Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!cgi.COM!FERGUSON From: FERGUSON@cgi.COM (JAY FERGUSON) Newsgroups: comp.sys.xerox Subject: not quite the last word Message-ID: <8805111319.AA12275@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 11 May 88 13:09:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 30 I just can't let Christopher have the last word... I have worked on Exploerers, Symbolics, Suns and MicroVaxs but have found no machine that comes close to the Xerox. Why? Well, I will grant you it is not the performance of the hardware. I would like to point out that I have not had any major performance problems solving complex problems. We would all like to have a 100 mips on our desk. Most performance problems within AI and symbolic processing are due to poor design and architecture of the solution! The characteristics that make the Xerox great is the environment. NO other environment approaches the integration of useful programming tools or as well a thought out interactive environment. I constantly observe engineers spending 5 to 20 times as long building systems in other environments as it would take in Interlisp. When you look at the price, $20-25k last time I checked, it is still the most economical environment to do serious AI. The 1186 hardware is incredibly dependable and you will not find better service anywhere! You can't even buy the new Micro-Explorer in a reasonable configuration for less than than $25k! I have given Xerox the highest recommendation that I can - I bought one for myself. One of the best investments that I have ever made. Jay Ferguson p.s. If anyone out in net land wants to sell thier 1186's for parts I would be glad to hear from you. I have had mine for almost three years and it has only recently started to show signs of age.