I heard on WTOP radio (Washington, DC) this morning that NeXT is getting out of the hardware business and trying to sell its factory to Canon. Their story was based on a San Francisco Chronicle article. Does anyone have the original?
Observations:
1. So half the observations I made before--that NeXT would dump its own low-end hardware in favor of NextStep/Intel powered peecee clones--are right. :-/
2. The stories of non-peecee clone Intel machines are almost certainly wrong. Think about how much effort it would take to write new device drivers for some wacko machine that would be as non-standard as the slabs and cubes.
3. This obviously makes the HP deal that much more important for high- performance NextStep. Remember that we have some very compute-intensive software (Renderman) as standard equipment. For it to be used as intended, which would be a real holy-cow sort of thing, fast CPUs and fast memory would be needed.
4. How does this affect the struggles between SJ and Canon that were talked about in InfoWorld and this group a few months ago? Will the factory be enough to buy off Canon so that NeXT can continue unimpeded?
Predictions? NeXT'll have their own OEMed line of peecee clones, complete with localbus video and (perhaps) DSP cards, in the near future. If we're all lucky, they'll also have an HP port done soon.
-- John Kuszewski jo...@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu I'm not an idiot, but I play one on USENET
>I heard on WTOP radio (Washington, DC) this morning that NeXT is getting >out of the hardware business and trying to sell its factory to Canon. >Their story was based on a San Francisco Chronicle article. Does anyone >have the original?
The gist of the article title "Next Inc. to Drop Hardware - 300 losing jobs in strategy shift":
* laying off 300 of 540 employees * negotiating with Canon to sell manufacturing plant * 69,300 workstations shipped last year (they meant _as of_ last year) * analysts state public offering 18+ months away * Official announcements will be made 2/16/93
Nothing else new, just garden variety "NeXTSTEP is good, hardware is not so competitive," "NeXT is 2-3 years ahead of their competitors" and let us not forget "NeXT will have a hard time competing because they're small."
Current equity breakdown: * Jobs 46% * Perot 11% * Canon 17.9% * Other (100 - 46 - 11 - 17.9)%
May I make a suggestion? Nobody say "I told you so!" Thanks! :)
Although NeXT's official word on its hardware future is not scheduled for another week, I'd like to ENCOURAGE NeXT to make the announcement ASAP due to the widespread leak.
While I agree with the move, I find the timing to be very bad. My client's first "go live" is scheduled for May on 5 NeXTstations. Our customer isn't happy about buying discontinued hardware (who would be ?-( But we'll have no alternative for him in May because NS-Intel will still be in beta. So my client could lose his first sale because of this which will make his survival very difficult. NeXT had better have a very convincing announcement VERY SOON. --
Art Isbell Cubic Solutions NeXT Registered Developer #745 NeXT software development and consulting NeXTmail: isb...@cats.UCSC.EDU Voice: (408)335-1154 USmail: 95018-9442 Fax: (408)335-2515
The Sun salespeople are already out trying to scare NeXT customers away from NeXT. We've received 2 calls today, one of them mentioning Bud Tribble (who's now at Sun). They're trying to convince us to abandon NeXTSTEP and go with Solaris (boy, do they have a lot of convincing to do :-) But for customers who have taken a chance to go with NeXT and are nervous about having done so, Sun may be able to scare them away from NeXT. It's a nasty business out there. --
Art Isbell Cubic Solutions NeXT Registered Developer #745 NeXT software development and consulting NeXTmail: isb...@cats.UCSC.EDU Voice: (408)335-1154 USmail: 95018-9442 Fax: (408)335-2515
>> The Sun salespeople are already out trying to scare NeXT customers >> away from NeXT. We've received 2 calls today, one of them mentioning >> Bud Tribble (who's now at Sun). They're trying to convince us to >> abandon NeXTSTEP and go with Solaris (boy, do they have a lot of >> convincing to do :-) But for customers who have taken a chance to >> go with NeXT and are nervous about having done so, Sun may be able >> to scare them away from NeXT. It's a nasty business out there.
>If NeXT succeeds with NeXTSTEP on 486 & Pentium machines, I'd expect people >to be a lot less worried about going with NeXT then they were before. If >they also have NeXTSTEP running on HP chips, it will be Sun who should be >the nervous one. With NeXT running on 486's as the low end and HP-PA at the >high end, it'll be an awfully attractive system.
Do people realize that as of this "no more hardware" leak, NeXT no longer has a product? NS 486, oh yeah. er, when did they say it would be out?
Also, NeXT, to make it as a software company, will have to have software to sell. I could see some pretty intersting discussion coming up on the net . . .
--vin v...@netcom.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If productivity can really be measured as the rate at which lines of code are produced, why not just use a tight loop to spew code as fast as possible, and send the programmers home? --Brad Cox
isb...@cats.ucsc.edu (Art Isbell) writes: > The Sun salespeople are already out trying to scare NeXT customers > away from NeXT. We've received 2 calls today, one of them mentioning > Bud Tribble (who's now at Sun). They're trying to convince us to > abandon NeXTSTEP and go with Solaris (boy, do they have a lot of > convincing to do :-) But for customers who have taken a chance to > go with NeXT and are nervous about having done so, Sun may be able > to scare them away from NeXT. It's a nasty business out there.
If NeXT succeeds with NeXTSTEP on 486 & Pentium machines, I'd expect people to be a lot less worried about going with NeXT then they were before. If they also have NeXTSTEP running on HP chips, it will be Sun who should be the nervous one. With NeXT running on 486's as the low end and HP-PA at the high end, it'll be an awfully attractive system.
Of course, it is certainly true that it's a nasty business out there...
-- Garance Alistair Drosehn = g...@eclipse.its.rpi.edu ITS Systems Programmer (handles NeXT-type mail) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy NY USA
> Although NeXT's official word on its hardware future is not scheduled for > another week, I'd like to ENCOURAGE NeXT to make the announcement ASAP due to > the widespread leak.
> While I agree with the move, I find the timing to be very bad. My client's > first "go live" is scheduled for May on 5 NeXTstations. Our customer isn't > happy about buying discontinued hardware (who would be ?-( But we'll have no > alternative for him in May because NS-Intel will still be in beta. So my > client could lose his first sale because of this which will make his survival > very difficult. NeXT had better have a very convincing announcement
VERY SOON.
Well said Art.
It is hard to beat out some of the competing platforms and it will be real hard to beat them with discontinued hardware and only intel machines to sell. Which turns us immediately into Gateway/Dell salesperson. Now, of course I have been talking to Gateway for some time now in anticipation of any move. As a reseller, it places you in a holding pattern.
-- Neil Greene President, Kentucky NeXT User Group, Inc. Email: n...@kynug.org [NeXTMail]
In article <1l96l8INN...@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> isb...@cats.ucsc.edu (Art Isbell) writes:
>The Sun salespeople are already out trying to scare NeXT customers away from >NeXT. We've received 2 calls today, one of them mentioning Bud Tribble (who's >now at Sun). They're trying to convince us to abandon NeXTSTEP and go with >Solaris (boy, do they have a lot of convincing to do :-) But for customers who
Out of curiousity, I keep seeing posts regarding the alienation of users that Solaris is causing. Anybody willing to send me email detailing why? (Solaris hasn't gotten a lot of press--a bit of a dark horse--so I have no idea..)
In article <justin.729319693@hp750> jus...@hp750.me.engr.uky.edu (Justin Sullivan) writes:
>RUN - don't walk - to your nearest HP representative. Don't let your NeXT >do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the >time it gets anything done.
I usually stay out of these "mini" flames, but Justin, most of us don't do "Computational Fluid Dynamics" or our NeXT.... and trully, a HP 9000/750 is $$$ more than my lowlly NeXTstataion color.
I'm sure my DSP can crank some horsepower ... but not for what you have in mind.
To each his own ... and honsetly ... the NeXT ain't a "slug".
jp...@macbeth.umd.edu (Robert Stephen Rodgers) writes:
> Out of curiousity, I keep seeing posts regarding the alienation > of users that Solaris is causing. Anybody willing to send me > email detailing why? (Solaris hasn't gotten a lot of press--a > bit of a dark horse--so I have no idea..)
Over in the group of the One True Computing Platform (comp.sys.hp :), a fellow just commented: "Sun really dropped the ball on that one.." referring to their abandoning of their most precious creation: SunOS. He mentioned that he really missed BSD4.3-based stuff, and let's face it.. Jumping from that arena into SVR4 in less than a year is quite a step.
You're now going to have lots of people (misguided purists, hopeless academics and lazy scientists) scratching their heads when they get a new SPARCstation (10?) with Solaris 2.x preinstalled.. The local NeXTadmin spent over an hour trying to figure out how to make a printing modification on this HP 9000/750. It wouldn't have taken me ten seconds, but the point is that he was completely unaccustomed to SVR4. He must have pulled his hair out when he didn't find 'lpd' running. Then he called it 'nonstandard.' <shaking head> Am I to blame because he's been corrupted by a mangy little workstation? Has it come as a surprise to everyone that their little black slabs are being orphaned by the faltering company that created them?
RUN - don't walk - to your nearest HP representative. Don't let your NeXT do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the time it gets anything done. -- * Justin P. Sullivan * jus...@engr.uky.edu (Internet) * * System Administrator * jus...@mik.uky.edu (NeXTMail) * * Computational Fluid Dynamics * JUSTIN@UKCC (BITNET) * * (606) 257-2268 * ukma!engr.uky.edu!justin (UUCP) *
Apart from the occasional "NeXT should only make X terminals" type comments, it seems that the overwhelming view of csna has been that NeXT should drop hardware and concentrate on making NeXTSTEP ubiquitous. Hmmmm... lessee... NeXT drops hardware and is concentrating on NeXTSTEP. I expected to hear the sound of champagne corks popping, not whines about the market value of their slabs! :/
I, for one, am more optimistic than ever (and I've nothing vested in the whole game).
BTW: from today's SF Chronicle (I don't subscribe, really!): ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Confirms Exit From Hardware Next Computer Inc., of Redwood City, the computer-workstation company founded by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs, confirmed a report in yesterday's Chronicle that it will sell its hardware business to Canon, Inc., the Japanese electronics company [*not* the Indiana-based poultry packer!].
Canon owns 17.9 percent of Next after investing $165 million over the past five years. Under the agreement, Canon will forgive Next's debt from a $55 million credit line [thank you very much] that it negotiated last year.
Next, which employs 535 people, will lay off 280 workers outright. Fifty- five works will leave Next but may have an opportunity to join Canon, a Next spokeswoman said. Next, which will keep 200 workers, expects to complete the transaction by May. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Apart from the occasional "NeXT should only make X terminals" type > comments, it seems that the overwhelming view of csna has been that > NeXT should drop hardware and concentrate on making NeXTSTEP > ubiquitous. Hmmmm... lessee... NeXT drops hardware and is > concentrating on NeXTSTEP. I expected to hear the sound of > champagne corks popping, not whines about the market value of > their slabs! :/
> I, for one, am more optimistic than ever (and I've nothing vested > in the whole game).
While this move is pretty much what many people have pestered NeXT to do, the timing of it is odd (to say the least). If this happened after NS-Intel was a real, shipping product (and people were confident that it works as well or better than NS 3.0 on NeXT hardware), then this move would seem almost inevitable.
Doing it now when NS-Intel isn't a buyable product yet, and doing it after this "awful" hardware has just helped to give NeXT a profitable quarter, seems rather bizzare timing. What, they couldn't stand to have two profitable quarters in a row or something?
The biggest problem with this is probably not the move itself, but opportunity it gives to a number of other companies to rush around and misrepresent what the story is. Reading some of these accounts, one gets the impression that NeXT was never and could never produce competitive hardware. That alone is not true. When the 040 NeXTstations were introduced they were extremely good boxes for the $$$.
Most the articles are long on details on how the hardware is not competitive (which, at the moment, is true), and then toss in some little blurb saying "Oh yeah, the operating system is pretty nice". This doesn't bother me personally, but I can see how the ratio of good news to bad news might make a number of NeXT corporate buyers a little uneasy.
-- Garance Alistair Drosehn = g...@eclipse.its.rpi.edu ITS Systems Programmer (handles NeXT-type mail) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy NY USA
(I'm speaking as someone who *almost* bought a NeXTstation color turbo two weeks ago, but am now resigned to waiting for some Intel or (preferably) HP-based box to run NeXTstep on)
>>>RUN - don't walk - to your nearest HP representative. Don't let your NeXT >>>do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the >>>time it gets anything done.
>> I usually stay out of these "mini" flames, but Justin, most of >>us don't do "Computational Fluid Dynamics" or our NeXT.... and trully, a >>HP 9000/750 is $$$ more than my lowlly NeXTstataion color.
>> I'm sure my DSP can crank some horsepower ... but not for what >>you have in mind.
>> To each his own ... and honsetly ... the NeXT ain't a "slug". >>>--
Justin,
RUN - don't walk - to your nearest CRAY representative. Don't let your HP do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the time it gets anything done.
As Einstein said...It's all relative.
-- Ronald Pomeroy "VisualWorks - the *only* real competition for IB" Advanced Micro Devices CAM Applications Group rpome...@aunext1.amd.com (NeXTmail preferred)
In article <1993Feb10.173853.11...@netcom.com>, yi...@netcom.com (Michael Brill) writes: >[miscellaneous doom and gloom happily deleted]
>Apart from the occasional "NeXT should only make X terminals" type comments, >it seems that the overwhelming view of csna has been that NeXT should drop >hardware and concentrate on making NeXTSTEP ubiquitous. Hmmmm... lessee... >NeXT drops hardware and is concentrating on NeXTSTEP. I expected to hear >the sound of champagne corks popping, not whines about the market value of >their slabs! :/
I think the timing is perhaps the biggest problem. At this point, it would be silly to go and buy a NeXT, since it's to be discontinued. But there's no other way to get NeXTSTEP! That means that until the 486 version ships, the NeXTSTEP market _will_not_grow_! If you're a small start up software company hoping to make money off your products, this will not make you happy. It would have been much better (for the NeXT developer) if the announcement were to come _after_ NS486 is on the shelves in the local software store... then there would be an alternative to move to! I'll bet NeXT sales drop to near zero starting now and will stay that way until NS486 has shipped. And how much longer will it be delayed? Perhaps only way NeXT will be able to get any sales at all is to drop the prices on the hardware. (Can you say fire sale?) If that happens, I'll snap up a few slabs, though. It's good hardware, and will be good for several years. At a reduced price... well, everyone is this group has been telling NeXT to drop their prices anyway. Wish granted? :-)
>I, for one, am more optimistic than ever (and I've nothing vested in the >whole game).
I haven't lost a positive outlook, and I simply hope to high heaven that somebody at NeXT knows what they're doing...perhaps there's a few hidden factors that we aren't aware of that make this decision rosier than it appears on the surface. At any rate, I'm trying to speed up the projects I'm working on for now...if NeXT does come out on top after this, I want to be sure I'm there! Let's also hope that the small start up software companies survive the upcoming lack of sales which might (_might_ == NOT guaranteed, but it wouldn't surprise me if it happened) happen. Even if NeXT survives, I would not want to see companies like Srone Design, Lighthouse, and Right Brain disappear. They are a much, much better alternative to MicroSnot and Word(im)Perfect by a long shot!
Folks, let's lighten up a bit, "nightmare" or not! If we look beyond the next 6 months, things don't look quite so bad.
In article <5...@byu.edu> ya...@idaho.et.byu.edu (Don Yacktman) writes:
>I think the timing is perhaps the biggest problem. At this point, it >would be silly to go and buy a NeXT, since it's to be discontinued. But >there's no other way to get NeXTSTEP! That means that until the 486 version
At least this takes care of the Fatbinaries/cross-compiling thread quite nicely. It's importance, in the light of NeXT's decision, is minor.
>local software store... then there would be an alternative to move to! >I'll bet NeXT sales drop to near zero starting now and will stay that way >until NS486 has shipped. And how much longer will it be delayed? Perhaps >only way NeXT will be able to get any sales at all is to drop the >prices on the hardware. (Can you say fire sale?) If that happens, I'll
Maybe we finally hit upon a strategy to get NeXT to maintain price parity with the rest of the industry.
> After the next 6 months, things should be looking up.
Yep. the price of a '486 machine should be down to about $1800 for a nice one. And the Pentium mightbe out.
-- "The waste.. The waste sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Just the thought that all of those animals are being put into garbage bags and thrown in lakes or dumpsters when they could be gloves or shoe laces, or feeding the homeless." (kill file suggestion: "/ :rsrodger/h :j")
You should have shown him SAM, and taught him to alias: lprm -> cancel lpq -> lpstat lpr already exists as a script. I used sam 36 times last week to set up the 36 incarnations of my NeXT on SLIP (randomly assigned hostnames, every time I log in) to be able to print on my NeXT_Printer from HP-UX. I found HP-UX system administration completely painless -- about the same as using Installer.app on the NeXT (provided you read the manual, of course). -- Hardy ----- Meinhard E. Mayer, Department of Physics, UC Irvine e-mail: ha...@golem.ps.uci.edu (preferred) or MMA...@UCI.BITNET !!!! NO NEXTMAIL TO THESE ADDRESSES, PLEASE !!!!!
>>>RUN - don't walk - to your nearest CRAY representative. Don't let your HP >>>do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the >>>time it gets anything done.
>>>As Einstein said...It's all relative.
>>Considering that we have a respectable fraction of a Cray's performance at >>a terrific fraction of the cost, and given that performance will more than >>double when it's upgraded around March to a 755 for a pittance, I would >>have to think that a Cray rep would try to sell me something I don't need >>for a price that would bankrupt our already-bankrupt institution. >>-- >>* Justin P. Sullivan * jus...@engr.uky.edu (Internet) * >>* System Administrator * jus...@mik.uky.edu (NeXTMail) * >>* Computational Fluid Dynamics * JUSTIN@UKCC (BITNET) * >>* (606) 257-2268 * ukma!engr.uky.edu!justin (UUCP) *
Well, say what you will but every person in my office (with NeXTs) was offered an HP for his desk (to replace their turbo color slabs). They *AL*L said "NO THANKS". With Co-Xist I can tap the HP's cpu no trouble. Heck, with Co-Xist my machine feels every bit as fast as running local on the HP. Also, every person with an HP one his/her desk also has a Mac and or a PC on their desk. The NeXT users have one (granted - orphaned now) computer on their desk. I will continue to be productive on my slab.
Now, as soon as I can have NeXTSTEP/HP I'll tell my boss I'll take that machine whenever he's ready!!
Cheers! -- Ronald Pomeroy "VisualWorks - the *only* real competition for IB" Advanced Micro Devices CAM Applications Group rpome...@aunext1.amd.com (NeXTmail preferred)
kgn...@cs.concordia.ca (MATIS stephane) writes: > I usually stay out of these "mini" flames, but Justin, most of >us don't do "Computational Fluid Dynamics" or our NeXT.... and trully, a >HP 9000/750 is $$$ more than my lowlly NeXTstataion color.
Well, you get what you pay for.. And you got screwed. It would really piss me off if the company that created the center of my life just pulled the rug right out from under me. If no one has looked lately, that black slug of yours has been quietly beaten by everthing that's new and in.
> I'm sure my DSP can crank some horsepower ... but not for what
DSP wasn't put to very effective use, and it's a shame, but you won't get a DSP on a stock 486.. Something else NeXT quit on? Perhaps they get their new 'quitter' philosophy from a previous board member who goes by HRP..
>RUN - don't walk - to your nearest CRAY representative. Don't let your HP >do it: It crawls like a crippled sea slug. You'll be old and gray by the >time it gets anything done. >As Einstein said...It's all relative.
Considering that we have a respectable fraction of a Cray's performance at a terrific fraction of the cost, and given that performance will more than double when it's upgraded around March to a 755 for a pittance, I would have to think that a Cray rep would try to sell me something I don't need for a price that would bankrupt our already-bankrupt institution. -- * Justin P. Sullivan * jus...@engr.uky.edu (Internet) * * System Administrator * jus...@mik.uky.edu (NeXTMail) * * Computational Fluid Dynamics * JUSTIN@UKCC (BITNET) * * (606) 257-2268 * ukma!engr.uky.edu!justin (UUCP) *
In article <1993Feb10.041415.10...@netcom.com> v...@netcom.com (Vin
Locke) writes: > Do people realize that as of this "no more hardware" leak, > NeXT no longer has a product? NS 486, oh yeah. er, when did > they say it would be out?
As someone who makes a living selling software products for the machine it has crossed my mind...
Also as a company who has spent a fair amount of time and money developing a software product that requires a NeXT box (not a PC running NeXTSTEP) we have had our fair share of interesting internal discussions over the last few days...
Gordon -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Gordon Van Huizen vox: 619.488.9411 fax: 619.488.3045 Metrosoft g...@metrosoft.com [NeXTmail welcome] ----------------------------------------------------------------
Essentially this would be a good thing: with NeXT out of the HW biz, the other workstation manufactures would not view them as a competitor, and would line up to license NeXTSTEP.
Then we would have our real goal, which is to see NeXTSTEP running all over the place.
-- Barry Merriman UCLA Dept. of Math UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research ba...@math.ucla.edu (Internet; NeXTMail is welcome)
ba...@arnold.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes: > Essentially this would be a good thing: with NeXT > out of the HW biz, the other workstation manufactures would > not view them as a competitor, and would line up to license > NeXTSTEP.
> Then we would have our real goal, which is to see NeXTSTEP > running all over the place.
But for some (many?) of us, that wasnt' the *only* goal.
For all the pricing problems of NeXT hardware (thanks a lot to all the NeXT "marketing" people), they built a good machine that offered plenty of performance even when compared to supposedly faster RISC systems. I was personally attracted to the sharp 17" megapixel display, and the keyboard and mouse. I prefer them to any other user-interface gear I've seen, and I've seen plenty.
I feel like a violinist that was just told that my favorite strings and bow wouldn't be sold any more, but it was a good thing because now I can play my music in more concert halls, I just have to use rubber bands for strings and a baseball bat for a bow.
I truly hope Canon will place it's name on the hardware line, especially the almost-completed Power-PC machine, sell them at competitive prices, and keep them painted BLACK.
-- Nathan Janette PPP link from hilbert.csb.yale.edu
Please reply to: nat...@laplace.csb.yale.edu (NeXT)
> ya...@idaho.et.byu.edu (Don Yacktman) writes >I think the timing is perhaps the biggest problem. At this point, it >would be silly to go and buy a NeXT, since it's to be discontinued. But >there's no other way to get NeXTSTEP! That means that until the 486 version >ships, the NeXTSTEP market _will_not_grow_!
Agreed. Timing isn't great - say about a week too early. I had it that NeXT planned a slew of announcements for February 16th including the status of hardware, strategic alliances, etc. Given the fact that they're not hemoraging cash (attaining profitability last quarter), I find it hard to believe that there isn't a good reason for making the announcement now (er, the 16th). My guess is that there is a whole lot of very positive news vis-a-vis strategic h/w alliances (HP beyond rumor stage, McNealy seen by several folks at NeXT last week) and this is a good time to announce the complete restructuring. So, the net effect of the announcements is that NeXT is truly becoming a s/w company and has signed up h/w vendors and *SOLD* [_not_ just dumping] off their h/w division. I think timing is truly unfortunate to have the only perceivable (to some) bad news being announced by itself. I also thing it would be a rather grusome event to have NeXT announce that it's dropping h/w in the middle of NWE! Note that this is speculation... reasonably well-informed speculation, but speculation nonetheless.
>If you're a small start up >software company hoping to make money off your products, this will not >make you happy. It would have been much better (for the NeXT developer) >if the announcement were to come _after_ NS486 is on the shelves in the >local software store... then there would be an alternative to move to!
Yeah, I think that the news for immediately increasing market size is not promising. Let's say sales drop by 75% until NWE... that's what... maybe 5,000 machines. I don't think that'll tank any s/w companies given the fact that most of them are doing custom development anyway. I think if anything, this will give the supply of able NeXTSTEP programmers a chance to catch up with the great demand! :) :) The upside for s/w developers is that there is now a 100% focus on making NeXTSTEP run on many platforms which has orders of magnitude more impact than NeXT hanging on to h/w for a few more months.
>Perhaps only way NeXT will be able to get any sales at all is to drop the >prices on the hardware. (Can you say fire sale?) If that happens, I'll >snap up a few slabs, though. It's good hardware, and will be good >for several years. At a reduced price... well, everyone is this group >has been telling NeXT to drop their prices anyway. Wish granted? :-)
They probably don't need all of the _used_ machines they have, so maybe those will go away. New machines... I don't think they have warehouses full of them, but the ones they do have might be going with Canon?
>At any rate, I'm trying to speed up the projects >I'm working on for now...if NeXT does come out on top after this, I want to >be sure I'm there!
Change is odd. It's something that everyone clamors for and when it happens it really scares people. This is change. If you keep your eyes open and stay the course... who knows, you could be the next MicroSnot!
In article <c663...@rpi.edu> g...@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn) writes: [munch]
>While this move is pretty much what many people have pestered NeXT to do, >the timing of it is odd (to say the least). If this happened after NS-Intel >was a real, shipping product (and people were confident that it works as >well or better than NS 3.0 on NeXT hardware), then this move would seem >almost inevitable.
[munch]
The timing is odd because the story was leaked. :-)
As a matter of fact, NeXT is still making their computers. They will be filling back-orders for black boxes until May 25th (is that date a coincidence or what? :-).
Canon has not said anything about what they are going to do. There will probably make some statement next week.
For those who are worried that they suddenly have a black paperweight on their desk, take it easy. NeXT will NOT drop software support for their hardware for quite some time yet. According to a UPI news item on ClariNet, NeXT sold about 69,000 units in 1992. Together with previous years, there are probably about 90,000 NeXT computers out there. It would be complete madness to abandon that many users.
Take a deep breath. Exhale slowly. Repeat as necessary. Feel better? :-)
-- Peter Karbaliotis - pe...@beast.math.ualberta.ca - NeXTmail ok When a particle you don't even know gives you momentum, that's impulse.
In article <1993Feb10.173853.11...@netcom.com> yi...@netcom.com (Michael Brill) writes: * [miscellaneous doom and gloom happily deleted]
* Apart from the occasional "NeXT should only make X terminals" * type comments, it seems that the overwhelming view of csna * has been that NeXT should drop hardware and concentrate on * making NeXTSTEP ubiquitous.
* Hmmmm... lessee... NeXT drops hardware and IS concentrating * on NeXTSTEP. I expected to hear the sound of champagne * corks popping, not whines about the market value of their slabs! * * I, for one, am more optimistic than ever (and I've nothing * vested in the whole game). Well said Mike. We had a talk about this yesterday. We decided to keep our heads down and continue working on the stuff on which we're working. To let events such as these jerk us around now is foolish. As I said to a friend this morning:
``NeXT have pulled the plug on the hardware line, and announced they're now a software only company, with their value added being NeXTSTEP, Object Oriented development, and Display PostScript. We decided not to let this sea change deflect us, since we're writing to a software platform that won't change, as opposed to a specific machine (amazing how many people can't figure this out).
They have NeXTSTEP running on the 486 and the Pentium. Market watchers estimate Intel will sell 23 million Pentium chips in the first year. Assume NeXTSTEP appears on only one percent of those Pentium chips -- that's 230,000 systems, for a market four times bigger than NeXT's current installed base.''
