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From: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Boycott 68040 upgrades that include Lotus Improv
Message-ID: <2784@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
Date: 19 Oct 90 12:00:23 GMT
References: <123553@linus.mitre.org> <1990Oct17.173537.6483@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1990Oct19.010258.29868@agate.berkeley.edu>
Sender: usenet@lectroid.sw.stratus.com
Reply-To: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
Lines: 25

In article <1990Oct19.010258.29868@agate.berkeley.edu>,
dwallach@soda.Berkeley.EDU (Dan Wallach) writes:
|>If you release a similar or better product, especially for free, you could
|>simply drive Lotus out of the NeXT business!


Great!  We get a product on the NeXT that should help to draw the business
world to the machine and we have people who want to drive them out!  Improv
should help NeXT sell lots of machines. I'd like to see this happen.
More machines
will mean more people who want to write software for the machine and the
effect snowballs, the way it did on the PC and the Mac.

As for a free spreadsheet -- most business users (rightly or wrongly) don't
want and don't trust free software.  $400-500 bucks is peanuts for a Fortune
500 company. These companies would rather pay this to Lotus 
(and feel safe and secure) and not save some money but worry about what kind
of support they are going to get on their software.  (Yes, I know this
isn't always the case. I use free software and shareware myself. I'm talking
about your typical accountant type.)
          

Jim Mann
Stratus Computer
jmann@es.stratus.com