mfriedel@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Friedel Michael) (05/02/91)
With people lately suggesting new hot product ideas for the
NeXT, here is mine.
I really like NeXTstep and I dearly hate Microsoft Windows, so my idea of
greatly increasing the chances of NeXT surviving is to replace Windows with
NeXTStep. I am fully aware that NeXTStep andDOS wouldn't really getting along,
so I suggest the following. Bundle it with a Mach kernel just like on the NeXT
(Mach 3.0, asit is mostly public domain if I recall correctly) and a DOS
emulator so people would never notice they aren't really running DOS (as if they
would miss it) if they pull up a terminal (maybe two types of terminals, one
with UNIX the other with DOS). I suggest the bundling as supposed offering it
with something like SCO XENIX, as this would involve the hassle of
administrating a UNIX system (imagine a DOS user doing this, or even better a
Windows d**k), and that would really advertise NeXTStep. And another major
factor is that such a commercial UNIX system costs lots of money. The basic
idea here is to sell a DOS machine that runs NeXTstep (I know it sounds awful,
but apparently DOS is all they want out there, we don't have to tell them that
they are being fooled).
Granted the interface would probably be at the speed of a 0'30 or even
slower on a 286, or 386sx but for sure faster than Windows.
It might be even possible to get this thing working with 8088 and 8086 if
one would use sort of a miniNeXTDimension board (maybe only 2bit, but with its
one DPS processing).
To make the whole thing cheap (just like suggested for the
Ne(X)T terminals ) one could resolve to Ghostscript instead of Postscript to
avoid the licensing fees. Another thing that came to mind is that IBM licensed
DPS, so if that licensing agreement would allow them to do so they could
replace their obsolete OS/2 with NeXTStep and support something real for a
change (as far as I'm concerned OS/2 was just a figment of IBM's imagination,
nice but just not for real).
One topic I sort of neglected so far is the DSP stuff, although it is very
nice, and somewhat an integral part of NeXTStep it isn't absolutely necessary,
and one might be able to fake at least the sound capabilities (voice mail type
stuff) with some kind of cheap board, not the music kit though. I think such a
price is comparably low to pay. Remember the idea is not to replace the NeXT
but to promote NeXTStep and kill Windows (no need to do so for OS/2, it took
care of itself).
So here is the Deal
NeXTStep with Mach3.0 $ 500
(No Mathematica, maybe even strip WriteNow,
no need for NeXTMail either)
generic 386 with 16Meg $2000
Networkpackage $ 500
(Ethernetboard + NeXTMail)
------
$2500
Sounds cool ?
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No user serviceable part inside. Warranty void if opened
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*6600dadg@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Mark Dadgar) (05/03/91)
In article <1991May01.180826.38160@slate.mines.colorado.edu> mfriedel@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Friedel Michael) writes: > >So here is the Deal > NeXTStep with Mach3.0 $ 500 > (No Mathematica, maybe even strip WriteNow, > no need for NeXTMail either) > generic 386 with 16Meg $2000 > Networkpackage $ 500 > (Ethernetboard + NeXTMail) > ------ > $2500 >Sounds cool ? Yeah, except for your math. Do you work for the UCSB Billing Office? :) +-----------------------------+-------------+---------------------------+ | UCSB NeXT Campus Consultant | Mark Dadgar | 6600dadg@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu | +-----------------------------+-------------+---------------------------+ | Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall? | | Do you remember dawn escapes from moon-washed college halls? | | Do you remember cherry blossoms in the market square? | | Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair? | +-------------Would UCSB write anything this intelligent?---------------+