Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!yale!wald-david
From: wald-david@CS.YALE.EDU (david wald)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT not revolutionary enough?
Message-ID: <41969@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>
Date: 2 Nov 88 05:22:09 GMT
References: <471@wucs1.wustl.edu> <13148@oberon.USC.EDU> <484@wucs1.wustl.edu>
Sender: root@yale.UUCP
Reply-To: wald-david@CS.YALE.EDU (david wald)
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT  06520-2158
Lines: 33

In article <484@wucs1.wustl.edu> conrad@wucs1.UUCP (H. Conrad Cunningham) writes:
>In article <13148@oberon.USC.EDU> tli@sargas.usc.edu (Tony Li) writes:
>>In article <471@wucs1.wustl.edu> conrad@wucs1.wustl.edu (C.Cunningham) writes:
>>>    He maintained that the NeXT computer will be a failure because
>>>    it not revolutionary enough.  Its only advantage is a short-term
>>>    hardware capability/pricing advantage over the other available
>>>    UNIX-based workstations.
>>
>>I recall that Sun Microsystems failed for exactly these same reasons.
>
>There are perhaps two different dimensions of success that I was
>talking about:  (1) commercial success and (2) having a revolutionary
>impact on computing...
...
>But Sun's revolution began several years ago.  Another company
>taking the same approach today probably wouldn't be revolutionary even
>if they have some measure of commercial success.
>
>Is NeXT revolutionary?  Will NeXT change the computing in some
>significant way?

But the original statement was that the NeXT machine "will be a failure
because it is not revolutionary enough."  What does it mean for the
computer to fail?  Does it mean that the computer will not be a
commercial success (which was my original interpretation), or that it
will not "change computing in some significant way?" Revolutionary
enough for what?


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David Wald                                              wald-david@yale.UUCP
						       waldave@yalevm.bitnet
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