I was working on building a really slick interface on the NeXT between
DESCARTES* a hybrid connectionist simulator with Franz Allegro CL 3.1.20
[NeXT]. When I heard on the net, that it was rumored there are problems so
I wrote to Franz.
After communicating with the guys at Franz, I was forced to give up. It
seems that there is a REALLY SERIOUS bug in the Objective-C and
Application Kit, that results in a segmentation fault and other nasty
problems, when you try to make instances of even the most basic
Application Kit Classes.
Franz, has been trying to fix the problem, but apparently due to lack of
assistance by NeXT, are unable to isolate what NeXT changed between 1.X
and 2.0 of NeXT OS that has caused this problem. So we are forced to wait
till 3.0 Mach OS and 4.1 Allegro. We are talking 6 months here... The guys
at Franz are being most helpful and honest in respect to this problem, and
appear to be trying to fix the problem.
From what I gather, it is NeXT that is playing games here. WE LISP hackers
are such a *small* community, that they feel we are likely to generate
enough revenue in machine sales for them to be interested in helping
Franz.
I was 1/32 of an inch away from plunking down $7000.00 on a Turbo
NeXTStation so I could do my lisp hacking at home. Why should I if NeXT is
not interested in supporting vendors like Franz? Is it no wonder that
there are *rumors* of Franz dropping NeXT platforms after 4.1? If I
recall NeXT stopped bundling Franz LISP, because there weren't enough LISP
hackers out there...What does NeXT have against LISP hackers...? Is the
businessman the ultimate customer of NeXT? What would NeXT do if all the
vendors stopped building NeXT Apps because it currently has too small a
customer base to warrant spending hundreds of dollars developing or
upgrading software products? Let's face it, we are talking money
afterall...what group of users is next to go? Maybe the C programmers,
afterall businessmen don't write code!
I suggest that anyone who owns or is considering purchasing a NeXT and
uses LISP, if you don't want to be abandoned or considered
inconsequential, send e-mail and let NeXT know that they are risking
losing your business, afterall Franz supports many other platforms, and
I'm sure SUN wouldn't mind selling a few more SPARCs.
Stephanie Sandberg
········@huckleberry.sfsu.edu
* DESCARTES was developed at AI lab at UCLA.