From: jcorallo@ccsi.com (P. John Corallo)
Subject: Re: NeXTSTEP development opportunities
Reply-To: John@ccsi.com
Organization: Crystal Computer Systems, Inc.
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 15:05:04 GMT

In article <1ikce5INN217@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> isbell@cats.ucsc.edu (Art  
Isbell) writes:
> 
> In article <PFKEB.93Jan8080725@kaon.SLAC.Stanford.EDU>  
pfkeb@kaon.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Paul F. Kunz) writes:
> >>>>>> On Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:10:21 GMT, jcorallo@ccsi.com (P. John  
Corallo) said:
> >
> >> Do not put the down payment on the boat quite yet, consider the  
source of  
> >> that quote is from VP of a major NeXT consulting firm.  Right now  
their  
> >                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> >   I have the impression that Pencom (the firm refered to) was in
> >business as a UNIX consulting firm long before they got involved with
> >NeXT consulting.   In fact, isn't their co-Xist product a result of
> >consulting contract with some clients?
> 
> Paul's impression seems correct.  Pencom apparently started as a  
mainframe
> consultant before 1970, I believe, and moved into Unix in the 70's.  It  
was
> looking for a Unix system for internal development purposes and chose  
NeXT from
> among the many choices, so it has added NeXT to its list of Unix  
platforms.
> 
> I'm sure that NeXT consulting is a small part of Pencom's total business  
(most
> of Pencom's ads in Open Systems Today don't mention NeXTSTEP  
opportunities),
> but apparently a rapidly growing part of its business.  There are a  
number of
> Pencom employees who will undoubtedly correct me because I'm merely  
reporting
> what I recall from the Open Systems Today article (it's outside in the  
recycle
> bin soaked from all our rain, so I don't think I'll use it to verify my  
memory
> :-)
> 
> The bulk of the full-page Open Systems Today article was about  
consulting
> opportunities other than NeXTSTEP.  Only a couple of paragraphs  
mentioned
> NeXTSTEP, but it was mentioned in a very positive light in a publication  
that
> isn't sure the NeXTSTEP should really be called an "open system."  So I  
got the
> feeling that Pencom truly considers NeXTSTEP as one of its important  
growth
> markets.
> -- 
> 
You are missing the point, a company like Pencom can easily demand $150  
per hour, but when you are paying for their services you are receiving the  
benefit of their collective experiences.  It is the individual contractor  
who is not going to be able to go out and demand those kind of prices.   
Why would any company hire an individual for that kind of money when he  
can get a real company for the same price that has a diverse range of  
experience and has direct support from NeXT?  For NeXT to be successful  
companies will want the chance to hire consulting companies or to cut some  
costs and hire consultants for less involved projects.  It will be even a  
better scenerio when companies go and hire in-house programmers to work on  
NeXT.  This will mean they have decided to stick with the platform and are  
committing their company to it.  Just look at what we are doing at ERGO,  
we have decided to make a commitment to NeXT and hire a whole staff of  
NeXT programmers.  This allows us to start doing some intense development  
with out the worry of having outside consultants who are not intimately  
concerned with the project.  That is when you know a company has committed  
to a platform.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy