Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ogicse!milton!oregon!joe From: joe@oregon.uoregon.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Default applications shipped on the 105 Meg drive Message-ID: <20392.2784f527@oregon.uoregon.edu> Date: 5 Jan 91 05:35:34 GMT Distribution: usa Organization: University of Oregon Lines: 101 After talking to my second new UNIX-phobic NeXT slab owner in as many days, and while I "patiently" await an 040 upgrade board for my cube, I ponder the following zen-like question: Why has NeXT elected to sell each new NeXT slab preconfigured with a (rather poorly chosen) static set of applications? Doth NeXT not have its ear to the ground? Can it not hear the wailing and nashing of teeth of new users all asking, "Where is TeX? Where is Mathematica? Why can't I compile a C program on my new machine? Why isn't Kermit shipped with my slab? How about f2c? UNIX man pages?" Maybe someone in Marketing at NeXT (there *is* a Marketing Department at NeXT, isn't there?) could come up with the *brilliant* idea of actually offering *two* different initial software configurations for the slab: (1) One for whatever (queerly defined) market segment the current distribution is aimed at, and (2) One for us techno nerds who'd like to be able to use Mathematica, TeX, talk to other systems over a modem, and write and run programs. I can see a number of ways of doing this -- either by: (a) shipping a box marked "normal" or a box marked "techno nerd version" direct from the factory upon receipt of an appropriate order (the "I can order your pickup with an automatic or a manual transmission right from the factory, just tell me which you'd prefer" model) or (b) having the system preconfigured with the OS and other "non-optional" system elements, and then having the dealer/computer sales program personnel load whatever selection of optional applications the user selects from a complete-distribution-containing "master" machine, provided the applications use no more than the available free space (the "Would you like optional dealer-installed undercoating?" model) This model would even lend itself to an "expert system" application that would ask intelligent queries to help a naive user decide what applications he should have installed, given his needs and the available space; alternatively, a mimeod sheet showing the available free space as-shipped and the size of each optional application would probably also work just fine, given the loan of a calculator... or (c) having individual applications available for purchase on an application-by-application basis; i.e., make something available besides the *complete* extended distribution for $175.00, only. That is, how about "Item XYZ99: TeX for the NeXT Slab on Floppy -- $20.00" with comparable items for other major software many people will want... (the "Let's go to K-Mart and buy a gun rack and some fuzzy dice to make this truck something *special*!" model). Given that Slab owners don't get a copy of the OS on removable media, electing to yank Webster (replacing it with the $4.00 paperback edition) together with other neato-but-unneeded applications means a *major* diskette shuffle or imposing upon someone else with higher capacity media if you want to back your copy of those applications up before zotting them. Moreover, backing up and frying applications isn't exactly the ideal introduction to using an "easy to use machine" for those who are still shocky from finding out that (surprise, surprise), no, the entire extended edition *isn't* on the 105 meg stock hard drive as shipped. Does no one at NeXT remember just how scary buying a new computer system can be for a non-hacker-ish person? That's why I was particularly apalled to hear from one of my new NeXT owners that the bona-fide NeXT employee he'd talked to (who shall remain nameless) was *completely* unsympathetic and un-helpful. The gist of the response was, "Hum, somebody should have told you that wasn't the case [i.e., that you don't get the complete extended edition on the 105 drive]. Well, you're entitled to the whole thing -- 'just' find someone who has the full distribution and get it from them." Note that this was a genuine NeXT employee, not a student rep, not a sales program employee, but a real NeXT person who should be trying to fix problems like this when they arise. What NeXT seems to still not understand is that this one user I talked to has probably told about a hundred of his friends "Boy am I sorry I bought a NeXT. They sure managed to make a fool out of me. Here it is days later, and I still can't begin to do real work on my machine. I wish I'd bought a Mac or a 386 PC... Sure my NeXT has a 100 meg drive, but so far all I can do is use WriteNow. They told me it would be easy to use, but I have to know all sorts of UNIX just to be able to do anything 'real'." If I'm the only one encountering new slab owners dismayed at the application mix shipped on their drive, please feel free to mail me flames a plenty. Maybe I've got atypical users (but I kind of doubt it). Also, is there *ANYONE* who'd recommend selling a cube to a user who isn't willing to invest some time in learning UNIX? I tell you this: watch the marketing journals near you for my forthcoming article, "The MIS-Marketing of the NeXT Computer" ... Joe St Sauver (JOE@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU or JOE@OREGON) Statistical Programmer and Consultant University of Oregon Computing Center DISCLAIMER: All opinions are my own, and clearly without merit. Ask your own new NeXT slab owners if you think I'm out to lunch....