sethross@well.sf.ca.us (Seth Ross) (09/26/90)
Here is an account of the NeXT rollout that will describe it for those who were not present but who may be curious: NeXT Introduces New NeXT Computers A Report from Davies Symphony Hall San Francisco, California On September 18, 1990, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco was packed as NeXT President and CEO Steve Jobs strolled out to share the stage with four computers. The nineties are the age of interpersonal, rather than personal, computing, Jobs told the faithful as he unveiled a new line of computers built around the Motorola 68040 microprocessor. Jobs reflected on NeXT's original product announcement in the same hall two years ago and identified four common complaints about his company's first computer: too slow too expensive not enough applications no color Jobs first unveiled the NeXTstation, a compact pizza-box shaped unit . According to Jobs, NeXTstation runs three times as fast as NeXT's original computer, and is comparable in performance to the fastest desktop computers. A complete system sells at a suggested retail price of $4995, which includes a 105 megabyte hard disk, a 2.88 megabyte floppy drive, a 17" monochrome monitor with built-in speakers and microphone, keyboard and mouse. So much for too slow and too expensive. Jobs outlined four major application areas for the NeXT: 1) spreadsheets and analysis (a market dominated by PCs) ; 2) desktop publishing (a market dominated by the Macintosh) ; 3) custom apps (a market dominated by Sun); and 4) interpersonal computing (a market NeXT plans to dominate in the '90s). For the spreadsheet/analysis market, Jobs said that there would soon be three products: Lotus Improv, Ashton-Tate Powerstep, and Informix Wingz. He introduced Jim Manzi, President and CEO of Lotus, who said that Improv was the result of a four-year long research effort to design the next generation of spreadsheets. In an ironic parody of computer evalengism, Manzi told the audience that Lotus was redesigning the spreadsheet for the NeXT computer because "God wanted us to." Manzi hailed Improv, with its use of natural language spreadsheet formulas and "dynamic" viewing abilities, as a continued step in the liberation of computer users, whom he likened to medieval monks about to encounter the invention of moving type. Rather than talk to software, users will now be one step closer to the data itself, according to Manzi. For the desktop publishing market, Jobs introduced Alan Ashton, the President and Founder of Wordperfect. Ashton wowed the audience with a demonstration of Wordperfect for the NeXT, the first 100% WYSIWIG version of the program. This highly intuitive application is fully compatible with and contains all the features of Wordperfect 5.0. Jobs spoke at length about "interpersonal computing," and showed off NeXTmail, a multimedia mail program that allows for the seamless integration of voice messages, images, and any kind of document into the text of electronic mail messages. As part of NextStep 2.0, users will be able to easily fax a document from a variety of applications, and receive faxes that are read by Optical Character Recognition software developed by HSD. Jobs spent a session running NeXT's Interface Builder, a programming tool that eases the software development process. Jobs was easily able to use the program to throw together a front end for a database server. So much for not enough applications. The Fall 1990 Software and Peripherals Catalog describes 78 commercial software products and 26 peripheral products. The introduction of two color computers was the climax of the announcement. A NeXT cube with a NeXTdimension board can generate and display 32-bit Postscript color, a full 16 million colors on a 16" Sony Trinitron monitor that is compatible with NTSC video standards. The color video board fits into one of the NeXT cube's expansion slots and includes an Intel i860 graphics copressor and a video compression chip. Jobs demonstrated the computer's color capabilities by running a full-motion and full-color clip from "The Wizard of Oz" in a window on the computer's screen, followed by a brief live video session which captured a smiling Jobs waving his arms in front of the computer and on the computer screen simulaneously. The NeXTdimension computer will sell at a list price of $13990. A "baby color" version of the NeXTstation capable of displaying 4096 colors will also be available for $7995, which includes the Sony color monitor and the "pizza box" computer unit configured with 12 megabytes of memory. So much for no color. Gone is the 256 megabyte optical disk drive that shipped standard in the original NeXT cube. All three new computers have IBM-compatible 3.5" disk drives that read and write 2.88 megabytes of data. The optical disk is now an option for cube-based models to be offered at a suggested retail price of $2995. The price NeXT's 400 dpi laser printer has been cut in half; the suggested retail is $1795. Jobs told the audience that NeXT has recieved 15,000 orders for its new line of computers, a number which should triple the company's installed base of users. All current NeXT users will be offered an upgrade path: they can purchase the new 68040 board for $1495. This suggested retail price/availability chart is from NeXT's press release: NeXTstation system $4,995 November 1990 NeXTcube system $7,995 November 1990 NeXTstation color $7,995 Q1 1991 NeXTdimension board $3,995 Q1 1991 A sidelight: at the conclusion of press conference, Jobs asked the press gathered on the stage of Davies Hall for a show of hands of those who thought NeXT would succeed. The response was only a little better than 50-50.