Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!psuvax1!news From: melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Amiga OS *IS* state of the art, but the NeXT is better Message-ID: Date: 8 Apr 91 22:08:31 GMT References: <1991Apr3.190802.11055@sugar.hackercorp.com> <1991Apr4.015311.19714@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <46749@ut-emx.uucp> <_z8Gw7zh1@cs.psu.edu> <46835@ut-emx.uucp> Sender: news@cs.psu.edu (Usenet) Distribution: usa Organization: Penn State Computer Science Lines: 46 In-Reply-To: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu's message of 8 Apr 91 12:49:21 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: sunws5.sys.cs.psu.edu In article <46835@ut-emx.uucp> greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) writes: Did you miss reading my post? I didn't say the NeXT's discount was _bad_. I said the sales program was. Since I didn't quote what I said, I'll paraphrase the jist of it. Steve Jobs has started another of his dishonest programs where he sells an under-equipped version of a machine at a low initial price and then soaks the user for all subsequent purchases. He sells a Unix box which doesn't even have space for the release software, much less enough to do any work. Once the user figures out they need more, he sticks them with high-priced expansions. Most users don't know that they can buy regular 8-bit SIMMs instead of NeXT's $2995-per-8MB ones. Many don't know how to install a hard drive, and will have to pay some NeXT-specific person (how should they know that anyone could do it) to install it for them. The basic NeXTstation is great for use on a network. If NeXT put a larger drive on the low-end machine, it would cost more and then people who network a dozen machines would have something to complain about. It's not the ideal system for a single user system, but it's such a great deal that it's hard to pass up. Most users don't know that they can buy a NeXT. It's a Mac and IBM world. I think Apple charges the similar prices for RAM and HD. How about Commodore? With 30,000 machines what kind of user groups can you expect? It's possible that you _might_ know someone else who owns a NeXT, but it's a small chance. I know three people. Think about it. What other machine are computer literate people going to buy? My mistake. Of course, how do you put it on an already-full 105MB drive? :) You could delete the Improv demo. I'm not sure what all comes on the 105MB system. But in /NextDeveloper I get 24MB of example programs with source. This might be part of the "OS", as misinformed people like to call all 250MB of the NeXT software, that is only included on the Extended release, but then again, if you really want it, I'll e-mail it to you :-). The NeXT Tour is another program that can be deleted. BTW, how much does Improv cost now? Not sure, somewhere b/w $495 and $695. -Mike