4 ms·

The Macs won't old school at the time. They were high-end workstations for anyone who didn't need Unix and wanted a GUI that worked.

jambalaya8 2mo ago
true. the book was written before Windows was released.
- bradyd 2mo ago
  The book came out in 1990, the same year Windows 3.0 was released. Windows 1.0 was released in 1985 and 2.0 was released in 1987.
  - jambalaya8 2mo ago
    Almost noone used Windows until Windows 3.1. Not even engineering colleges. For intents and purposes, Windows does not really exist til 3.1 for most people. And that didn't even have a TCP/IP stack native; you had to install WinSock.
yjftsjthsd-h 2mo ago
Right. I just mean that macs running pre-Darwin Mac OS seem an odd choice.
- MomsAVoxell 2mo ago
  They’re an odd choice now. Back then they would have made sense as a UI to the Unix machines.
  - anthk 2mo ago
    Not much because a click on a menu would almost halt the entire network by design. Cheaper dumb Unix terminals were a thing where you jut used telnet and X forwarding.
    - aa-jv 2mo ago
      The early web was born on the back of Mac's connecting to SGI machines...
      - deleted 2mo ago
        [deleted]
      - ahartmetz 2mo ago
        Err, no. SGIs were first very expensive (3D) graphics workstations and later mostly also-rans in some other markets like storage and general-purpose big servers. Servers were Sun, x86, HP-PA, IBM R6000 RISC (and probably some more UNIX / RISC systems). Workstations were PC, Sun, Apple (mostly for graphics / design), some NeXT.
        aa-jv 2mo ago
        Er, yes. Many media companies onboarded to the web in the early 90's using SGI machines. The Indy was a very popular multi-host system for such things. It was not a graphics powerhouse and in many low-end configurations its primary function was web serving. (Disclaimer: I helped build the early web using SGI systems, with many major media companies as clients..)
        fleeno 2mo ago
        They even had the "WebFORCE" branding with the "to author and serve" tagline! I also did a lot of early web work on an Indy, and we hosted on a Challenge! I have a Challenge S right now, and when I got it the drive had web hosting setup for a car dealer.
        sillywalk 2mo ago
        There's a good series of articles on WebForce by the person at SGI who had the idea. Starts here: https://therealmccrea.com/2014/01/09/january-1994-a-very-good-month/ https://therealmccrea.com/2014/01/09/january-1994-a-very-goo...
anthk 2mo ago
More than high end, low-mid end for journalists, book writing and editing people, graphic designers, magazine producers and whatnot. Really high end machines were the Sun and SGI ones.

jambalaya8 2mo ago

true. the book was written before Windows was released.

bradyd 2mo ago
The book came out in 1990, the same year Windows 3.0 was released. Windows 1.0 was released in 1985 and 2.0 was released in 1987.
- jambalaya8 2mo ago
  Almost noone used Windows until Windows 3.1. Not even engineering colleges. For intents and purposes, Windows does not really exist til 3.1 for most people. And that didn't even have a TCP/IP stack native; you had to install WinSock.

yjftsjthsd-h 2mo ago

Right. I just mean that macs running pre-Darwin Mac OS seem an odd choice.

MomsAVoxell 2mo ago
They’re an odd choice now. Back then they would have made sense as a UI to the Unix machines.
- anthk 2mo ago
  Not much because a click on a menu would almost halt the entire network by design. Cheaper dumb Unix terminals were a thing where you jut used telnet and X forwarding.
  - aa-jv 2mo ago
    The early web was born on the back of Mac's connecting to SGI machines...
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
    - ahartmetz 2mo ago
      Err, no. SGIs were first very expensive (3D) graphics workstations and later mostly also-rans in some other markets like storage and general-purpose big servers. Servers were Sun, x86, HP-PA, IBM R6000 RISC (and probably some more UNIX / RISC systems). Workstations were PC, Sun, Apple (mostly for graphics / design), some NeXT.
      - aa-jv 2mo ago
        Er, yes. Many media companies onboarded to the web in the early 90's using SGI machines. The Indy was a very popular multi-host system for such things. It was not a graphics powerhouse and in many low-end configurations its primary function was web serving. (Disclaimer: I helped build the early web using SGI systems, with many major media companies as clients..)
        fleeno 2mo ago
        They even had the "WebFORCE" branding with the "to author and serve" tagline! I also did a lot of early web work on an Indy, and we hosted on a Challenge! I have a Challenge S right now, and when I got it the drive had web hosting setup for a car dealer.
        sillywalk 2mo ago
        There's a good series of articles on WebForce by the person at SGI who had the idea. Starts here: https://therealmccrea.com/2014/01/09/january-1994-a-very-good-month/ https://therealmccrea.com/2014/01/09/january-1994-a-very-goo...

anthk 2mo ago

More than high end, low-mid end for journalists, book writing and editing people, graphic designers, magazine producers and whatnot. Really high end machines were the Sun and SGI ones.