Gigarom 4/Mac Giga-ROM 4.0 - 1993.toast/FILES/TXT/mac-ibm-compare.txt.cpt/mac-ibm-compare.txt

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-08 | 29KB

Date: Fri, 1 Jan 93 19:39 BST
From: Richard Lim <[e-mail]>
Subject: Macintosh-IBM PC Comparison report

I'm submitting this report from comp.sys.mac.system on behalf of its
compiler, Bruce Grubb.  The report still isn't complete, and Bruce
([e-mail]) is therefore very much on the lookout for
contributions from Digest readers to flesh it out.  Even now, it still
makes for thought-provoking reading on that venerable area of controversy,
the relative merits and deficiencies of Macintoshes and IBM PCs.  Both
hardware and software statistics, features and possibilities are covered.
I'll quote Bruce's preamble and let you download the rest for yourself:

"The reason for this general data sheet is that people in both camps are
not clear or accurate about what they are saying about their machines. When
completed, this data sheet will, I hope, enable us to make convincing and
intelligent comparisons between Mac and IBM. To help keep this organized,
please provide, if possible, article citations for the information provided
or corrected.  Also keep it simple so I can understand what is being talked
about.
"Since this is a data sheet let's keep the opinions to a minimum.  Also,
give me the info to make it complete as opposed to just saying it is
incomplete, and keep the information relevant to the section corrected."

--------------------blurb ends, report commences---------------------------


Mac & IBM Info-Version 1.0

The reason for this general data sheet is that people in both camps are not
clear or accurate about what they are saying about their machines.  When
completed, this data sheet will, I hope, enable us to make convincing and
intelligent comparisons between Mac and IBM. To help keep this organized
please provide, if possible, article citations for the information provided or
corrected.  Also keep it simple so I can understand what is being talked
about.
Since this is a data sheet let's keep the opinions to a minimum.  Also, give
me the info to make it complete as opposed to just saying it is incomplete,
and keep the information relevant to the section corrected. {For example, OS
code in ROM is hardware and not software, so no more of the 'but it is
supported in OS software' data for the hardware section, please.}
Thank you.

Thank you all for your information.  With special thanks to
[e-mail] (Chihuahua Charlie), [e-mail] (Peter
Bell), [e-mail] (Carl B Jabido), [e-mail] (Faisal
Nameer Jawdat), [e-mail] (Julian Harris),
[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail] (Matt Healy), [e-mail] (Nan Zou),
pwagner%us.oracle.com, [e-mail], [e-mail] (Wolfgang Strobl),
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail] (Jay
C. Beavers), Lewis [e-mail], [e-mail] (Bradley
Lamont), and [e-mail] for providing information for this list.

Contents
CPUs
Hardware
 Monitor support
 Expansion
Operating system
Network & Printing

The CPUs
 Note: I am only showing the Motorola & Intel CPUs used in the Mac and
the main IBM machines. This is why, for example, the Motorola 68008 and 68010
are not listed: Apple never used these chips in the Mac. Years only appear
with dead CPUs and indicate first to last year used as a CPU.

IBM     ALU  Registers    External    cache    Features/
CPU                     bus  address           Notes
 8088   16      16       8     20      ?      {197?-1989}
 8086   16      16      16     20      ?      {197?-1989}
80286   16      16      16     24      ?      Protected Mode & segmenting
80386   32      32      32     32      ?      MMU & 32-bit Protected Mode
486sx   32      32      32     32    one 8K?  80486 - FPU
80486   32      32      32     32    one 8K   80386 & FPU
486dx2  32      32      32     32    one 8K   doubled internal clock rate*
486dx3  being demoed. 20/60 mHz, 25/75 mHz, and 33/99 mHz planned.
Pentium 32      32      64     36?   code &   RISC-like features,
                                     data     superscalar, Write-Back (386)
                                              64 bit FPU path, pipelining,
                                              100+ MIPS performance**
PowerPC: The chip is out and rumor has it that IBM may build its PowerPC 601
in EARLY 1993 (InfoWorld June 8, 15/92, 92; MacWeek 7/13/92) It is also
rumored that the 601 machine will be four times as fast as a 50 MHz 486dx2
running Windows.{Since both the PowerPC and the OS [PowerOpen] for it are a
year ahead of schedule it could give the Pentium chip a run for the money.
Apple and IBM hope that programs from five OSs (DOS, Windows 3.x, OS/2, Mac
OS, & UNIX {PowerOpen-AU/X 4.0}), will run on this using emulators to run on
top of PowerOpen and, later, the Taligent OS and if necessary the OSes
themselves (Like SoftPC does on the Mac.)}

386sx   386 chip with 32 bit internal architecture, & 16 bit external.
386slc  low power 386  with a chip cash. Used mainly in laptops.
* ex. in a machine with a 50 Mhz dx2 the chip runs at 50 MHz, the rest of the
machine runs at 25 MHz.
**according to Intel. It is to be out in the first quarter of 1993 (InfoWorld
July 27/92; Vaporware 9/92).

MAC     ALU  Registers    External    cache*   Features/
CPU                     bus  address           Notes

68000   16      32      16     24      none    {1984-1993}
68020   32      32      32     32     i; 256   {1987-1992}
68030   32      32      32     32    two 256    MMU
68040LC 32      32      32     32     two 4K    68040 - FPU**
68040   32      32      32     32     two 4K    MMU, FPU, doubled internal
                                                clock rate***
68050   development discontinued in favor of 68060
68060   32      32      32     32     Branch    68040, Superscaler pipelining,
                                      target    cache line bursts, better FPU,
                                                equivalent capabilities &
                                                speeds to Pentium****
PowerPC: Chip is out and rumor is that the 601 machine will be three times as
fast as a Mac Quadra and Apple's PowerPC 601 will be about a year latter then
IBM's.  Rumor is that some NuBus boards containing early samples of the
PowerPC have been given to Apple's "A-list" developers (InfoWorld August 3,
92; Vaporware 9/92; PC Week Dec 7/92, and MacWeek 12/14/92)

*caching includes data(d) and instructions(i).  The 68030, 68040LC, & 68040
have caches for both.
**a variant of this to be used in the Centris 610 due out on Feb. 15, 1993
(MacWeek 11/02/92).  Unclear as if a 68040LC will be used or Motorola will go
and design a special chip.
***According to Bradley Lamont and the Motorola 68040 data book the 040 has 2
clocks, one internal (PCLK) that is 2x the freq of the external clock (BCLK)
which is the one used to rate the chips. Since some internal calcs are done
using the PCLK, the 68040 can be considered a clock doubler chip even though
Motorola does not call it such.
****according to Motorola. (PC Week Sept 7; 14/92)

CPUs comparison List:
As a general rule of thumb Motorola chips are faster then Intel chips at the
same frequency {040/25 ~= 486/33}, but Intel has chips at higher frequencies
then Motorola, so this evens out.  The Macintosh Bible 4th ed. supports the
comparisons between Intel and Motorola chips for the 68020 and above.

8088/8086 ~ 68000 {16-bit vs 16/24/32-bit chip (data path/address
lines/data and address registers.  The ALU determines the bit classification
of chips so the 68000 is 16-bit despite the higher bits of the External
Address(24) and the Registers(32). This is more of a 'de facto' compairison
then anything else since the 68020 pairs off better with the 286 (See notes on
286 and 68020 below) and these chips were the lowest of their respective lines
when the Mac came out in 1984. Side note: the 8088/8086 was discontinued in
1989 and the 68000 goes out as a CPU in February 1993.}

286        ~ 68020 {286's hardware segmenting vs. 68020's 32-bit ALU and the
fact that both these chips come before their MMU (80386, 68030) successors.
The protected mode of the hardware segmenting is used by OS/2 1.0 though 1.3
and Windows 3.X. The use of the hardware segmenting and its 16-bit nature put
the 286 between the 60000 and the 68030 in features.  Side note: the 68020
went out as a CPU with the end of the LC and the 286 is almost gone as well.}

386       ~ 68030 {The MMUs, protected memory, and 32-bit nature of these
chips puts them roughly together.  AU/X 3.0 is at present the only Mac OS to
use the protected memory feature of the 68030.}

486sx   ~ 68040LC {same as 486 and 68040 but without the FPU; used as
a low cost solution for people who do not need the FPU.}

486     ~ 68040 {two 32-bit microprocessors with built-in FPU, MMU, 8K
internal cache.  The cache is implemented as two 4K caches in the 68040
and one in the 486.  The 68040's double speed internal circuitry may make it
more on par with the 486dx2.  Any conformation?}

Pentium   ~ 68060 {Both are planned to be superscalar but may flounder
against the earlier released PowerPC chip.  Too early to compare these.}
(PC Week Sept 7 & 14 on 68060)

PowerPC   = PowerPC {This is the only CPU to be used by both IBM and
Apple and is planned to run programs from DOS, Windows 3.x, OS/2 and Mac OS as
well as parts of these OS on top of the Taligent OS which the prototype is
PowerOpen (AU/X 4.0)}

Hardware
Color Support/Display
 Mac: All present Macs except the Classic support the use of 32-bit color in
hardware. This is done in ROM by 32-bit color QuickDraw, which allows programs
to use 32-bit color even if the monitor does not display it; older machines
that supported color {SE/30, II, IIX, and IIcx} had only 8-bit color in ROM
and needed a software patch to use 32-bit color. (MacUser Special 1993: 28-29)
To keep costs down and speed up most Macs have only 8 or 16 bit display
capability built in, and most of those can be expanded to display 24 bit
color.  32-bit color QuickDraw allows an almost transparent capability to
display and edit X-bit images in Y-bit color (Where X and Y are 1, 2, 4, 8, or
32 in any combination) regardless of monitor resolution {63 dpi (12" color) to
80 dpi (full page grey)} with as little distortion as possible since QuickDraw
is presently optimized around 72bpi; QuickDraw QX will, hopefully, change
this.  This means that even though you can use only 256 or 32,768 of the
colors at a time, all 16,777,216 colors are still available and are simulated
at lower resolutions by dithering. (This is the reason for CLUTS, so the
program knows which set of colors to use with a picture and what 32-bit colors
the dithers really are.)
Having 32-Color Quickdraw in ROM also has an added benefit.  With a hardware
video adaptor and no added software a Mac with monitor support can use an
Autosynchronous Monitor (Range must include 66.7 hz vertically and 35 hz
horizontally and the monitor must be VGA, MCGA and/or SVGA compatible) as if
it was a Mac monitor (MacUser August 1992: 158-176)  So present Macs can view
and edit 32-bit color pictures on some VGA, MCGA and SVGA monitors just as if
they were equivalent Mac monitors.
Sound output:  Standard in all Macs since the Plus.

IBM:  According to Faisal Nameer Jawdat, PC's have no internal hardware (ROM)
definition of how the operating system interacts with the video hardware, and
so it is left up to the OS and video hardware in question.  In addition,
according to Matt Healy, IBM never bothered to provide a standard hardware
mechanism for software to determine what display mode is actually present. As
a result some modes are very hard to detect unless the OS is very well
written. {With no IBM equivalent of 32-bit color QuickDraw in hardware,
editing 32-bit pictures in 8-bit mode regardless of OS and monitor type may be
more difficult then on the Mac.  Any conformation?}
Later IBM machines will have integrated graphics accelerators, faster
processors, and modular upgradeability and may have built in sound cards, CD
ROM, and Ethernet. (PC Week Dec 14/92)
MDA (Monocrome Display Adapter)
 original character-mapped video mode, no graphics, 80x25 text.
CGA (color graphics array)
 320x200 4 colors or 640x200 b/w, 16 color palette, bad for the eyes.
EGA (enhanced graphics array)
 640x350 16 colors from 64 color palette (and some lower res); some versions
 could run at 256 colors, bearable on the eyes.
VGA (video graphics array)
 320x200 at 256 colors, 640x480 at 16 colors, and some others, these two are
 the most commonly used.  All modes have a 256K color palette, from a 18-bit
 CLUT (Color LookUp Table).  Monitors use analog input, incompatible with TTL
 signals from EGA/CGA etc.
MCGA (multi-color graphics array)
 subset of VGA that provides all the features of MDA & CGA, but lacks some EGA
 and VGA modes, like VGA 640x480x16 (Dictionary of Computer Terms).
 Common on the initial PS/1 implementation from IBM and some PS/2 Models.
SVGA (super VGA)
 This is not a standard in the way the others were, but instead was a 'catch
 all' category for a group of video cards.  As such, with each manufacturer
 using their own implementation scheme, SVGA was chaos with people debating
 as to what is SVGA and what is not.  In an effort to make SVGA more of a
 standard VESA was established and is used in the newer units, but things
 are still a mess.  Video is either 512K [~1990] or 1M [today], resolution
 of 800x600 and 1024x768 at 16 and 256 colors are common, newer ones [since
 1990] have the Sierra HiColor RAMDAC, giving 15-bit 32,768 colors at 800x600,
 some of the very newer ones [~6/92] can do 24 bits per pixel [usually
 at 640x480].  Speedwise, too much variation, some very slow [Western Digital
 Paradise based, for example], some very fast [S3 86C911 based, for example],
 some are so-so [like Tseng ET4000, a very popular chipset].  Some limiting
 factors: 8.33 MHz ISA bus, AT architecture where the CPU looks at the card
 through a 64K "window", etc.
Other standards not classified as SVGA:
8514/a:
 IBM's own standard, graphics accelerator with graphics functions like
 linedraw, polygon fill, etc. in hardware.  Uses interlacing.  Some clone
 implementations from ATI are the fastest video available today, though some
 models do not have interlacing.
TMS34010/34020: high end graphics co-processors, usually >$1000, some
 do 24-bit, speeds up vector-oriented graphics like CAD.
XGA (eXtended graphics array)
 newer and faster than 8514/a, only available for MCA bus-based PS/2s, clones
 are coming out soon.  Emulates VGA, EGA, and CGA. (Dictionary of Computer
 Terms).  Max resolution at 1024x768x8b, same as 8514/a, also some 16 bpp
 modes.
XGA-2
 Accelerates graphics functions up to 20 times faster than standard VGA in
 Windows and OS/2, including line draws, bit and pixel-block transfers, area
 fills, masking and X/Y addressing. Has an intelligent way to detect and co-
 exist with other XGA-2 cards, so multiple desktops like on the Mac may not be
 far away.  Since this is an architecture, its resolution and color depth
 isn't fixed {IBM implements only 16-bit [65,536] color, while other
 companies can have 24-bit color though IBM technocal licenses. Refresh rates
 up to 75 Hz, ensures flicker free, rock solid images to reduce visual
 discomfort, and is VGA compatible. Up to 1280x1024 on OS/2.

Expansion
Mac:  All Macs since the Plus have a SCSI interface and SIMM memory expansion.
SCSI: used for almost all external devices.
Printers, monitors, and modems each have their own interfaces built in and are
unrelated to SCSI.
PDS: Available in the SE and all present Modular Macs.
NuBus: Supported in all Modular Macs except the LC, LCII, and Performa 400.
The SE/30 could be adapted to use this as well.
CPU expansion is handled either through the PDS or the NuBus.  Some Nubus CPU
cards, like the Radius Rocket, allow use of both processors at the same time.
SCSI-2: a faster implementation of SCSI. At present only the Quadras have
parts of the necessary hardware build in to use this; other Macs require a
NuBus card.  Also the SCSI Manager in the OS needs to be totally rewritten to
take full advantage of features like wide and fast SCSI.

IBM:  {need more info}
Memory expansion is through parity-checked SIMMs, same as special Mac IIcis or
by memory boards. {Parity SIMMs are more expensive then 'normal' SIMMs and
their importance is at present questionable with error correction in OS and
other parts of the hardware available.  For example, the Mac will not boot if
something is seriously wrong with the SIMMs or hardware and give a chord
indicating what the problem is.}
Side Note: to find the number of SIMMS that a full x-bit chip requires to run
at full speed, divide x by 8.  So, 16-bit requires two SIMMS, 32-bit requires
four, and 64-bit requires eight. One way to get around this is to halve the
data path, but this can half the speed of the machine so its a trade off.  {LC
II uses a 32-bit chip but a 16 bit data path so only 2 as opposed to 4 SIMMS
are required; the 386sx is the IBM equivalent.}

HD Interfaces:
MFM (Modified Frequency Modulation), RLL (Run Length Limited)
 hard drive only interfaces, and only used in smaller [2 60mb] hard drives.
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
 currently the most common standard, and is used for medium sized drives. Can
 have more than one hard drive.  Hard disk only interface.
ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface)
 generally considered better than SCSI in many ways but not common enough for
 practical consideration. Can have more than one hard drive. {Is this also
 limited to hard drives only?}
SCSI
 not too wide spread yet, generally not bundled with systems, except as add-
 on. Can support up to 7 devices per SCSI controller. One problem:  here's no
 exact specifications for the controller so incompatibilities result.

BUS interfaces {More info please, this is Greek to me.}
ISA
 dominant factor, but it's showing its age.  Uses edge-triggered interrupts,
 can't share them, hence comes the IRQ conflict. Limited busmastering
 capabilities. 8 and 16 bit, most cards aren't bandwidth limited (COM ports,
 LPT ports, game ports, MIDI card, etc.), though ones like video and disk
 controller are. Most ISA motherboard designs today have memory on a 32
 bit path direct to the processor.
MCA
 IBM's 16 and 32-bit bus; "allows use of more then one CPU in a computer"
 (Dictionary of Computer Terms) and anything can talk to anything, as fast
 as the two components involved can handle it. Never took off because it
 was incompatible with ISA and EISA.
EISA
 Is 32 bit, runs at 8.33 mHz and has the ability to self-configure cards like
 MCA.  Also allows multiple bus masters, sharable interrupt and DMA channels,
 and burst mode throughput 33MB/sec.
VESA Local Bus (VLB) {Sometimes mistakenly refereed to as PDS}
 The standard of Local Bus. VLB is limited to three slots but allows bus
 mastering and is basically a cheap man's EISA or MCA.  Can run at
 high speeds (CPU clock rate, 25/33 MHz), huge bandwidth (~130 MB/sec), which
 makes it ideal for video and disk I/O.
PCI
 Intel's version of Local Bus that is intended to totally replace ISA/EISA/MCA
 Not going anywhere presently, because it's not completed.

OSes {assumes full installation [print drivers, fonts, Multifinder, etc.]
and multiple application use.}
Mac
512K and 1MB of OS code has been put into ROM with a 2MB version in the works
for Feb 1993.  The idea behind this is three fold.  First, it gives greater
control over the hardware interface, i.e. prevents the development of clones
and therefore allows for greater control over hardware-software standards.
Second, the OS and programs do not have to contain redundant code to support
things like monitors, networks, menus, and printing and are therefore smaller.
Finally, since part of the OS is in hardware it is more difficult for
programers to write their own hardware implementation drivers independent of
Apple's guidelines then it would be if the entire OS was software.
6.0.7: Requires 2 MB and HD floppy and features a GUI, sudo-multitasking
 (MultiFinder), standard program interface, & standard stereo sound support
 (snd). Has a 8MB RAM barrier and is a 24-bit OS. Some third party products
 allow 14MB of Virtual Memory as long as real RAM is below 8MB.
6.0.8: 6.0.7 with 7.0.0 print drivers
6.0.8L:  System 6 for new Macs that require System 7.
7.0.1: Base requirements: 2MB, 40MB Hard Drive, and a 68000; to run well:
 4 MB, a 80 MB Hard Drive, and a 68030. It has 6.0.7 features and AIC (between
 computers), built in network support, Virtual Memory in machines with MMU{1.6
 times real RAM for least noticeable speed degradation on a IIsi}, & drag and
 drop. Can access up to 1GB of true RAM and 4GB of virtual memory and is both
 a 24 and 32-bit OS.  Supports sound input (AIFF and snd formats) for most
 present machines.
7.1.0: 7.0.1 with WorldScript support and less RAM usage then 7.0.x.(MacWeek
 8/24/92; 9/14/92; PC Week Sept 7/92) {The installer has a bug that when
 upgrading from 7.0.X it may keep the old system fonts from 7.0.x inside the
 system file.  This can eat up any RAM benefits and cause other problems.}
AU/X 3.0(Unix): Needs 8MB of RAM{12-20MB suggested}, a 160MB hard drive, and
 something the power of a 68030 or 68040 to run.  Large due to the need for
 translators between UNIX and ROM.  32-bit OS.
PowerOpen(AU/X 4.0): Rumor is that it is ahead of schedule to the point it
 COULD be out by by early 1993.  Planned to run on 386, 486, 68030,
 68040, and PowerPC chips. (MacWeek 7/13/92] 32-bit OS.
Note: sound output was supported in OSes 4.1 to 6.0.5 by many formats
including the following:  snd, WAVE, ASND, FSSD, QSSN, SMSD, SOUN, dc2d, and
DCFL.  In 6.0.7 the sound manager optimized for the sound standards 'snd' and
AIFF which causes some playback problems for the old formats, though most
still play.

IBM
Uses the idea of placing almost everything into the OS.  This has the
advantage of the commands being loaded into RAM and therefore having faster
implementation.  It also has the advantage of being able to better optimize
the code given a certain piece or collection of hardware which is harder with
a ROM based system.  It also reduces the need for patches if a major revision
of the hardware support is needed.  Side note:  The FTC has brought charges
against MicroSoft for forming a OS trust by not providing all feature
documentation for its OSes to developers outside MS and designing its Windows
and DOS apps to fail under OS/2 ("Undocumented Windows") and "There is
deliberate code in [Windows] NT Beta which causes the install to abort if OS/2
Boot Manager is present" (Gregory Hicks, Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #201)
DOS 5.0: Has a 640K barrier with its own memory manager, a 1 MB barrier
 with third party memory managers.  Each program must provide its own print
 drivers and is 16 bit.
DRDOS 6.0: same as DOS 5.0 with some extras {like built-in data compression}
 and memory management enhancements. Still has 640K/1MB barrier.  A later
 version of this may use a version of the Mac finder and Apple file management
 system. (PC Week and InfoWorld Dec 14/92)
Window 3.1: runs on top of DOS.  Breaks 640K and 1M barriers but still has to
 deal with DOS file structure.  Base requirements 1 MB, floppy and a 286; to
 run well 2MB, Hard Drive, and 386sx. Has a equivalent of Mac's QD called
 Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface).  Rumor of a 16 MB RAM barrier on
 some machines due to hardware.
Windows for Workgroups:  intermediary between Win 3.1 and Windows NT.  It is
 basically Windows 3.1 with network support.
Windows NT:  The beta release takes about 50M of disk space [including the
 swap file], and requires 8-12 MB of RAM, which is what the final version is
 expected to require.  Rumor mill is that the final version is not to be
 available before Oct 1993. (InfoWorld May 25/92; July 6/92; Vaporware 07/92;
 08/92.) Also PC Week Sept 28/92 points to a 3rd or 4th quarter 1993
 release date.  Some people see a July 4 release date (InfoWorld Nov 16/92)
OS/2: Unix like features and unix like requirements; 8 MB of RAM,
 a 60MB hard drive (uses 17-33MB on HD), and 386 CPU. Has to use a virtual
 swap file to use more then 16 MB RAM on ISA systems. IBM plans to use
 Taligent's OOPS in future versions of this. (InfoWorld Oct 26/92) 32-bit
 multithreaded, multitasking os.
AIX:  IBM's UNIX system, planned to be a subset of Taligent OS and PowerOpen.
Mac 7.0: {Maybe} Apple has System 7.0 running off Intel Chips and is looking
 at making this version available for IBM. {Another wait & see.  Maybe a
 testing of Apple OS code on a Intel chip for PowerOpen} (ComputerWorld Nov
 2/92) DOS programs will probably require an Emulator/interpreter to run, al
 la SoftPC.
PowerOpen(AU/X 4.0): Rumor is that this could be the OS for IBM's PowerPC 601
 due out in early 1993 [Apple's PowerPC 601 is not due out until Jan 1994.]
 {Supports the theory of Apple planning to be both a hardware and software
 company.}

Network (Includes printing)
Mac
Hardware: Connection is though the printer or modem port for AppleTalk which
needs special connectors beyond two machines ($15 and up)  Ethernet requires a
card [PDS or Nubus] in most present machines and the hardware support for each
machine runs about $250-$300.  TokenRing has recently come to the Mac world as
a network option.
Software: AppleTalk, Ethernet, and Novell Netware.  The first two are provided
with each machine though the server software is extra.
Printing requires connection of the printer and the printer being selected in
the chooser.  Changing printers is by selecting a different name in the
chooser.

IBM
Hardware: Appletalk (not widely used), Ethernet,  and TokenRing.
Software: Novell Netware, Banyan Vines, DECNet, Windows/Work Groups
Each of the MS-DOS networking schemes are, in general, totally incompatible
with the others. Once you have chosen one, you are pretty much locked-in to
that product line from then on.  Windows/Work Groups is a little more
forgiving and removes some of this problem.  Novell Netware is the biggest,
{It controls something like 80 percent of the corporate market.} and in
general is more powerful and offers better control/management/security than
AppleTalk, but it's designed around a mainframe type set-up.  This will change
due to the use of the Mac finder and file management system by Novell. (PC
Week and InfoWorld Dec 14/92)
Printing {Looks like a mess. Need more info}
DOS: If it's a single user, then you plug the printer into the parallel port,
 and don't worry about it. {Tweeking may be needed with poorly written
 software.}  Network Printing is not controlled by the system; it is mostly
 implemented by the actual program, therefor performance varies from one
 software program to the next.
Windows 3.x: supports standard drivers and can do a good job of showing "jobs"
 in the print queue, but it always lists printers as "active"... even if they
 are not.  This becomes a problem if there are several incompatible printers
 on the same net, because there's no way for software to reliably determine
 which printer is active right now.  Windows for Workgroups is more Mac-like
 and intelligent about this.
OS/2: Mac-like; the os deals with the printers, with apps making calls to the
 OS.

Price issue: Apple has dropped prices for dealers 15% to 20%
(MacWeek 8/17/92),  the Preforma line is out, and some IBM monitors can be
used with Macs which cuts some more of the cost. (MacUser Aug 1992:158-176)
IBM is planning cheap machines as well with a 25 MHz 386SLC model with a 60MB
hard drive and color VGA for less than $1,200 is planned.(MacWeek 8/17/92)
These changes will in the LONG term change the price issue. Too early to tell
though.

Bibliography notes
'Vaporware' is available in the digest/vapor directory on Sumex (36.44.0.6)
and is by Murphy Sewall, From APPLE PULP H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford)
News Letter  $24/year, P.O. Box 18027, East Hartford, CT 06118.
Phone #: "Bit Bucket" [phone] {"These are rumors folks; we reserve
the right to be dead wrong!"}
'Info-IBMPC Digest' back issues are available from wsmr-simtel20.army.mil in
directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>
'Dictionary of Computer Terms 3rd ed.' (ISBM 0-8120-4824-5)

These are the facts as they were known to me on 1/01/93 and may be changed by
new developments, announcements, or corrections.  Corrections to the
information are welcome.
Please email corrections to
CompuServe ID: 72130,3557
AOL: bruceg6069
Internet:  [e-mail]
or post them to comp.sys.mac.advocacy.