🚀 go-pugleaf

beverins@aol.com (B E Verins) writes:

>Jim Frost wrote:


>Well, UNIX may be developer's nirvana, but are there GUI shells in
>existance that are as easy to use as Amiga Workbench 3.1, or System 7.5? I
>think this is the one thing holding back the spread of UNIX as a really
>popular OS (I'm talking seeling UNIX w/GUI in electronics stores like the
>WIZ, here). I've heard of XWindows (very long time ago). What's new in
>Unix OS's?

	OSF/Motif doesn't fill the bill as the worlds most advanced GUI, 
neither do Solaris or X-Window solutions stack up for 
ease-of-use/integration. The Mac clearly has the superior interface. 

	BUT! There IS a Unix out there with an interface lightyears 
beyond the Mac...or indeed beyond anything else out there. It is quite 
simply the best interface ever devised. 
	NeXT is a company founded by Steve Jobs, they guy who co-founded 
Apple computers, and invented the Mac. NeXT was originally in the 
business of making 68030 based workstations that everyone seemed to think 
were personal computers. This error was due in large part to the 
astounding array of innovative hardware peripherals available for the 
system, but in even larger part to the remarkably easy to use interface. 
Since the NeXTStations were priced competitively with other workstations, 
the PC users couldn't afford them, and the workstation crowd just never 
clued in that this was a powerful Unix system. 
	Then, when the hardware side of the NeXT folded, all that was 
left was the OS. So Steve ported it to the PC...it runs on 486 and faster 
machines. He has also ported it to Sun and Hewlett Packard workstations, 
with a DEC Alpha version on the way. 

	NeXTStep is a fully Object-Oriented operating system, the first 
one, and still the only one. It has been around for 7+ years, has a 
sizable, if not huge, application base, incredible development 
enviroment, and cross-platform portability. This is due in large part to 
the fact it is based on the Mach Unix kernel from IBM, and incorporates 
all the nice features you expect from Unix. 
	It is also a ground-up GUIsystem, remarkably easy to learn and 
simple to use, but sophisticated and powerful beyond everything else out 
there. It uses display postscript rather than bitmaps for superior 
resolution and color fidelity, and incorporates dozens of other computing 
first, many of which have not been succesfully duplicated elsewhere. 

	Its only downfall is the massive overhead. You need at least 20 
megs (it does run display postscript, after all) and 300 megs of HD ( it 
is a fully fledged Unix, remember.)

	Still, this is a Unix for the masses if ever there was one. Only 
its massive overhead and steep price ($500) keeps it away from the 
mainstreeam. 


	SoupIsGood Food