Re: MIDI files on IIgs?

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates) wrote,
in response to my reply:
>>Java runs on VMs (virtual machines) and the Mac
>>has a hard time implementing these properly in a web browser because
>>it does not have pre-emptive multitasking.  This is not a knock on
>>the Mac, but simply a statement of fact.  The PowerMac hardware is
>>powerful enough to do this, but its OS is not.
>
>   Uh, the 68K processor and hardware in non-"power"macs is perfectly
>capable of doing preemptive multitasking, etc. The Commie Amiga, NeXT
>hardware, workstations from HP, and probably a few more setups all
>used the same type of hardware, but the software was *BETTER*.

That's what I said: the hardware is powerful enough, but the OS
is not.  Apple's GUI is the best around, but the rest of the OS
is not.  This is why Apple will finally use the NeXT microkernal
(which is based on UNIX, just like OS/2 and Windows NT are).

Nate, the Amiga's hardware is _not_ equivalent to the Mac's.  For
a given CPU, the hardware was considerably more powerful.  The
Amiga used several coprocessors for each subsystem, freeing up
the 68K processor.  An Amiga 500 was considerably more efficient
than a Mac Plus, for example.  (Even if its GUI is dog ugly compared
to the GS's.  For multimedia, the Amiga is great, but for apps like
word processing, the GS with System 6.0.1 is a breath of fresh air.)
Unfortunately, this also means that Amiga OS was stuck in Amiga
platforms (can't be ported because it the hardware was much more
than just a 68K CPU).

Apple is doing the right thing by integrating a "modern" OS core
(from NeXT) with the best GUI (Mac/GS) for MacOS 8.


>   Apple (and most Macheads) have this inferiority complex saying "we
>were better in 1984. We're so much better we never need to change."
>Thus, the core of Mac 97 = Color Mac 84. A few tweaks to make them
>more usable have occurred, but overall, they've been standing still
>while the rest of the world has either equalled or surpassed them. And
>the competitiors ain't resting on their laurels, they're advancing
>even as Apple is now playing catch-up.
>
>Nathan Mates

Isn't it amazing that GS/OS was created at all?  Based on their way
of thinking, one would think that they would have kept the ProDOS 8
core and updated ProDOS 16 forever.

One more reason why it is sad that Apple chose to improve the Mac
(then the Mac Plus) over the obviously superior GS design.  All the
forward looking people were in the Apple II division (witness GS/OS
dumping the old ProDOS 8 core while the MacOS people insisted on
keeping the old core until now).  :)

-Scott G.