barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) (08/30/90)
Any word on the upgrade policies associated with NeXT's new product line? Maybe we still have time to influence them before the Gala Unveiling Event, Sept. 18. Good ugrade policies _could_ be used as an effective PR tool. What _could_ it be like...lets imagine...hmmmm... (nods off at the monitor...) (fade in to Gala Event, at the concert hall, black tie...Steve on stage in his tuxedo, having just whipped the covering tarp off the three new NeXT's---which, as a surprise added 2.0 feature, have the ability to levitate and read your mind. Flashbulbs popping... Steve: "And, I'd like to announce that, for all those users who've had the vision to come on board with NeXT over these past two years...Free Upgrades on all features!" (A roar comes up from the crowd, then a rising chant "NeXT!...NeXT!...NeXT!...) (...wakes up to repeated beeping caused by laying head on the keyboard) Well, free upgrades are probably too much to ask for. As I see it, though, there are 3 upgrade issues: The color monitor, the 68040, and the 2.88 Mb floppy drive. The 68040 and Color monitor---being the type of upgrades we all foresaw---should be offered at a low-profit price, as a favor to loyal NeXT users. These are simple amenities that add to the system capabilities. (I've heard talk of a $1000 figure---does that cover just the 68040, or does it also turn the 2 bit greyscale into 24 bit greyscale? I doubt it covers the Color Monitor, but we can alway dream...) However, I think the floppy drive should be offered as a _free_ upgrade, or at worst, at cost---because its likely to make our optical disks useless for software distribution, and we'll all be _forced_ to fork over ~$500 for a floppy drive if we plan on buying any software. Since NeXT is essentially changing their mode of software distribution under us, I think they should give us a freebie so we can all join in. On a related point: what is a 2.88 Mb floppy? I've never heard of that size. I hope it also reads the standard sizes (and formats---I've heard IBM, but not Mac?)---otherwise, whats the point of having it if it doesn't broaden the file transfer options. Barry Merriman
smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (William V. Smith) (08/30/90)
>The $1495 (suggested retail, educational discount applies) upgrade will be to >swap main CPU boards. You pull your memory chips, send in the 68030 board and >$1495, and they send you the 68040 board. It cannot include 24-bit grayscale You mean they aren't sending the board first?? Seems pretty mean to make you do without a main board while the thing's in the mail. . . BTW, if indeed the new machines are announced on the 18th, does this mean that the upgrade board is available then- or even that the new machines will ship then?? I have the impression that Moto is still in the sampling stage on the '040. . . Somebody have more definite information on this? -Bill-
melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (08/31/90)
In article <298@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes:
[stuff deleted]
As I see it, though, there are 3 upgrade issues: The color monitor,
the 68040, and the 2.88 Mb floppy drive.
The 68040 and Color monitor---being the type of upgrades
we all foresaw---should be offered at a low-profit price, as
a favor to loyal NeXT users. These are simple amenities that
add to the system capabilities. (I've heard talk of a $1000
figure---does that cover just the 68040, or does it
also turn the 2 bit greyscale into 24 bit greyscale? I doubt
it covers the Color Monitor, but we can alway dream...)
However, I think the floppy drive should be offered as a _free_
upgrade, or at worst, at cost---because its likely to make our
optical disks useless for software distribution, and we'll all
be _forced_ to fork over ~$500 for a floppy drive if we plan on buying
any software. Since NeXT is essentially changing their
mode of software distribution under us, I think they
should give us a freebie so we can all join in.
On a related point: what is a 2.88 Mb floppy? I've never
heard of that size. I hope it also reads the standard
sizes (and formats---I've heard IBM, but not Mac?)---otherwise,
whats the point of having it if it doesn't broaden
the file transfer options.
Barry Merriman
Why is everyone getting so excited over a 2.88 Mb floppy drive? The
way I see it, they would be great in computer networks like those on
college campuses. Students could go to the lab and do their work,
save it on floppies, then take it home with them. But for single user
machines, the optical is the only way to go.
Also, do high density disks work in the new drives? If not the media
is probably going to be a bit expensive. Software distribution is
also going to be a major pain. After we all buy Topdraw and move it
to our hard disks, we aren't going to need to buy anymore floppies;
we'll have a lifetime supply.
Does anyone have anymore info. on Canon's new optical drives? I heard
that they are 512K and have a 32ms access time. What kind of
performance would a NeXT have if used floptical(or two) for its
primary disk?
I think that NeXT offering a 2.88Mb floppy is a good thing, but I
don't think that they should move away from optical storage. Given
some time, optical storage will take off. It may take 100,000 NeXTs
before this happens, but the new machines are going to take the world
by storm, so we won't have to wait too long :-).
-Mikedaugher@cs.tamu.edu (Dr. Walter C. Daugherity) (08/31/90)
In article <298@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes: >Any word on the upgrade policies associated with NeXT's new product line? [lines deleted] >As I see it, though, there are 3 upgrade issues: The color monitor, >the 68040, and the 2.88 Mb floppy drive. >The 68040 and Color monitor---being the type of upgrades >we all foresaw---should be offered at a low-profit price, as >a favor to loyal NeXT users. These are simple amenities that >add to the system capabilities. (I've heard talk of a $1000 >figure---does that cover just the 68040, or does it >also turn the 2 bit greyscale into 24 bit greyscale? I doubt >it covers the Color Monitor, but we can alway dream...) The $1495 (suggested retail, educational discount applies) upgrade will be to swap main CPU boards. You pull your memory chips, send in the 68030 board and $1495, and they send you the 68040 board. It cannot include 24-bit grayscale (as there's not enough room on the main board for the additional video RAM) or a color monitor (as you'd have trouble finding just a mega-pixel Renderman color monitor for $1495, not to mention the price of a 68040). >However, I think the floppy drive should be offered as a _free_ >upgrade, or at worst, at cost---because its likely to make our >optical disks useless for software distribution, and we'll all >be _forced_ to fork over ~$500 for a floppy drive if we plan on buying >any software. Since NeXT is essentially changing their >mode of software distribution under us, I think they >should give us a freebie so we can all join in. Not impossible. 1.44 MB floppy drives are available for under $100 mail-order, so NeXT could bundle a 2.88 MB floppy drive pretty cheaply. >On a related point: what is a 2.88 Mb floppy? I've never >heard of that size. I hope it also reads the standard >sizes (and formats---I've heard IBM, but not Mac?)---otherwise, >whats the point of having it if it doesn't broaden >the file transfer options. A 2.88 MB floppy is just a quad density IBM PC 3.5-incher. The first one (e.g., PS/2 Model 25) was 720 KB, and then came the double density 1.44 MB. MS-DOS and Mac formats are different, but under software control, so look for some enterprising third party to support Mac format. It should still handle 720 KB and 1.44 MB diskettes for PC interchange. P.S. All of the above is rumor or my opinion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter C. Daugherity Internet, NeXTmail: daugher@cs.tamu.edu Knowledge Systems Research Center uucp: uunet!cs.tamu.edu!daugher Texas A & M University BITNET: DAUGHER@TAMVENUS College Station, TX 77843-3112 CSNET: daugher%cs.tamu.edu@RELAY.CS.NET ---Not an official document of Texas A&M---
osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn) (08/31/90)
I really cringe at the idea of yet another damned pizza box (YADPB). What I need is for next to offer the new motherboard, in a cube, with 2 reasonably fast 512mb optical drives, cheaply. This would solve pretty much all the problems of the current machine. -price, -insufficient storage, -speed 2 opticals would allow for easy backup, allow for reasonable removable media changes on the fly (run off od0, insert & remove various od1s as needed) and give 1gb of online storage. If I have grey-scale, I don't need color, but I *do* need a functional cheap machine with lots and lots of storage. - -John Osborn -osborn@cs.utexas.edu
daugher@cs.tamu.edu (Dr. Walter C. Daugherity) (09/01/90)
In article <SMITHW.90Aug30145742@hamblin.hamblin.math.byu.edu> smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (William V. Smith) writes: >>The $1495 (suggested retail, educational discount applies) upgrade will be to >>swap main CPU boards. You pull your memory chips, send in the 68030 board and >>$1495, and they send you the 68040 board. It cannot include 24-bit grayscale >You mean they aren't sending the board first?? Seems pretty mean to >make you do without a main board while the thing's in the mail. . . You're quite right; maybe you send in your money, they send you the 68040 and then you have a certain length of time to return the 68030 board or pay for it. (Kind of like getting a rebuilt starter for your car?) Now what could NeXT do with a bunch of just-made-obsolescent 68030 boards? Well, they'd probably get the most mileage out of selling them to universities in a pizza box ***REAL*** cheap. Imagine a couple hundred colleges and universities each with a lab full of NeXT's! It's enough to make a marketing manager drool. IBM, Apple, and DEC have all benefitted tremendously from subsidizing the educational market, and NeXT has made a good start with their educational pricing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter C. Daugherity Internet, NeXTmail: daugher@cs.tamu.edu Knowledge Systems Research Center uucp: uunet!cs.tamu.edu!daugher Texas A & M University BITNET: DAUGHER@TAMVENUS College Station, TX 77843-3112 CSNET: daugher%cs.tamu.edu@RELAY.CS.NET ---Not an official document of Texas A&M---