New improved NEXTSTEP EXPO!!#%$
Sean Woodhouse
So what does everyone think about the new NEXTSTEP EXPO format, ie.seperate
conferences in North America and Europe?? I can understand NeXT wanting to
reach out to more developers but this format makes it prohibitively expensive
for small companies to show their wares to the NEXTSTEP community. Personally
I think NeXT should hold multiple developer conferences, but don't get rid of
the 'main event' (being NEXTSTEP EXPO in San Francisco). I see this as NeXT
turning it's back on the small software and hardware developers who depend on
the EXPO to get sales and expose themselves. With the demise of NeXTWorld and
now NEXTSTEP EXPO it's getting harder and harder to reach prospective
NEXTSTEP clients.
Sean.
---------------------------------------------------------
Sean Woodhouse Software Engineer
Xedoc Software Development Pty Ltd, Melbourne AUSTRALIA
se...@xedoc.com.au
---------------------------------------------------------
Wes Spears
> Hi guys,
>
> So what does everyone think about the new NEXTSTEP EXPO
> format, ie.seperate conferences in North America and Europe??
> I can understand NeXT wanting to reach out to more developers
> but this format makes it prohibitively expensive for small
> companies to show their wares to the NEXTSTEP community.
> Personally I think NeXT should hold multiple developer
> conferences, but don't get rid of the 'main event' (being
> NEXTSTEP EXPO in San Francisco). I see this as NeXT turning
> it's back on the small software and hardware developers who
> depend on the EXPO to get sales and expose themselves. With
> the demise of NeXTWorld and now NEXTSTEP EXPO it's getting
> harder and harder to reach prospective NEXTSTEP clients.
>
> Sean.
>
>
keeping in line with the MCCA approach, it now seems that NeXT is actively
killing other aspects of the NeXT community.
Expo was a fun gathering place that allowed networking between many
diverse groups. Now, the bulk of the people at these deal swill be
developers, which is not bad, but where do users fit in. Where do the
CEO, CFO, and CIO people fit in. Where do they get to get a feel for the
community?
This is really not a smart thing to do. The last thing that you want to
do is to go into hiding, and that is what this seems to be.
Thanks
Wes
--
Wes Spears | NeXTMail Welcome
jsp...@weston.com | MIME MAil Welcome
The Weston Group |
8524 Highway 6 North, 162 | Voice (713) 827-2650
Alexander Spohr
>
> So what does everyone think about the new NEXTSTEP EXPO format, ie.seperate
> conferences in North America and Europe?? I can understand NeXT wanting to
> reach out to more developers but this format makes it prohibitively expensive
> for small companies to show their wares to the NEXTSTEP community. Personally
> I think NeXT should hold multiple developer conferences, but don't get rid of
> the 'main event' (being NEXTSTEP EXPO in San Francisco). I see this as NeXT
> turning it's back on the small software and hardware developers who depend on
> the EXPO to get sales and expose themselves. With the demise of NeXTWorld and
> now NEXTSTEP EXPO it's getting harder and harder to reach prospective
> NEXTSTEP clients.
>
Sh..! One more reason lost to get my boss to buy me a ticket to SF :-(
Atze
Chuck Waltrip
I agree.
In article <3ea67b$a...@yarrina.connect.com.au> se...@xedoc.com.au (Sean
Woodhouse) writes:
p...@umich.edu
> So what does everyone think about the new NEXTSTEP EXPO format, ie.seperate
> conferences in North America and Europe?? I can understand NeXT wanting to
> reach out to more developers but this format makes it prohibitively expensive
> for small companies to show their wares to the NEXTSTEP community. Personally
Unless, of course, you happen to be a European company.
Perhaps you might offer a reciprocal dual booth with some company who is
planning to go only to the NE-Europe?
Hell, if NE-Asia ever comes to pass, you can travel less, set up a three-way
deal, and have your products covered in 3 expos!
--
Peter Urka <p...@umich.edu>
Dept. of Chemistry, Univ. of Michigan
Anything to me is sweeter,
Than to see Shock-headed Peter. - H. Hoffmann
Ken Anderson
don't make it impossible for someone to have access to as many vendors as
possible at one event. Splitting up the main exposition hall means
developers will only show at one, if any.
In article <3ea67b$a...@yarrina.connect.com.au> se...@xedoc.com.au (Sean
Woodhouse) writes:
Ernest Prabhakar
a) they're still running away from that NEXTWORLD lawsuit, so they're
avoiding anything that looks like NEXTWORLD Expo.
b) they couldn't find enough vendors to fill up Moscone.
Lets face it, there ain't that many ISVs left, and even last year a lot
of them chose not to exhibit. A lot of the cost-sharing came from
people buying booth space - and if people don't buy it, they can't hold
it in Moscone. Heck, even last year the amount of non-developer stuff
was way down.
I'm curious how many vendors who went to last year's Expo realized a
net profit from the trip (in terms of new orders vs. expenses).
So what'll happen? Where did people read that "regional" meant
one-per-continent? I thought it meant something like East Coast, West
Coast, Midwest, Europe, Japan... like that.
NeXT and DCI claimed they want to preserve the "camaraderie and
idea-sharing" of Expo, but its not clear they can manage it with
several smaller venues. It was neat rubbing shoulders with people from
Australia and the Netherlands, which almost surely won't happen for
small regional meetings. I sent them mail from nugi asking about it,
but we'll have to wait and see.
I do think we as the NeXT community need some sort of rallying place to
just hang out. Our best bet may be to host a BOF at some other
conference: UNIFORUM, Comdex, SunExpo?
Wherever Andy decides to hold the Rave, that is where our true home
will be! ;-)
Also, a couple of questions on points Steve & others raised:
1) Speaking of magazines, does anybody count Object Magazine and
OpenStep solutions? They're not a flashy as NeXTWORLD, or as fun as
NIL, but they seem fairly reputable. Even the OM part reports on NeXT
developers.
2) User Groups aren't dead, but they are tired. Still, I have
personally been surprised at the amount of vitality remaining, and how
many people have offered to help with various nugi endeavors. For us,
regional conferences might actually be a boon, as it might pull
together the user groups in the area to do something highly visible in
cooperation with NeXT and vendors..
Historically, the UG side of Expo was handled by an extremely dedicated
but fairly closed group of people that didn't have a lot of ties to
other UGs. With the reorganization of nugi, we may have a chance to
actually get the local user groups involved in something directly.
Only time will tell whether we'll get that chance - and how we'll use
it.
-- Ernie P.
--
Ernest N. Prabhakar, President, NEXTSTEP/OpenStep User Groups Intnl.
http://www.cithep.caltech.edu/~ernest NeXTMail:ern...@caltech.edu
"...and ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake." - II Cor 4:5b
"I speak for myself, and often for 'nugi', but never for Caltech."
Michael Rutchik
<ern...@pundit.cithep.caltech.edu> writes:
> <...>
> I do think we as the NeXT community need some sort of rallying place to
> just hang out. Our best bet may be to host a BOF at some other
> conference: UNIFORUM, Comdex, SunExpo?
Lets agree here and now, while there's still time, that it'll be SunExpo.
Even if we have to cram all the ISV's into shared booths (2 or three
aisles under a giant banner announcing "OpenStep Solutions blah blah
blah"), it makes great sense to have a major NEXTSTEP presence at the
first SunExpo after the release of OpenStep.
I didn't attend SunExpo last year, but I understand from a reliable source
that it was very impressive and "relatively" fun. The NEXTSTEP community
should be able to turn relative into Absolute (nostrovya ;-)
I've got a Sparc20 at work as my fileserver. I am simply nuts about the
hardware as well as the underlying performance of the OS.
..Then there's Solaris.
But I'm certain that all those poor Solaris users will be simply ecstatic
about upgrading to OpenStep once they meet all the party animals that
typically attend NeXTEXPO. Not to mention the hands-on experience with all
those great NeXT apps. Heck, they'll probably rename it OpenStepExpo in
'96.
> Wherever Andy decides to hold the Rave, that is where our true home
> will be! ;-)
Dear Mr. Stone,
This is to inform you that this years NEXTSTEP EXPO,
not unlike the operating system, has been integrated into the
SunExpo & Developers Conference. Please adjust the date of
your annual RAVE to coincide with the Sun show.
Expect an increase in the number of UNIX experts
attending. You'll want to keep an eye on the punch. You'll
also want to print several thousand extra flyers for this most
famous event.
We look forward to integrating you into our
environment Mr. OpenStone.
Sincerely,
The Management
Michael Rutchik (a NEXTSTEP end user)
Senior Graphic Designer Designer
The Clorox Company MM Graphics
mic...@clxgraph.com mic...@mmgraph.com
NeXTmail welcome NeXTmail welcome
Thomas Engel
> Lets agree here and now, while there's still time, that it'll be
SunExpo.
This _definitly_ makes sense.
Aloha
Tomi
STEPeople Usergroup
_________________________________________________________
(to...@shinto.nbg.sub.org) Thomas Engel
Neptunstr. 9
NeXTMail welcome D - 90522 Oberasbach
Germany
Paul Lynch
writes:
> In article <3ea67b$a...@yarrina.connect.com.au> se...@xedoc.com.au (Sean
> Woodhouse) writes:
>
> > So what does everyone think about the new NEXTSTEP EXPO format,
ie.seperate
> > conferences in North America and Europe?? I can understand NeXT
wanting to
> > reach out to more developers but this format makes it prohibitively
expensive
> > for small companies to show their wares to the NEXTSTEP community.
Personally
>
> Unless, of course, you happen to be a European company.
> Perhaps you might offer a reciprocal dual booth with some company who is
> planning to go only to the NE-Europe?
I agree with Sean; this is the dumbest move I have seen in a long time
from NeXT.
Even for a European company, it is far cheaper to attend Expo in San
Francisco than it would be to attend 5 conferences all over. The time
involved alone is enough to make it impossible.
For NeXT, as they have said, the most valuable part of the Expo is
undoubtedly the developer sessions; they make money from them. I won't
deny their value, but for my company, we get so much more from meeting the
global NeXT community that there is no comparison. I would rather see the
developer sessions dropped completely than miss out on the real Expo.
Paul
--
Paul Lynch
P & L Systems (NeXTmail) pa...@plsys.com
Tel: (01494)671501 9 Stable Lane, Seer Green,
Fax: (01494)680228 Bucks, HP9 2YT, UK
mmalcolm Crawford
> undoubtedly the developer sessions; they make money from them. I won't
> deny their value, but for my company, we get so much more from meeting the
> global NeXT community that there is no comparison. I would rather see the
> developer sessions dropped completely than miss out on the real Expo.
>
clear: if there really is sufficient benefit to holding a Bay Area Expo, then
market forces should apply and someone in this forum should organise one
*independent of NeXT*.
Volunteers?
Have fun,
mmalc.
Steve Sarich III
> Given the number of posters expressing just this
> view, surely the answer is clear: if there really
> is sufficient benefit to holding a Bay Area Expo,
> then market forces should apply and someone in
> this forum should organise one *independent of
> NeXT*.
>
>
>
> Volunteers?
We already have a volunteer group to help promote
NS in the publishing arena, independent of NeXT,
and now a call for voluteers to put on their trade
shows for them? Sounds like a lot of people
believe that NeXT isn't capable of handling their
own marketing :-))
I can't help but think that NeXT would be better
off staffing it's whole upper management with
volunteers from the net :-)
Volunteers? ;-)
Steve Sarich
Nathan F. Janette
<m.cra...@dcs.shef.ac.uk> writes:
> Given the number of posters expressing just this view,
> surely the answer is clear: if there really is sufficient
> benefit to holding a Bay Area Expo, then market forces
> should apply and someone in this forum should organise
> one *independent of NeXT*.
There have been several mini-expo events over the years,
some hosted by NeXT User Groups, some by NeXT and/or ISVs.
I recall a rather large one down in D.C. that may have
pre-dated the first expo held at space donated by The
Mitre Corp (compete with accidental display of a few
seconds of a Top Secret video report on one of their
defense projects).
At last year's East Coast Dev Conference there were ISV
and hardware vendor displays.
I believe a brave group of ISV's worked some deal with NeXT
and displayed at a big industry trade show...?
Perhaps some group (NUGI, or a new ISV coalition?) could try and
plan a modest one-day vendor fair in space and time that
would be closely linked to a Bay-area (and NYC or DC area?)
NeXT Dev conferences.
--
Nathan Janette
Systems Manager, Axel T. Br nger Lab
Internet: nat...@laplace.csb.yale.edu
Voice: 203 432 5065
Fax: 203 432 3923
Z. Zhao
Sean Luke
>I can think of two possible reasons for killing Expo:
>a) they're still running away from that NEXTWORLD lawsuit, so they're
>avoiding anything that looks like NEXTWORLD Expo.
>b) they couldn't find enough vendors to fill up Moscone.
c) New marketing director at NeXT, who has his own strategy.
Sean Luke U Maryland at College Park
se...@cs.umd.edu Today's Chemical: Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex GLY
Robert Wong
Paul Lynch <Paul_...@plsys.com> wrote:
>I agree with Sean; this is the dumbest move I have seen in a long time
>from NeXT.
[munch]
I also agree with Sean and Paul. How dumb can NeXT get? Generally, I'm
a pretty even-keeled guy, but this idea is really silly and dum-*ssed.
What did they do, get this idea from the movie "Dumb and Dumber"??
Repeat after me: NEXSTEP EXPO at San Franciso is a good idea!
RWW.
--
Robert W. Wong Jr. wr...@unixg.ubc.ca (ASCII only)
Crasher of Automated Banking Machines, Keeper of the ZyXEL modem FAQ,
University of British Columbia NeXT Users Group Leader and
collector of titles.