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Re: Mac OSX [message #27140 is a reply to message #27034]

Thu, 11 October 2001 09:06

John-David T. Smith is currently offline

John-David T. Smith
Messages: 384
Registered: January 2000

Senior Member

John Boccio wrote:
>
> In article <MPG.162e8aaf5237957a989700@news.frii.com>, David Fanning
> <david@dfanning.com> wrote:
>
>> Randall Skelton (rhskelto@atm.ox.ac.uk) writes:
>>
>>> There are alternatives. I'll admit that none of them can compete with the
>>> wide cross-platform support that IDL has enjoyed over the years but it
>>> looks like RSI's cross-platform marketing approach has vanished.
>>
>> Gentlemen,
>>
>> I am sympathetic. I really am. I especially
>> dislike the cheesy way this whole decision
>> was announced. It denotes a lack of...well,
>> respect...for the people who really do pay
>> the bills it seems to me.
>>
>> And from what I hear at least half the folks
>> at RSI are sympathetic. I don't think this was
>> a unanimous decision, not by a long shot. But
>> I don't think scientists are running the company
>> anymore. And I don't think the people who made
>> the decision really stopped to consider the--for
>> lack of a better word--cultural significance of a
>> decision like this.
>>
>> Quite frankly, losing a platform like the Mac matters
>> to a lot of us, whether we use a Macintosh or not.
>>
>> But given all that, I don't think this decision
>> will be changed. I don't know the leadership at RSI,
>> or anything about them, but I don't expect them
>> to change their mind for this reason.
>>
>> The Mac right now, today, is not a serious
>> scientific computing platform.
>
> This is a load of utter garbage!!!!

I'm sorry David, but I'm going to have to agree with John here. You are
really off base, but in a way which is perfectly and painfully
understandable, and represents the same attitudes and set of false
impressions we're likely up against with the Kodak management right
now. The MacOS is a niche market player, 5-10% at best. Linux, while
also quite small (2-5%), represents a privileged child, free of 15 years
of derision and scrutiny, and is seen as a rising star. But look at Sun
Solaris, long regarded (for better or worse) as a top notch workstation
platform. But in terms of total user base, Solaris is *tiny* compared
to the other two. Yet its support remains firm. Why? Because it is
so popular among the scientific user base that foots the bills at RSI.
So, as we see, popular market share is a very poor measure of importance
for
scientific computing.

While the Mac was mired in several years of poor marketing choices,
things really have turned around in the last couple of years. The
substantial impression that Apple is a vanishing company has so firmly
entrenched itself among Windows users, that they haven't had time to
look up and take stock of reality. I really hate these "Macs are slow,
expensive, unpopular, and have no software, " vs. "Macs are the best
things since biscuits and gravy" arguments, but I feel compelled to
dismiss at least *one* of your somewhat underinformed notions about
Macs. I encourage you to try to find "a new Dell" laptop which can
compete with the Apple iBook in price to performance. With built-in
wireless networking, ethernet, a fast processor, superb display, long
battery life, and lightweight, attractive packaging, all for around
$1250, I think you'll have some trouble.

Regarding the unsuitability of Macs for scientific computing, lets let
quotes from RSI's own press releases from the likes of David Uhlir,
director of product marketing, weigh in on that question:

"The Macintosh is now our fastest platform for basic binary
operations on arrays in IDL."

"AltiVec will definitely play an important role in IDL's
future."

"For example, basic binary operations on arrays in IDL run
almost five times faster on Power Mac G4 systems than on
otherwise comparable computers."

"Mac OS X brings the speed, stability and power of Unix to
IDL's Macintosh users. In combination with the G4 processor
with Velocity Engine and hardware OpenGL support on cutting
edge graphic accelerators, IDL on Mac OS X is a best-of-class
scientific visualization application."

"The Power Mac G4 gives us anywhere from a two- to five-fold
boost in performance for computationally intensive tasks."

This turn of events represents a startling and inconsistent about face,
and, for me at least, casts a pall of doubt over the stewardship of
IDL's future direction.

JD

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[Message index]

		Mac OSX By: Richard Adams on Mon, 08 October 2001 03:53
		Re: Mac OSX By: Dick Jackson on Wed, 10 October 2001 12:21
		Re: Mac OSX By: colinr on Thu, 11 October 2001 01:17
		Re: Mac OSX By: Dennis Boccippio on Fri, 12 October 2001 07:22
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Wed, 10 October 2001 12:46
		Re: Mac OSX By: Stein Vidar Hagfors H[1] on Wed, 10 October 2001 11:34
		Re: Mac OSX By: colinr on Thu, 11 October 2001 01:19
		Re: Mac OSX By: Paul van Delst on Wed, 10 October 2001 12:38
		Re: Mac OSX By: Todd Clements on Wed, 10 October 2001 10:43
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Wed, 10 October 2001 07:55
		Re: Mac OSX By: Noam R. Izenberg on Wed, 10 October 2001 07:22
		Re: Mac OSX By: Jaco van Gorkom on Wed, 10 October 2001 06:18
		Re: Mac OSX By: Richard Adams on Wed, 10 October 2001 05:56
		Re: Mac OSX By: Randall Skelton on Wed, 10 October 2001 05:24
		Re: Mac OSX By: Bernard K. on Wed, 10 October 2001 00:37
		Re: Mac OSX By: Rob.Preece on Fri, 12 October 2001 07:29
		Re: Mac OSX By: Bernard K. on Wed, 10 October 2001 00:33
		Re: Mac OSX By: Wayne Landsman on Tue, 09 October 2001 23:18
		Re: Mac OSX By: Randall Skelton on Tue, 09 October 2001 22:55
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Tue, 09 October 2001 21:28
		Re: Mac OSX By: gschneider on Tue, 09 October 2001 16:01
		Re: Mac OSX By: Stein Vidar Hagfors H[1] on Wed, 10 October 2001 12:20
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Tue, 09 October 2001 14:09
		Re: Mac OSX By: Mark Hadfield on Thu, 11 October 2001 13:45
		Mac Scoop (Long) By: Noam R. Izenberg on Thu, 11 October 2001 14:25
		Re: Mac Scoop (Long) By: msienkiewicz on Fri, 12 October 2001 17:30
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Thu, 11 October 2001 09:24
		Re: Mac OSX By: richard hilton on Thu, 11 October 2001 09:06
		Re: Mac OSX By: Andrew Cool on Sun, 14 October 2001 17:09
		Re: Mac OSX By: John-David T. Smith on Thu, 11 October 2001 09:06
		Re: Mac OSX By: John-David T. Smith on Fri, 12 October 2001 07:47
		Re: Mac OSX By: Martin Otte on Thu, 11 October 2001 14:49
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Thu, 11 October 2001 08:48
		Re: Mac OSX By: Noam R. Izenberg on Thu, 11 October 2001 08:23
		Re: Mac OSX By: Randall Skelton on Wed, 10 October 2001 23:01
		Re: Mac OSX By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 October 2001 21:25
		Re: Mac OSX By: John Boccio on Wed, 10 October 2001 20:19
		Re: Mac OSX By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 October 2001 19:00
		Re: Mac OSX By: Mark Hadfield on Wed, 10 October 2001 18:33
		Re: Mac OSX By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 October 2001 16:41
		Re: Mac OSX By: pit on Sat, 13 October 2001 11:44
		Re: Mac OSX By: Randall Skelton on Wed, 10 October 2001 14:54
		Re: Mac OSX By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 October 2001 13:39
		Re: Mac OSX By: Noam R. Izenberg on Wed, 10 October 2001 13:27
		Re: Mac OSX By: Pavel A. Romashkin on Wed, 10 October 2001 13:12
		Re: Mac OSX By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 October 2001 13:09
		Re: Mac OSX By: Ken Prager on Fri, 12 October 2001 09:06
		Re: Mac OSX By: Noam R. Izenberg on Fri, 12 October 2001 08:01
		Re: Mac OSX By: pit on Mon, 15 October 2001 12:21
		Re: Mac OSX By: Craig Markwardt on Sun, 14 October 2001 17:51

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