bostrov@mist.cs.orst.edu (Vareck Bostrom) (01/11/91)
Intersting, I do not think OSU has gotten any of it's order. Still waiting. Getting tired of waiting. I'm thinking of canceling my NeXT order and trying to get a IPC instead . Comments? At the rate it's going, The NeXTcube will be outdated by the time I get it. (So will the IPC, but at least I'd have it NOW.) I'm willing to wait for a little while, but if I'm not going to get it by March I'm going to cancel my order... It will do me little good after then (as far as classes go). I'd rather have a NeXT than a SUN, but this wait is getting to me. - Vareck Bostrom bostrov@mist.cs.orst.edu
cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) (01/12/91)
In article <1991Jan10.225501.10174@usenet@scion.CS.ORST.EDU> bostrov@mist.cs.orst.edu (Vareck Bostrom) writes: >Intersting, I do not think OSU has gotten any of it's order. >Still waiting. Getting tired of waiting. I'm thinking of canceling my [stuff deleted] Here, here. It is _almost_ nice to here that I'm note the only one that is getting jerked around by next. Our university, along with a number of others, have combined to form an order of nexts worthy of the companies attention. It was supposed to be shipped on a Tuesday in November but still no show. This is getting to be a bit of a drag it would come in very handy in some of my soft. eng. courses. What really gets to me is that McGill (another Canadian university) has gotten what I believe is there full order of 63 machines so next can't very well try and blame the boarder for the delay. Next marketing methods seem to be a strange mix. Some people report excellent relations and others seem to be continuously screwed around and size of order doesn't seem to be the major factor (ie. McGills X-windows problems). I mean if you can't predict a capitalist who can you...:-) Tills
anderson@dogie.macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) (01/13/91)
In article <278E3748.18058@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes: >In article <1991Jan10.225501.10174@usenet@scion.CS.ORST.EDU> bostrov@mist.cs.orst.edu (Vareck Bostrom) writes: >>Intersting, I do not think OSU has gotten any of it's order. >>Still waiting. Getting tired of waiting. I'm thinking of canceling my >Our university, along with a number of others, >have combined to form an order of nexts worthy of the companies attention. >It was supposed to be shipped on a Tuesday in November but still no show. We are a reseller. We were told that if we would get an order in by Oct. 31, we would get delivery by Nov. 15. No one exactly believed that, but we got the order in. One of those machines was for me (cube w/ 660). On Jan. 2, we were told it had shipped Dec. 24. On Jan. 7, it arrived. Running last shows they they last operated it on Dec. 30. But now I have it, and I'm feeling very forgiving. My, it's nice. Maybe it's worth remembering that it must be hell on the *other* end. -- Jess Anderson >< Madison Academic Computing Center >< University of Wisconsin Internet: anderson@macc.wisc.edu <-best, UUCP:{}!uwvax!macc.wisc.edu!anderson NeXTmail w/attachments: anderson@yak.macc.wisc.edu Bitnet: anderson@wiscmacc Room 3130 >< 1210 West Dayton Street / Madison WI 53706 >< Phone 608/262-5888
scott@mcs-server.gac.edu (Scott Hess) (01/14/91)
In article <278E3748.18058@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes:
Here, here. It is _almost_ nice to here that I'm note the only one that is
getting jerked around by next. Our university, along with a number of others,
have combined to form an order of nexts worthy of the companies attention.
It was supposed to be shipped on a Tuesday in November but still no show. This
is getting to be a bit of a drag it would come in very handy in some of my
soft. eng. courses. What really gets to me is that McGill (another Canadian
university) has gotten what I believe is there full order of 63 machines so
next can't very well try and blame the boarder for the delay. Next marketing
methods seem to be a strange mix. Some people report excellent relations and
others seem to be continuously screwed around and size of order doesn't seem
to be the major factor (ie. McGills X-windows problems). I mean if you can't
predict a capitalist who can you...:-)
Please do remember that NeXT is not IBM or Apple. Those companies can
ramp up and ship 25,000 machines in a week, if need be. Well, that's
probably way conservative :-). NeXT, meanwhile, can hardly upgrade
their manufacturing facilities when they'll soon be running out of backlog.
If someone got 63 NextStations, I'm pretty sure that the rest of us are
coming along, too. Also, remember that they are only shipping 105s
(so far as I'm aware), so if you ordered a bunch of 340s (now 400s)
or other larger systems, they will be a little slower.
I think that we all realized about Novemember 14, when the first machines
shipped, I believe, that our machines were not going to be there the
15th. Yes, it's taken 2 months, but from the sounds of it NeXT's only
just lately started getting production '040, which they could hardly
help.
Of course, _I_ am waiting anxiously for my machine, too . . .
--
scott hess scott@gac.edu
Independent NeXT Developer GAC Undergrad
<I still speak for nobody>
"Tried anarchy, once. Found it had too many constraints . . ."
"Buy `Sweat 'n wit '2 Live Crew'`, a new weight loss program by
Richard Simmons . . ."louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos) (01/14/91)
In article <SCOTT.91Jan13115421@mcs-server.gac.edu> scott@mcs-server.gac.edu (Scott Hess) writes: > Yes, it's taken 2 months, but from the sounds of it NeXT's only >just lately started getting production '040, which they could hardly >help. The NeXTstation that I received a couple of weeks ago still has a 68040 with the glued on heatsink. One difference noted on my machine from another pair that arrived before Christmas is that the "SAMPLE" designation is now almost obliterated by a black marker. The date code and other production information seems to be under the heat sink, so I can't call Motorola to ask about the bug list (if any) for the particular device that I have. Who me complain? The machine works just fine. I'm sure if a problem develops, NeXT will swap the chip with a production version with the nifty stenciled '040 logo. louie
melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (01/14/91)
In article <SCOTT.91Jan13115421@mcs-server.gac.edu> scott@mcs-server.gac.edu (Scott Hess) writes:
Please do remember that NeXT is not IBM or Apple. Those companies can
ramp up and ship 25,000 machines in a week, if need be. Well, that's
probably way conservative :-). NeXT, meanwhile, can hardly upgrade
their manufacturing facilities when they'll soon be running out of backlog.
If someone got 63 NextStations, I'm pretty sure that the rest of us are
coming along, too. Also, remember that they are only shipping 105s
(so far as I'm aware), so if you ordered a bunch of 340s (now 400s)
or other larger systems, they will be a little slower.
NeXT does have one of the most efficient factories in the world. I
read an article about it in Fortune Magazine. It's suppose to be as
amazing as the NeXT computer.
-Mikesmithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) (01/14/91)
>We are a reseller. We were told that if we would get an >order in by Oct. 31, we would get delivery by Nov. 15. No >one exactly believed that, but we got the order in. One of >those machines was for me (cube w/ 660). On Jan. 2, we were >told it had shipped Dec. 24. On Jan. 7, it arrived. Running >last shows they they last operated it on Dec. 30. But now >I have it, and I'm feeling very forgiving. My, it's nice. >Maybe it's worth remembering that it must be hell on the >*other* end. Must be nice. We ordered back in August, still nothing. Be interesting to know how the things are allocated. I noticed NeXT has started taking out full page adds in the compute rags saying something like "they're shipping - in volume". To WHO? -- __________________Prof. William V. Smith____________________ EMail: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu or uunet!hamblin.math.byu.edu!smithw SMail: Math Dept. -- 314 TMCB; BYU; Provo, UT 84602 (USA) NeXTmail: smithw@mathnx.math.byu.edu Phone: +1 801 378 2061 FAX: +1 801 378 2800
asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) (01/14/91)
In <F=?_.w84@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >NeXT does have one of the most efficient factories in the world. I >read an article about it in Fortune Magazine. It's suppose to be as >amazing as the NeXT computer. Indeed! TOTALLY auutomated from what I hear. Gerrit, I think it was him, was telling me about their factory when he saw it. He said that in 15 minutes they could change stuff and have the factory cranking out a new computer. -k
anderson@dogie.macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) (01/14/91)
In article <SMITHW.91Jan13233110@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) writes: >>We are a reseller. >Must be nice. We ordered back in August, still nothing. >Be interesting to know how the things are allocated. It's not my department, so I'm not completely sure, but it may have had something to do with our commitment to buy $250,000 worth for resale (that would include staff like me) plus faculty, staff, and students here. Student sales start a week from tomorrow. -- Jess Anderson <> Madison Academic Computing Center <> University of Wisconsin Internet: anderson@macc.wisc.edu <-best, UUCP:{}!uwvax!macc.wisc.edu!anderson NeXTmail w/attachments: anderson@yak.macc.wisc.edu Bitnet: anderson@wiscmacc Room 3130 <> 1210 West Dayton Street / Madison WI 53706 <> Phone 608/262-5888
moose@svc.portal.com (01/16/91)
In article <SMITHW.91Jan13233110@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) writes: > >Must be nice. We ordered back in August, still nothing. >Be interesting to know how the things are allocated. I noticed >NeXT has started taking out full page adds in the compute rags >saying something like "they're shipping - in volume". To WHO? To people who order machines by the thousands. Even developers sometimes have to take a back seat. I received my upgrade over a month after NeXT received their first shipment of 040's, and NeXT loves me. The good news is that NeXT is back-ordered to the point that they can't fill peoples orders immediately. The bad news is that nobody likes to wait. The only reason we have our 040 upgrade now as opposed to late January is that we brought it to Mac World and some major favors were pulled to get as many NeXT at MacWorld as possible. -- Michael Rutman | moose@svc.portal.com Cubist | makes me a NeXT programmer Software Ventures | For Your Eyes Only Public Key
cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) (01/16/91)
Since my comments on Next not sending us our machines they have arived in abundence. We were to get only 2 slabs , mine being number, but they sent what I beleive to be our full order of 10. Just thought I should post this after my last note . fare is fare :-) hope OSU has seen theirs the waiting can be hell when it seems you are the last to get going on the new machines. Andrew
cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) (01/16/91)
In article <SCOTT.91Jan13115421@mcs-server.gac.edu> scott@mcs-server.gac.edu (Scott Hess) writes: >In article <278E3748.18058@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes: > Here, here. It is _almost_ nice to here that I'm note the only one that is > getting jerked around by next. Our university, along with a number of others ...[stuff deleted]... >I think that we all realized about Novemember 14, when the first machines >shipped, I believe, that our machines were not going to be there the >15th. Yes, it's taken 2 months, but from the sounds of it NeXT's only >just lately started getting production '040, which they could hardly >help. I agree entirely and so I don't thinnk it was prudent of Next to repeatedly tell us taht the machines had been shipped to US in November when that implied they have been in transit for 2months. This seems a long time to me but maybe I'm wrong.The point is that I wasn't going by when they first started shiping but by when they said they had shipped to us. Andrew
smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) (01/17/91)
mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) writes: >Well, my contact at Businessland just informed me that I am not going >to receive my '040 upgrade until March 31st. Aaarrgghh!!! Originally >I was told that I would receive it January 4th. Then it was rescheduled >to arrive January 31st. Just out of (probably general) curiosity, when did you order your upgrade? We were moved to the Jan. 31st date in mid November last year. Have not heard anything about another push-back. Our first ship date was supposed to be October 15 at the latest. Ha! Our district sales folks keep saying "we are still on allocation for the upgrades" and "we have asked for priority but . . .". Like I told them, it seems the company has put the long-time users on the back burner- In fact I wonder if we didn't get pushed off the stove. I suppose this means NeXT will be around for a few more years, but it has really put the bite on some of our plans here. Maybe we'll get NeXTstep2.1 when the upgrades finally make it. ;-) -Bill -- __________________Prof. William V. Smith____________________ EMail: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu or uunet!hamblin.math.byu.edu!smithw SMail: Math Dept. -- 314 TMCB; BYU; Provo, UT 84602 (USA) NeXTmail: smithw@mathnx.math.byu.edu Phone: +1 801 378 2061 FAX: +1 801 378 2800
mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) (01/17/91)
In article <2793C695.9650@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes: >Since my comments on Next not sending us our machines they have arived in >abundence. We were to get only 2 slabs , mine being number, but they sent >what I beleive to be our full order of 10. Just thought I should post this >after my last note . fare is fare :-) hope OSU has seen theirs the waiting >can be hell when it seems you are the last to get going on the new machines. > >Andrew Well, my contact at Businessland just informed me that I am not going to receive my '040 upgrade until March 31st. Aaarrgghh!!! Originally I was told that I would receive it January 4th. Then it was rescheduled to arrive January 31st. Now they've moved the ETA TWO MONTHS to March 31. Wow, that hurts. On the bright side, I suppose that means that NeXT is selling a lot of machines. That is, if availability is so bad that my receiving date has been pushed back two months, that must mean that supply is tightly constricted, which presumably means that NeXT is taking orders faster than it can ship them. This means to me that sales are good, and NeXT will survive. That's the good news. The bad news, of course, is that I have to wait an AEON for my upgrade to arrive. Still, I suppose that I am better off, since I have a cube now, than someone who has to wait that long for their first machine. Additional bad news is that I have to wait for my order of spare ODs as well; there is a "worldwide shortage" of NeXT ODs. Sounds like the new machines have changed NeXT's sales picture for the better.
mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) (01/17/91)
In article <SMITHW.91Jan16143626@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) writes: > > mikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) writes: > >>Well, my contact at Businessland just informed me that I am not going >>to receive my '040 upgrade until March 31st. Aaarrgghh!!! Originally >>I was told that I would receive it January 4th. Then it was rescheduled >>to arrive January 31st. > >Just out of (probably general) curiosity, when did you order your >upgrade? We were moved to the Jan. 31st date in mid November last >year. Have not heard anything about another push-back. Our first >ship date was supposed to be October 15 at the latest. Ha! >Our district sales folks keep saying "we are still on allocation >for the upgrades" and "we have asked for priority but . . .". Like >I told them, it seems the company has put the long-time users on the >back burner- In fact I wonder if we didn't get pushed off the stove. >I suppose this means NeXT will be around for a few more years, but >it has really put the bite on some of our plans here. Maybe we'll get >NeXTstep2.1 when the upgrades finally make it. ;-) >-Bill >-- > __________________Prof. William V. Smith____________________ >EMail: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu or uunet!hamblin.math.byu.edu!smithw >SMail: Math Dept. -- 314 TMCB; BYU; Provo, UT 84602 (USA) >NeXTmail: smithw@mathnx.math.byu.edu >Phone: +1 801 378 2061 FAX: +1 801 378 2800 I placed my upgrade order in December. I ordered the blank optical disks on November 9th. I'm trying hard to be patient and forgiving, because I really do love the company and the machines. No; wait; I'm trying hard to be patient because I love the company. I'm suffering severe impatience because I love the machine. There. That's accurate.
cyliao@eng.umd.edu (Chun-Yao Liao) (01/24/91)
In article <278E3748.18058@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes: >Here, here. It is _almost_ nice to here that I'm note the only one that is >getting jerked around by next. Our university, along with a number of others, No, you are not alone. I was told by NeXT that my upgrade kit should be send to me on Nov 1st 1990, and schoo's campus computer store should notice me when they get the upgrade kit. The campus computer store never contact me so I called, they refer me to local rep. I called local rep, they told me that I should contact schoo's computer store. So I called both of them several times, and now all <i get is please leave your name and hone #, we'll get back to you ASAP. So I never get any phone from them... I called NeXT, well, the girl said she doens't know anythng about that so she had to take my phone # and name so to have someone contact me. So far, I haven't got anythng yet, no reply, no upgrade kit, no nothing... I am TIRED of waiting. -- cyliao@bagend.eng.umd.edu o Q. Who am I? @wam.umd.edu o A. A NeXTed person with "small" HD and OD @epsl.umd.edu o An Apple // guy xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.xxxxxxx.xxx o An airplane pilot (I hope)
smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) (01/24/91)
>I recently spoke with the staff at UT's Microcenter (NeXT reseller on >UT campus) and found that NeXT had finally given them a "firm" >delivery date on 040 upgrade boards. They date given was APRIL! >By that time, my order will be six months old. >The moral of the story: No, you are REALLY not alone... Well, I have little hope of seeing mine (order NOW 6 months old) before the end of March. AND, when they do send it, I have great faith that they will send it to the wrong person, just as they sent the 2.0 software OD to the wrong person. "We don't look at the P.O.#." HA! I must admit here though I have been rather on my own as far as pursuing this problem. Our campus/department people have been of little or no help. -Bill -- __________________Prof. William V. Smith____________________ EMail: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu or uunet!hamblin.math.byu.edu!smithw SMail: Math Dept. -- 314 TMCB; BYU; Provo, UT 84602 (USA) NeXTmail: smithw@mathnx.math.byu.edu Phone: +1 801 378 2061 FAX: +1 801 378 2800
garnett@cs.utexas.edu (John William Garnett) (01/24/91)
In article <1991Jan23.164305.26963@eng.umd.edu> cyliao@eng.umd.edu (Chun-Yao Liao) writes: >In article <278E3748.18058@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4ed3ap@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Tyldesly A) writes: >>Here, here. It is _almost_ nice to here that I'm note the only one that is >>getting jerked around by next. Our university, along with a number of others, > No, you are not alone. I was told by NeXT that my upgrade kit > should be send to me on Nov 1st 1990, and schoo's campus computer > store should notice me when they get the upgrade kit. The campus [ deletion of some text ] > that so she had to take my phone # and name so to have someone > contact me. So far, I haven't got anythng yet, no reply, no > upgrade kit, no nothing... I am TIRED of waiting. I recently spoke with the staff at UT's Microcenter (NeXT reseller on UT campus) and found that NeXT had finally given them a "firm" delivery date on 040 upgrade boards. They date given was APRIL! By that time, my order will be six months old. The moral of the story: No, you are REALLY not alone... -- -- John Garnett University of Texas at Austin garnett@cs.utexas.edu Department of Computer Science Austin, Texas
madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) (01/24/91)
Just to add unnecessarily to the delivery gripes, I'll add my two bits. In article <SMITHW.91Jan23124540@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Dr. William V. Smith) writes: >Well, I have little hope of seeing mine (order NOW 6 months old) >before the end of March. AND, when they do send it, I have >great faith that they will send it to the wrong person, just as >they sent the 2.0 software OD to the wrong person. My order is six months old now also, but just to tease me, they sent one 040 upgrade to our campus, but with the PO number of a much later order than mine. My campus people, perhaps unlike yours, are very helpful, but this slipped by them before they noticed. Of course, I don't blame them--I blame NeXT. Aside from the PO number thing, I should think that NeXT should be much more responsive to people who had so much faith in the company that they plunked down $1000 for a mythical product last June. We knew it would be a while, but I did not expect nearly everyone else to get an 040 before I did (mostly in the form of stations, but also many sightings of upgrade boards). Mark Adler madler@pooh.caltech.edu
asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) (01/24/91)
In <1991Jan23.221821.11731@nntp-server.caltech.edu> madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) writes: >Aside from the PO number thing, I should think that NeXT should be much >more responsive to people who had so much faith in the company that they >plunked down $1000 for a mythical product last June. We knew it would be >a while, but I did not expect nearly everyone else to get an 040 before >I did (mostly in the form of stations, but also many sightings of upgrade >boards). NeXT must be using some real screwy allocation methods. Either that, or they had to shut down for a bit. I don't get it. Everybody here seems to be anxiously awaiting their machines/upgrades and they all seem to have ordered a long time ago. I on the other hand, ordered directly thru NeXT as we have no reseller here in the beginning of November. After many calls to NeXT to make sure they had my check and order and everything, the lady there who was in charge of the educational market I believe said that it'd be here early January, at the earliest. January 7 it (Cube 105) was sitting down in the post office. I'm sure not gonna complain for getting it right when they said it'd be here, but something's got to be screwed if folks who ordered half a year ago or so haven't got their upgrade boards, or even 2.0 software yet. Owell, I love my cube! I hope all of you folks get your machines REAL SOON NOW! -k