Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!mdm107 From: MDM107@PSUVM.BITNET (Michael Mellinger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Where's the REVOLUTION Message-ID: <89147.153425MDM107@PSUVM> Date: 27 May 89 19:34:25 GMT Organization: None Lines: 146 Does anybody know what is happening with NeXT? Don't they have a commericial release date coming up REAL soon? They created the hype, but if they don't deliver, everyone is going to forget about them. Then again, if they release a machine without any major software packages or that dies alot (even occassionally), the Next could go the way of the Edsel. A computer like this sounds pretty good doesn't it? 68030 processor (25 MHz) 68882 floating point coprocessor (25 MHz) DSP chip 256MB erasable optical disk (96 ms access time) Display Postscript 400 DPI Laser Printer Well, I guess we all know what's in the machine by now. This machine sounded great last September, but by next September is should read more like this: 68040 (FPU built in) (33MHz or faster, depending on how fast you can get the cache to work) graphics coprocessor 16 million colors simultaneously. Color printers are starting to emerge, and not having color could also hurt just because people like color. "Why spend $10,000 on a computer when I could get a MAC II for less and get color?" DSP chip 256MB erasable optical disk (More would be nice, but I don't think disk space is a big problem.) ( < 50 ms access time) Oh yeah, use the new optical drives that don't have to first erase what's on the track, and THEN go back and write the data. Display Postscript 400 DPI Laser Printer Megapixel screen (94 DPI) with support for higher resolution monitors. 3 1/2 1.44MB drive (optional) $200 -- Reads DOS & MAC disks. DOS emulators! Mac cartridges! Bag those! But it is IMPORTANT that business people be able to get those LOTUS files and MS Word documents to the NeXT, inexpensively! Picture this: Joe MIS pops a MAC diskette into the NeXT computer and imports a Free Hand document into Illustrator 90 (Adobe now worships NeXT because they realize Apple is going to dump Postscript as soon as QuickDraw is brought up to speed). Joe MIS' friends are amazed because they see the document on the screen in Postscript and it looks great, not to mention the fact that the NeXT is so much more responsive. Shortly there after, Joe's company decides to buy more NeXTs to alleviate the line problem that seems to have developed in front of the sole NeXT. This could be the single most important advanced, state of the art, pushing technology to the limit, piece of hardware that is added to THE MACHINE. I guess the biggest problem with the NeXT is where does it fit in. A 68030 running at 25MHz leaves it underpowered in the work station market. 88K machines are starting to appear and the 68040 and 80486 are due out this year with machines soon to follow. Looking at the NeXT, I would think it to be a high end Macintosh. However, a 25MHz Mac IIcx is due out in August and Apple is closing the gap quickly. System 7.0 is a step forward in WYSIWYG on the screen, and they already have 32 bit Quickdraw out. True multitasking (read preemptive) is not as important as it's being made out to be. How much more will it INCREASE the FUNCTIONALITY of the machine? By the time the NeXT catches on, if it catches on, Apple will have caught up; IBM won't have caught up, but they're IBM so they don't have to. What can Steve do to make his company to make his company succeed? Well, uh....I guess criticizing is easier than coming up with solutions, but I'll give it a shot. First, get the machine out as soon as possible without any serious bugs in the OS, remembering that business people have a different idea of what serious bugs are. A couple of major pieces of software are definitely needed. Spinning molecules might look good, but it's not Lotus! Could the NeXT be the machine that the people at Wingtz should have written their spreadsheet for? After all, Lotus is what made the IBM PC the most popular business PC in the world. It shouldn't take more than a couple dozen great applications to turn the NeXT into a machine that sells. Just give business people COMPLETE solutions to their problems(spreadsheet, database, word processing, and DTP problems :) ). This should be able to be accomplished without the help of Bill Gates. Remember, this is the man who told John Sculley to build an IBM compatible or Apple would surely go under. I guess BILL is NOT much of a VISIONARY. But he is a good business man and he will come around if there is money to be made. Actually, I'm not sure what the status of the NeXT is? Release date anyone? Number of complete applications BY release date? Anyone? Anyone? All I know is that I saw a documentary on Steve and NeXT and I think they planned on the summer of 87 or summer of 88 as an initial release date. What was your window guys? I think it was the summer of 87. Which comes first OS 2's acceptence or NeXT's offical release? Ok, one more thing and I will get back to watching these people here learn Lotus 123 (some of these people are paying $900 for this). How about a computer for the rest of us? I think the market for a $1500 computer is enormously larger than one that costs $10,000. Everyone wants a computer today, they just don't want to spend too much money. Why not build a computer that costs $1500 and sell 10 million of them, perhaps a lot more, instead of one that costs $10,000 and sell 100,000? At least build a low end machine to cover the entire market. If Apple builds their new low end machine that is coming out next year around the 68000, then a niche in the market might open up. The new applications that are coming out are going to need more horsepower! Why not create a revolution? Sell this machine: 68030 & 68882 (16 MHz) 13" Color Monitor 640x480 graphics co-processor Need to have basic line drawing and other primitives. 16 million colors supported. 256 minimum at once. DSP chip -- Need a good sound chip. 2 MB of RAM -- expandible to 16 Megabytes Display Postscript -- Since you already have it, why not stick with it. One internal 2MB floppy. optional external 2MB floppy optional external optical erasable drive just like on the high end NeXT. Say $2500 optional 17" monitor Operating system Mach. Have to stick with this so that the software written on the low end machine will also run on the high end machine. However, some of it has got to go in ROM(alot of it). Easily removable ROM's you just plug in. Think upgradable. Price: 1999.95 (or less). This would be the hardest thing to acheive. But the REWARD: 10,000,000 copies sold in five years. Remember Beta was better than VHS, but VHS was cheaper and VHS won. Look at the Commodore 64, it's still selling! Well, I'd like to go, but my day is over and it's time to go home. Would anyone else like to see a revolution? Mike