smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (William V. Smith) (09/14/90)
The following appears on the front page of macweek (11 Sept.issue) (quoted without permission): ". . . The company is expected to announce a 24-bit color board and color display for the NeXT cube, as well as a new pizza-box model in both monchrome and color versions. (pizza-color has a 16-bit option apparently) NeXT reportedly is using Intel Corp.'s i860 as a graphics coprocessor on the new color video board. The new machines will come standard with a 25-MHz 68040 microprocessor, which will give a substantial performance boost over that of the current 68030-based NeXT cube. According to Motorola, the 68040 performs integer operations three times faster than the 68030 and handles floating point operations 10 times faster. NeXT announced last May that NeXT owners will be able to upgrade to the 68040for $1,495. Shipments of the new machines will depend on the availability of the 68040, which is expected to go into volume production in October. A NeXT spokeswoman said the new products should begin shipping in October or November. Jobs also is expected to announce that the 256-Mbyte magneto-optical drive now built into the NeXT cube will become optional. Observers has criticized the drive, which was the cube's only source for adding applications, as too slow and expensive. Instead, machines will have a built-in 2.44-Mbyte floppy drive that reads DOS formats, sources said. NeXT also will debut Version 2.0 of NextStep. The new system software will much faster than Version 1.0a and will include interface enhancements and new development tools. Coupled with the 68040, NextStep 2.0 should perform two to eight times faster, depending on the operation, sources said. ... NeXT is pricing its new machines aggressively, undercutting rival Sun Microsystems Inc. A monchrome low-end NeXT computer, for example, with a 25-MHz 68040, 8 Mbytes of RAM a 100 Mbyte hard disk and a 2.44-Mbyte floppy, is expected to retail for about $5,000, well below the price of a similarly configured SPARC-station SLC." --- and on a side bar --- . . .September 1990 > New lower-cost monchrome and 16-bit color models > 24-bit color board and a color display for the NeXT cube > Version 2.0 of NextStep system software > 25-MHz 68040 adopted for all models > 2.44-Mbyte floppy drive replaces built-in 256-Mbyte floptical drive ---And in another article same issue--- " A new crop of applications will accompany next week's launch of NeXT, Inc.'s new machines and system software. > Improv from Lotus Development Corp., a unique spreadsheet program highly praised by NeXT Chairman Steve Jobs, heads the list of new applications. Improv lets users easily manipulate and view data relationships. Data can be displayed in two three or four (*using color???*) dimensions, said sources familiar with the product. > PowerStep, Ashton-Tate Corp.'s spreadsheet for NeXT, was unveiled last week. Designed from the ground up, PowerStep offers 3-D graphics, voice annotation, desktop publishing features and a macro language. .... >SoftPC, software from Insignia Solutions Inc. that lets NeST machines run MS-DOS programs > WordPerfect, the best-selling word processor from WordPerfect Corp. of Orem, Utah. > Oracle for the NeXT Computer, a NeXT version of the relational database management system from Belmont, Calif.-based Oracle Corp. > Contact! 1.0, a multi-user business-contact-management package from Boss Logic Inc. of Fairfield, Iowa, that is built on the NeXT SQL Server. The company also will introduce the Boss Document Management System. > SimuLearn, interactive learning tools for corporate training developed by Knowledge Transfer International of Dallas. > 3270Vision, terminal-emulation software from Conextions Inc. of Andover, Mass., that allows NeXT machines to connect to IBM 3174 and 3274 controllers and mainframes. > MicroPhone II, a programmable telecommunications program from Software Ventures Corp. of Berkeley, Calif., that now runs on the Mac and IBM PCs and compatibles. In addition, last week Ariel Corp. of Highland Park, N.J., announced the Ariel QuintProcessor, a board for the NeXT computer with five Motorola DSP56001 digital signal processors. It is due to ship next month at $6,995." It will be interesting to get the whole story NeXT week in San Francisco. See you at Symphony Hall bright and early...
gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (09/14/90)
------- In article <SMITHW.90Sep13122412@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu>, smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (William V. Smith) writes... >The following appears on the front page of macweek (11 Sept.issue) >(quoted without permission): [lotsa stuff about new Next PC's, new NextStep, new apps] Aw c'mon. You're not going to believe stuff from a _Macintosh_ magazine, are you? :-> Robert ============================================================================ = gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to = = * all my opinions are * compute" = = * mine * -Kraftwerk = ============================================================================
jondu@microsoft.UUCP (Jonathan DUBMAN) (09/17/90)
In article <SMITHW.90Sep13122412@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (William V. Smith) writes: >> Improv from Lotus Development Corp., a unique spreadsheet program highly >praised by NeXT Chairman Steve Jobs, heads the list of new applications. >Improv lets users easily manipulate and view data relationships. Data can >be displayed in two three or four (*using color???*) dimensions, said >sources familiar with the product. Is this "Improv" as in "Improve" or as in "Improvisation"? "Improvisation" sounds suspiciously like "Jazz"... I hope it's the former. Jonathan Dubman :-)
dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner) (09/17/90)
In article <57460@microsoft.UUCP> jondu@microsoft.UUCP (Jonathan DUBMAN) writes: >Is this "Improv" as in "Improve" or as in "Improvisation"? >"Improvisation" sounds suspiciously like "Jazz"... I hope it's the former. I don't think "Improv" will be like "Jazz". What I saw looked pretty neat. -- Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office Internet: s-dorner@uiuc.edu UUCP: uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!s-dorner