Daniel Filiberti)
- writes:
- [deleted]
- >
- > I'm not necessarily being a proponent for the Alpha, I
- > just think its great news that DEC finally seems to have
- > done something right, and with some sort of vision.
-
- Putting myself in the unusual position of defending DEC :-), this comment is a
- little unfare. DEC is a company that historically has shown a lot of vision
- (the late 1980's lack of vision is more the exception than the rule). VMS is
- still a good operating system even though the architecture is 15 years old.
- Although I *LOVE* (forget the comments, it's too easy :-) ) my NeXTs and
- NeXTstep, there are still things that are easier to do in VMS (like
- simultaneous asynchronous I/O's on multiple devices from the same process).
-
- One of the things that has consistently hurt DEC is their attitude toward the
- rest of the computer world. DEC has had the attitude that everybody outside of
- DEC is the enemy, and DEC can do everything. They isolated third party
- hardware and software developers and forced the cost of owning DEC equipment
- much higher than it would have otherwise been, and they have paid a heavy price
- for it. I hope that the advent of the Alpha also accompanies a more open,
- cooperative attitude for DEC (a sort of kinder, gentler DEC :) ). With the
- Microsoft Windows NT deal, this seems to be the case.
-
- >
- > As an aside, the article further states that over 600
- > software suppliers have agreed to port their software to
- > the Alpha architecture, included among them many
- > leading companies...etc, Sounds good if its true. ;)
- >
-
- Another thing the Alpha brings to the table is the 64 bit architecture. This
- increase in address space will make things like large realtime video projects
- much easier to do (assuming, of course, that you have the peripherals to handle
- all the data). And, 64 bits means it can count higher ;-). If the Alpha is as
- hot as everyone keeps saying it is, NeXTstep on an Alpha could be pretty
- awesome.
-
- >
- > Daniel Filiberti
-
- --
- Jim Brownfield (Jim_Brownfield@Radical.Com) NeXTmail accepted
- Radical System Solutions, Inc.
- rad i cal \'rad-i-kel\ n -- a basic principle: FOUNDATION
-