Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sgi!daisy!cplai
From: cplai@daisy.UUCP (Chung-Pang Lai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT --- not worth the effort (
Message-ID: <2646@daisy.UUCP>
Date: 8 Feb 89 19:29:02 GMT
References: <1621@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <245300004@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> <1491@neoucom.UUCP>
Reply-To: cplai@daisy.UUCP (Chung-Pang Lai)
Organization: Daisy Systems Corp., Mountain View, Ca.
Lines: 37

In article <1491@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes:
]
]I can't imgaine any mahcine so awful that I wouldn't even bother to
]switch it on ... except for a VIC-20, perhaps.  One has to cut a
]little slack, considering that the current O/S is a 0.8 beta
]release.  Being a bug hunter is part of the payback for the
]privilege of getting a cube early on to play with.
]

I cannot imagine why the people in NExT granted the beta-site privilege
to U of M in the first place.  Beta-site testings impose on the company
a very expensive support team to respond to bug reports.  The whole 
engineering team is switch to interrupt driven mode to do bug fixes.  
The faster the response, the short the beta-site cycle and hence cheaper
to operate.  A tight bug fix cycle is required and hence enthusiastic users 
are essential.  

The attitude in U of M disqualifies them to be a beta-site.  If they expect
a 100% reliable machine, they should wait for the first production
release.  It is a lose-lose situation.  NExT does not get the feed-back
or help they anticipate.  U of M does not get the machine they expect.

Based on what I read from this newsgroup, there are far more deserving 
beta-site users who did not get such privilege.  And yet the NExT box 
is collecting dust in U of M.  What a shame!

The people in NExT should re-evaluate their beta-site qualifying criteria!
One easy way to judge is the amount of feedback from the beta-site.  If
there is no feedback, a wrong choice was made!  Another criterion is this
newsgroup, the people in this newsgroup are at the least interested and
motivated, unlike the people in U of M!

-- 
.signature under construction ...
{pyramid, osu-cis, uunet, killer}!daisy!cplai    C.P. Lai
cplai%daisy.UUCP@uunet.UU.NET   cplai%daisy@killer.DALLAS.TX.USA
Daisy Systems Corp, 700B Middlefield Road, Mtn View CA 94039.  (415)960-6961