🚀 go-pugleaf

eric@snark.uu.net (Eric S. Raymond) writes:
>Why should I buy Steve Jobs's Mac-on-steroids closed-architecture box when
>I can get cheaper, faster commodity iron with better standards conformance
>based on the 386?

Built-in networking support.  Pretty nice user-interface.  Large FAST
bitmapped screen (buy one for your 386 box and tell me where you got
it if you got it for <$1,000 -- I would like one but the monitors are
nearly that much).  State-of-the-art OS (for better or for worse, but
at least it's not SysV).  Online literature and dictionary with a
pretty fancy librarian (that in itself is worth much of the cost of
the machine to me).  Fairly cheap high-capacity removable media (want
a real disk in there though).  Wonderful sound support.

The next box isn't cheap, but for what you pay you sure get a lot.  If
you built a 386 box with comparable value-added, you'd pay quite a bit
more than NeXT is asking.  The base price is a lot lower, but the base
configuration doesn't even compare.

For a comparable system with the 386 you need:

	* 386 (cheap, available everywhere, no problem)
	* Operating system (ISC 386/ix, for instance).
	* Disk.  At least 250Mb since that's what the NeXT has.
	  Removable would be nice but it'd cost more than the 386
	  itself so you might as well just get most disks.
	* Memory (this means buying a 32-bit expansion board in
	  addition to the 4-7mb of memory you'll probably have to
	  buy).
	* High-resolution bitmapped screen (nonstandard but there are
	  some out there -- add at least $1500 for this; more if you
	  want greyscale [if you can find such a thing]).
	* Sound processing board (oh boy is this expensive).
	* X11 (usually an option to the operating system).
	* C compiler (usually an option to the operating system).
	* Online dictionary (you can get a CD-ROM w/ dictionary for
	  about $1000, maybe a bit less).

I haven't even gone into the real software stuff that NeXT supplies.
The NeXT is certainly a better deal than your average 386 box,
although I think I'd get a SPARCstation if given the choice.

My point isn't to buy a NeXT box, but to compare comparable systems.
The 386 machines do better than a comparably equipped Mac, but
they aren't cheaper than NeXT.

Happy hacking,

jim frost
madd@std.com