From: tswan@trirex.com (Todd M. Swan)
Subject: Re: Stoke the fire!
Reply-To: tswan@trirex.com
Organization: Trirex Systems Inc.
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 19:08:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug11.004424.21535@tessi.com> chris@tessi.com (Chris  
Lamb) writes:
> 
> Okay, here's a hypothetical that will undoubtedly fan the flames...

That's what this group is for!

> 
> Many industry analysts lately have been lamenting Apple's neglect of  
the
> high end of the Mac line, and charging that Apple is appearing to be  
"losing
> interest" in high-powered Macs in favor of silly consumer electronics  
toys
> and flashy partnering deals (i.e., that IBM thang).  The Mac line is
> slipping back into its overpriced, underpowered niche that it was  
starting
> to climb out of, until the IIfx and Quadras came along, which  
introduced a
> whole new raft of compatibility problems and still lagged in raw  
horsepower.
> 
> Steve Jobs echoed some of these sentiments in the interview in the  
last
> NeXTWORLD, noting that Apple is draining their best people away from  
the
> high-end Mac development.

I don't think that Apple switching to a smaller consumer oriented  
strategy is a bad thing.  IMHO, if Apple tries to jump into the  
high-powered workstation arena with the big boys (Sun, IBM, maybe NeXT  
someday :-), etc.) they will get eaten alive.  I think there will be a  
big market for Newton-type devices in the future.  I think my Sharp  
Wizard is indispensible and I can't wait for the Newton.  I think Apple  
fills the "computer for the rest of us" niche very well.

Besides the fact that that would make one less competitor for NeXT...  
:-)

> 
> Now, cast all obvious political difficulties aside, and ruminate on  
this a
> while:  What if Apple bought NeXT and made it an independent  
subsidiary,
> created a Macintosh environment to run on top of NeXT's Mach kernel,  
and
> made NeXT the high-end Mac?  With the current crop of machines from  
both
> companies, this would probably be a reasonably simple thing to  
accomplish -
> all the software and hardware hacks are used to the 680x0  
architecture.  But
> Apple could then go off and continue to pursue its gizmos, the IBM  
thing
> wouldn't have even have to happen (NeXT's got real Unix and an object-
> oriented programming environment already, instead of some Pink thing  
that's
> way down the line) and even if it does, IBM could follow through on  
its
> original plan to offer NeXTSTEP on the RS/6000.  The benefits to NeXT  
would
> be a LOT of marketing muscle and $$$ and Apple could gracefully ease  
the
> Macintosh into the Unix world and higher-powered systems.
> 
> I can't be the first person to have thought of this, and yes, I know  
it will
> never happen because of the personal animosity between Steve Jobs and  
John
> Sculley.  But I think about this sometimes, when I'm worried about  
NeXT's
> viability in a very crowded marketplace, and I reflect upon the number  
of
> instances where superior technology and vision were simply drowned out  
by
> bigger players with more advertising dollars...
> 
> But I guess it would be even more fun to watch NeXT grow to the point  
of
> stomping Apple, kicking Sun's butt, laughing IBM, HP and DEC right out  
of
> town, and becoming the ultimate kick-ass platform through the rest of  
the
> century.  Of course, at that point, I'll be looking at another  
exciting
> startup and lamenting how big and stodgy NeXT has become! :-)
> 
> Just some grist for the mill, from the twisted mind of

I can't imagine Steve Jobs letting NeXT get sold to anyone.  It would be  
like admitting he couldn't do it himself.  NeXT will either be  
successfull or go belly up.  The only other other thing I could see  
possible is a merger, but I don't like that idea because Steve doesn't  
play nice with the other children...

Todd
--
  "We're only immortal,   | Todd M. Swan
  for a limited time..."  | tswan@trirex.com (NeXTmail)
    -- Neil Peart,        | Trirex Systems, Inc.
    "Dreamline," Rush     | New York, NY - Westport, CT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy