From: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu (Nathan F. Janette)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy
Subject: Re: End of NeXT
Date: 22 Dec 92 04:59:34 GMT
Reply-To: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu (Nathan F. Janette)
Organization: Yale University, Department of Computer Science, New Haven, CT

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!

--
Nathan Janette
PPP link from hilbert.csb.yale.edu

Please reply to: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu (NeXT)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy