Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!noose.ecn.purdue.edu!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!mace.cc.purdue.edu!asd From: asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: The Late Great Apple // Message-ID: <5622@mace.cc.purdue.edu> Date: 26 Sep 90 15:20:02 GMT References: <1990Sep26.060442.2277@utstat.uucp> Organization: Purdue University Lines: 47 Cc: In <1990Sep26.060442.2277@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes: >>You people wanna real machine? Look at NeXT. The first NeXT cube was >>like the //gs... lots of potential in the hardware with the graphics >>and sound, but too damned slow and not configured well enough. But >>where Apple neglected, NeXT pushed. Check out the new NeXTstations. >>Bundled software, ready to use from the box, complete with monitor and >>hard-drive storage, 8 megs, 25 MHz 68040, Ethernet, Mach-UNIX, price $3995 w/o >>edutcational discount. >Unix software prices, prices of service contracts, etc...It is one thing >to be on a network of Unix workstations and quite another to have a >personal computer that you configure to your liking with $40 software, >as opposed to $1000 software. >think carefully about your NeXT interest. A happy GS/Mac user is rarely >a happy UNIX user, although the reverse is certainly the case for me. Yeah, think real hard, ya just might want one! The above price is wrong, as per another post I made. It's in reality $4995. But what is a NeXTstation? PC? Workstation? Micro/mini/mainframe? The machine itself is priced as a high-end PC, or a low low end workstation. Educational discounts put this machine in middle priced PC's, and places it at a price range to compete with almost all the Mac's, a chunk of PC's, and even against Amiga. As far as Unix is concerned, well I've seen quite a number of 2-486's that will run Unix, or version thereof, that cost significantly more than a NeXT, especially when you consider the cost of the bundled software. Yet it has the power of more pricey workstations (ie: Sun Sparc), AND still comes with all that software, which you don't get on most workstations, I don't imagine. As far as price for software is concerned, it is no worse than the Mac world. Lotus's Improv (new spreadsheet, that should be killer) is only $695, which you'd pay for in the IBM or Mac world. I happen to have a catalog of new NeXT products, done or in the works. While there isn't much that is lower than $100, almost all of it is productivity software, and runs at similar prices to comparable PC/Mac stuff. There is a lot that is super expensive also. Cobol (ACK!!!!) for instance is $2000. Who in their right mind would pay $2000 for Cobol? Barf gag! But there is other stuff that is quite reasonably priced. It may tend to be a bit more, but if the number of products starts to get rolling, then somebody might create a mail-order NeXT software business, and we are back down to lovely prices! -k