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From: barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: 15,000 orders---inflated?
Message-ID: <388@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 21 Sep 90 19:43:00 GMT
Sender: news@MATH.UCLA.EDU
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Organization: UCLA Dept. of Math,
Lines: 38

In article <59712@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> vbush@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Victoria Bush) writes:
>In <2265@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> Peter Deutsch proposes the following:
>
>>The idea is to sell each machine with a set number of
>>"software credits" and the user can choose whatever he or
>>she wants from the list of announced products.

>Personally, I think this is a *great* idea. It would allow for some
>flexibility to meet the needs of individuals, and yet it would keep
>the work of the new computer owner to a minimum. 

I, too, think its a nice idea, but I think NeXT and/or developers
wouldn't like it.

For one thing, if NeXT sells 100 machines a day, it'd be a fulltime
job for  10 people putting together all those custom loaded systems.
NeXT wont like that.

Second, it forces the software folks to cut some sort of deal, and 
distribute through NeXT. This cuts into their profits and 
marketing flexibility. They wont like that.

Finally, the user may end up paying more, than shopping the
open market---not a good deal for everyone.

So, it becomes a question of whether these new distribution
headaches outweigh the benefits. Since NeXT was burned once
by software distribution problems, they'll probably be cautious.`





--
Barry Merriman
UCLA Dept. of Math
UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet)