Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!ucselx!bionet!agate!ziploc!eps From: eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Default applications shipped on the 105 Meg drive Message-ID: <1094@toaster.SFSU.EDU> Date: 5 Jan 91 08:41:47 GMT References: <20392.2784f527@oregon.uoregon.edu> Reply-To: eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) Distribution: usa Organization: San Francisco State University Lines: 106 In article <20392.2784f527@oregon.uoregon.edu> joe@oregon.uoregon.edu writes: > Why has NeXT elected to sell each new NeXT slab preconfigured with a > (rather poorly chosen) static set of applications? The 105MB systems are run-time delivery platforms. They're for people who want to use spreadsheets, calendar programs, and simple wordprocessors. This is a large and highly profitable market. [Hit `n' now, I made my point.] Repeat after me: 105MB disk is INADEQUATE for program development. 8MB RAM is INADEQUATE for general usage. It *is* adequate for people who want to use the machine for a small, well-defined set of tasks--one at a time at that--and there are a LOT of potential customers who fit that profile. NeXT ships the things THOSE PEOPLE want. What they don't want, they don't have to pay for. > 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?" NeXT is more than happy to sell 400MB systems to "techno-nerds," as you call them. They come with lots of goodies. But why should NeXT ship Kermit when DataViz means extra dough for sales weasels? Fortunately, no one's put a snazzy GUI interface on C-Kermit yet! (You do know that Mac Kermit, which does have a snazzy GUI interface, is built from the same sources as the UNIX kermit, and that it would be a piece of cake to blow DataViz out of the water? But we're Nice People, and we don't do that.) (Unless it's copy-protected. :-) ) f2c keeps being improved-- the latest package on research.att.com is merely a week old, and it's not "reasonable" to ship code that isn't "stable." And there are lots of UNIX systems with all the development tools and text processing stuff, yet no online man pages. > 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; Someone would probably claim that infringes on the look-and-feel of suninstall. :-) >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. I don't see any evidence of misrepresentation by NeXT Computer, Inc. (I'd watch out for those sleazy college bookstores, though.) > "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]. I agree completely. Who should buy a 105MB slab? - someone who intends to turn it into a swap disk or completely replace it with a decently-sized third-party drive. AND SPEND MORE MONEY. Who should buy an 8MB system? - someone who intends to buy 4MB SIMMS from a third party because it's cheaper to throw the 1MB RAM in the trash than to buy adequately configured systems from NeXT. Why does NeXT sell 105MB/8MB systems when that's not adequate to do anything? - it's enough to run diagnostics. Why do customers buy 105MB/8MB systems? - because NeXT charges too damn much for realistic configurations. Why do students insist on buying computers they can't afford? - don't confuse education with intelligence. For whom are NeXTs the most cost-effective computing solution? - sites with several networked together. How much more expensive is a "reasonable" standalone system than a "reasonable" networked station? - Typically 3 or 4 times. > 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'." What constitutes "real?" What is it about the NeXT that requires arcane knowledge... that doesn't on a PC or Mac... or is even POSSIBLE on a PC or Mac? At least you HAVE WriteNow. If you bought a PC you'd have ...? If you bought a Mac you'd have ...? >I tell you this: watch the marketing journals near you for my forthcoming >article, "The MIS-Marketing of the NeXT Computer" ... That's good. I like that. I hope NeXT does well by the MIS-fits. -=EPS=-