Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!uflorida!haven!umd5!feldman
From: feldman@umd5.umd.edu (Mark Feldman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: NeXT concerns
Message-ID: <4474@umd5.umd.edu>
Date: 26 Jan 89 16:16:26 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 85

We have some NeXTs on campus -- we are looking at a few in-house, and the
rest are being purhased for campus faculty.  We have found that there are
problems with integrating NeXTs intro our envrionment and I would like to
hear from people at other universities how NeXTs are currently being
distributed, what your plans are for the future, and if you've run into the
same problems that we have.

The NeXT is NeAT, no question about it.  I believe that the technical term
is ``slick''.  It combines software and hardware into a single, bundled
package that is not available elsewhere. 

I'd like to have one on my desk, but for the rest of campus... (I have sent
the follwing comments to NeXT, but I think that putting them on the floor
for discussion will help both us, the users, and NeXT)

	The NeXT is a very nice development platform, but there's a
	chicken-and-egg problem.  We can't advise faculty to write
	applications on the NeXT until there are NeXTs for student use.
	Untill/unless NeXT meets some of the following concerns, there won't
	be NeXTs for student access.  

        The university computing model requires that users be able to access
	and share data easily throughout the campus.  When someone is forced
	to remove their data (optical drive) when they leave a NeXT, they
	are being forced to isolate their data.  An optical floppy at home,
	left in a backpack or car, or anywhere that there isn't a NeXT is
	useless.  Because the user's files are not being kept on a central
	server, as is done when people use our VAXstations, there is no way
	for someone to dial in and access their files.  We can back up
	servers, but in the NeXT model the user is responsible for the
	integrity of their data.  

	An optical drive-only NeXT isn't desirable in public workstation
	rooms -- those rooms where students can access workstations.  The
	best workstation for public rooms is a workstation that boots off
	the network and uses file servers, perhaps keeping its swap space on
	a local hard disk.  Come to think of it, an optical drive-only
	machine isn't very useful anywhere.  In most faculty/research
	environments, you want speed (hard disk) and a machine that is
	stable, not schizophrenic -- we don't need one that changes it's
	personality everytime optical disks are swapped.

	A NeXT makes a poor file/mail/compute server because it cannot be
	used without a MegaPixel Display and it won't power up after a power
	loss.  Our workstations almost never get turned off (they don't do
	much when they're off), so why must we pay extra for a keyboard
	power button (a simple on/off switch on the cube must be cheaper)
	that doesn't do what we need?  Methinks there was too much
	``personal computer'' thinking in the design.

	The need to share data also requires that the NeXT applications and
	data be accessable from non-NeXT workstations.  It should be
	emphasized to software developers that data written by NeXT
	applications should be Unix-style -- readable ASCII files that can
	be managed with other Unix utilities.  Obviously, there will be a
	loss in functionality (there goes that nice interface), but it is
	very important that people be able to get to their data.

	Source is another important topic with universities, which it seems
	NeXT is still side stepping.  We don't want the source to IB or any
	of the NeXT ``jewels''.  We need OS source to insure that we can
	integrate the NeXT into our environment and provide quick-fixes to
	bugs for which NeXT has yet to release fixes.  We have source
	licenses from many vendors, and they do not appear to be concerned.
	We don't expect to get source for free -- if we go with NeXT, we
	will be willing to purchase a source license.  Steve Jobs said that
	our having source would make it more difficult for NeXT to provide
	support.  Well, if NeXT doesn't provide source, there's a good
	chance that support won't be a problem, as we won't be purchasing
	NeXTs.
	
	I don't think that NeXT spent enough time looking at how higher
	education uses workstations to facilitate information access and
	exchange.  If NeXT wait too long before acting, the current NeXT
	machine will be outclassed.  As it stands now, universities can
	purchase workstations with comparable CPU power, albeit without IB,
	DPS, and the other bundled software.  These other workstations can
	be used as file servers and can be purchased diskless.  

Another member of the Computer Science Center staff (Brenda Guarnieri -- Hi,
Brenda!)  remarked that if NeXT doesn't meet our expectations, NeXT may
become the ``Delorean'' of the computer field.  I hope not.


	Mark Feldman