From: gaia@wam.umd.edu (L. Anathea Brooks)
Subject: Re: End of NeXT
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 12:55:36 GMT

In article <1992Dec22.045934.5677@cs.yale.edu> nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu (Nathan F. Janette) writes:
>In article <72148@cup.portal.com> kent_stuart_smith@cup.portal.com writes:
>
>> Interesting to read the NeXT news again, I've been away
>> from it as I sold my  Colorstation last year (Back to the
>> Mac-sorry).  Anyway, a friend of mine who should know (he
>> used to be at NeXT) said that Jobs delayed the NS '486 intro 
>> not because of technical glitches, but because he fears
>> the effect on hard- ware sales.  The code is already done. 
>> Apparently Grove(from Intel) came to convince Jobs to
>> start shipping the product, and twice Jobs ended up 
>> cancelling his meetings with him.
>
>I don't believe your friend, and you should think
>carefully about the facts that we in the public know that
>contradict those claims.  We know, for example, that NeXT
>has made the commitment to release NeXTstep 3.1, a
>bug-fix release of 3.0, and that NeXT has stated that
>NeXTstep 486 would not be behind the current NeXT
>hardware release.  This alone delays the release of
>NeXTstep 486, since the new code hasn't even been
>released for NeXT hardware. 
>
>> I don't think this bodes well for NeXT, as I feel there has
>> been a real decrease in media attention the company has 
>> gotten in the last year.
>
>NeXT never has really had a good media blitz, planned or
>not, but there are still articles in major industry
>publications up the present.  Perhaps if you weren't away
>from the group so much you would see the pointers ;-) 
>
>> The real enemy is Microsoft (for Apple too).  It is sad, but
>> true that people have brand loyalty in computers.  It
>> seems that the vast majority of users will buy inferior
>> products, just because they know  the 'name' of IBM, DOS,
>> or Microsoft. I fear that when Windows NT is  introduced,
>> there will be a big push for that product that will
>> obliterate NS '486,as well as Mac networking. It won't
>> matter that Windows NT is a secon d rate product- it will be
>> a huge success just because Microsoft is behind it Its
>> much like Ford Motor Co. in the early part of the century.
>
>I tend to agree, to the horror of some NeXTstep advocates
>in this newsgroup.  I don't think NeXTstep 486 can hope to
>compete with Windoze for most users, I think it will be
>sold with targeted marketing to corporate and
>higher-end users, with the appropriate higher price. 
>
>> I fear that NeXT will be be eventually bought by the
>> Japanese.  They may be able to  eventually use NS in a
>> successful fight with Microsoft in the future.
>
>Um, you do know that Canon has been a shareholder in NeXT
>from the first week, don't you?  I believe they currently
>own 18% (not sure, sorry).
>
>> I also  fear that Jobs won't be able to hold out forever-
>> remember, he's lost a lot  of his fortune in NeXT, as well as
>> his credibility in the computer world.
>
>Say what?  That's bullshit, pure and simple.  Whether many
>industry people like SJ or not, they respect him. 
>
>> It  took me back to see the cheap prices of NeXT machines
>> offered by Spherical (even though they are used).
>
>Why?  I think it's great that the used market's prices
>have finally come down to reasonable levels!  Now let's
>get the price of new NeXT hardware down!
>
>--

I think that if you read articles about the fate of Apple
even 2 0r 3 three years ago, you'll see parallels to these
prognostics conc. NeXT. Great software company, overpriced 
hardware. Rotten advertising. Etc. And look where Apple 
is now. 

NeXT unfortunately doesn't seem to want to be very big. 
God knows what it wants.

L.A. Brooks





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