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From: ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: what's the latest on Job's NeXT box?
Message-ID: <2958@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 12 Sep 88 21:07:37 GMT
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In article <17668@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle) writes:
>
>      With TI, Mitsibushi, and Hitachi jumping on the SPARC/Sun bandwagon,
>NeXT may be too late to market.  The window is closing for alternatives
>to the IBM/Mac mainstream.
Well, I think there will always be on '030 Microcomputer' market, but
if it's just the graphics that aren't fast enough (as rumored in a one of
the trade rags, I believe) then 

Besides, I didn't think he was going for the 'PC' market, but the educational
one.

In that, he who has the best mix of price/sofware/performance, wins.  
At CMU, (I think) that means <$3K for a diskful machine running BSD-derived
Unix (+X11), plus CMU tutor and Andrew capability, plus all of the ITC and 
CMU-CS developents (Andrew filesystem, Mach, etc.).  Given CMU's close 
relationship with NeXT, the machine will likely be a success here; but maybe 
it will turn into another orphan like the PC-RT, which was heavily promoted 
here but failed in the 'real world'.

I'd be happy if NeXT was something like a low-end Ardent with great sound
(A/D as well as D/A), enough special hardware and special flexibility to do
reasonable things.  I hope it isn't viewed as just a souped-up Mac II.

[disclaimer: I speak for no-one but myself.  Just because I'm at CMU doesn't
mean that people who know tell me anything.] 
-- 
					- Ralph W. Hyre, Jr.

Internet: ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu    Phone:(412)268-{2847,3275} CMU-{BUGS,DARK}
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