Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnewsd!knudsen From: knudsen@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (michael.j.knudsen) Newsgroups: comp.os.os9 Subject: Re: os9000 prices Summary: NO WAY -- Big Differences Keywords: 80386 680x0 OS9000 Message-ID: <12579@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> Date: 10 Jan 90 23:16:12 GMT References: <1697@esquire.UUCP> <1843@ultb.isc.rit.edu> <1022@rwing.UUCP> <12551@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 62 Somebody* shot off their dumb lip and said: *me?! See apology at end. > I've heard that Microware's managers are washouts from Tandy Towers. No way. Microware has three big management advantages over Tandy: (1) Microware is still a small company (correct me if wrong). They can react and make decisions quickly, and change their minds just as fast if need be. (2) Microware supposedly has someone in charge and knows it. Tandy, according to folks who have dealt with them on Coco issues, is not only too large in numbers of managers, but also there is no one person or even a well-defined committee who can make and stick by a decisions, such as "what to do about the Coco." When some Tandy manager states some "fact" at a RainbowFest, he's probably telling the truth as he sees it, as far as he knows, but honestly nobody knows because there's no concensus. (3) Microware sells ONE product (OS-9 in its various versions), not a whole store full. Uware (Microware) should be able to manage circles around Tandy. [But if we old Coconuts sense Tandy-like behavior from Uware, we understandably get nervous, having been there many times before.] Uware seems to be branching out from industrial markets into office markets with its '386 version of OS-9000. That is, going after MSDOS and OS/2 on their own turf. With aggressive marketing (huh?) and lower prices on a Personal version, they just might bring it off, to our undending delight. Uware deserves credit for breaking out of the industrial mold. For us Coco (and ST, Amiga, KMA) people, the question is whether Uware will support the "home" or "hobby" or "small business('286)" markets. I can understand Uware's reluctance to get involved in these markets, but the payoffs in future business/industrial users could be tremendous. Also these users are more tolerant as Beta testers when bugs turn up -- we make lots of noise but no lawsuits. And the hardware is other company's worries, not Uware's -- neat. Suggestion: Uware should spin off a separate subsidiary to take a shot at the "small" market, so the existing management needn't worry about its details. Or perhaps find some outsiders willing to form such an outfit (Darling & Associates, anyone?). [Tandy did some of the job well for a while, but seems to have lost interest -- you don't need OS9 to play Nitwitendo.] *Anyway I'm sorry I shot off my lip on this forum -- must have thought I was on the Coco List. We Coconuts have been yo-yo'ed around for a long time, and we love OS9 too much to see it fading out of the picture except for big, wealthy, specialized users. I hope Uware knows what a valuable set of "free advertisers" they created with Tandy's help. Even if we are a mite unruly at times. -- Mike Knudsen knudsen@ihlpl.att.com (708)-713-5134 "Round and round the while() loop goes; Whether it stops," Turing says, "no one knows." The Air Is Free -- or $50 with a PADI card.