peterd@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Peter Deutsch) (09/24/90)
In article <388@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU>, barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes: > In article <59712@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> vbush@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Victoria Bush) writes: > >In <2265@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> Peter Deutsch proposes the following: > > > >>The idea is to sell each machine with a set number of > >>"software credits" and the user can choose whatever he or > >>she wants from the list of announced products. > > >Personally, I think this is a *great* idea. It would allow for some > >flexibility to meet the needs of individuals, and yet it would keep > >the work of the new computer owner to a minimum. > > I, too, think its a nice idea, but I think NeXT and/or developers > wouldn't like it. > > For one thing, if NeXT sells 100 machines a day, it'd be a fulltime > job for 10 people putting together all those custom loaded systems. > NeXT wont like that. I don't see that. I doubt Detroit spends that much effort tracking options on your new Dodge Dart. Besides, one wrinkle on the idea is for NeXT merely to accept the order and forward it on to Software House n (where n is Lotus, Franz, etcetc) Software House n then sends you the order as they would for a Sun. NeXT can still negotiate some kind of special bulk rate for the large number of orders they will process and the vendors should like it because they get a single front-end on the users and some upfront exposure to counteract the "Well, everyone runs Framemaker on Sun and I can't find the name of the other guy, Venus? Ventura?" syndrome. > Second, it forces the software folks to cut some sort of deal, and > distribute through NeXT. This cuts into their profits and > marketing flexibility. They wont like that. Again, they don't have to give NeXT the actual software, just let NeXT bundle up the orders and send them on. I think getting upfront orders like this would be a plus (but, heh! What do I know? I work for a university!) > Finally, the user may end up paying more, than shopping the > open market---not a good deal for everyone. Any end user would be free to go back to any vendor later, so discounts and other deals would still work. The idea is to preserve that "edge" that NeXT has as the "bundled software company" without actually bundling the software (only half a :-) > So, it becomes a question of whether these new distribution > headaches outweigh the benefits. Since NeXT was burned once > by software distribution problems, they'll probably be cautious.` Actually, since NeXT is now in the critical second generation, I would think they would like to keep their product differentiation, and the "bundled software computer" is certainly one of their selling points. Of course, they were also the "optical drive" company, and they shelved that because the market rejected it (bad market! Bad boy!). Now, I've never been accused of being a marketing type, so would understand if they refuse to do this idea. Still, I think they'd be wrong. - peterd -------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------+ Peter Deutsch McGill University | u # u | peterd@cs.mcgill.ca School of Computer Science |/\/\/\/| | a a | \ a / "Love my work, hate my job..." \___/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------