Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!aplcen!unmvax!ogccse!blake!Tomobiki-Cho!mrc
From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: A kind word...
Message-ID: <4606@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 23 Nov 89 02:37:26 GMT
References: <4275@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <21327@ut-emx.UUCP> <6431@cs.yale.edu>
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Organization: Mendou Zaibatsu, Tomobiki-Cho, Butsumetsu-Shi
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In article <6431@cs.yale.edu> blenko-tom@CS.YALE.EDU (Tom Blenko) writes:
>While I'm under the impression that NeXT has plenty of cash, they can't
>play indefinitely in this market (however it's defined) unless they
>have volume. I don't think they've figured out how to get it yet.

Here is one sure-fire way for NeXT boxes to take off.

Let's face it.  There's a whole lot of Unix groupies who'd kill for a
Unix box of their very own.  I know the feeling; I was in a similar
position as a DEC-20 groupie.  Many of these guys and gals have no
chance of getting enough cash to buy a NeXT.  On the other hand,
they're pretty good programmers and with the right motivation would
work for virtually nothing.

NeXT should identify 100 or so of these individuals (note: I said
*individuals*, not schools), and loan them NeXT machines for free in
return for work on a particular project.  They would be registered
developers, and all that.  Possible criteria may include academic
status (e.g. undergraduate students only).  The loan would be for some
period (e.g. 6 months) and would end either with the return of the
machine to NeXT or transfer of title of the machine to the individual,
based upon a pre-agreed set of criteria (e.g. getting the project
finished to NeXT's satisfaction).

This program would be amazingly cheap -- a couple of hundred kilobucks
at most -- and would instantly generate 100 NeXT fanatics.  It would
certainly get a lot of software development work at a much lower price
than salaried employees would cost.

Mark Crispin / 6158 Lariat Loop NE / Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-2098
mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU -- MRC@PANDA.PANDA.COM -- (206) 842-2385
Atheist & Proud -- R90/6 pilot -- Lum-chan ga suki ja!!!
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