gary@x-sphinx.uchicago.edu (Gary Buchholz) (02/13/89)
On Feb 1, 1989 I received a letter from Tim Carlin of NeXT Campus Support
Programs saying that I was confirmed for Delta Support Camp.
Some background information is in order. We've had a NeXT machine at this
site since mid-December of 1988. Its down the hall and around the corner
from my office. Its configured, its on the Internet, we have a number of
users on the system. I've been using the machine since early January writing
some simple programs by reverse engineering the sample programs and using
the (inadequate) on-line doc. I had bugged the managers around here to send
someone (me) to the Programming class in Palo Alto. The 4 day programming
course comes with 3 thick binders of technical doc and class notes. We
had already sent one person to Support Camp in December, our machine was
up and running so it just made an infinite amount of sense to me that
getting some programming expertise was now in order.
So, a letter from NeXT comes confirming me for ... Support Camp! As
mentioned above, we "did" Support Camp in December and what came back was
the NeXT machine and a slender (100 pages) volume of class notes (the
person we sent also came back :) ) In any case, the titles of some of
the sections ("Physically setting up the NeXT", "Keyboard overview",
"Less than 100 things to do with a mouse", etc etc) should give you some
idea of what the course was about - perfectly acceptable for a site
getting a new NeXT machine.
Support Camp Revisited - Contractual Obligation
I made a call to NeXT in Palo Alto telling them that I was interested in
the Programming course and not Support Camp. I told them we already knew
how to set the machine up, use the mouse and keyset, configure it for the
internet, configure boot scripts and the like. I told them we had adequate
UNIX expertise and that we had already sent one person to Support Camp
back in December. I mentioned that I had 12 yrs of systems programming
background and that I thought the course to be unnecesary given that we
had the class notes and knew the content of the course.
Several people that I talked to at NeXT mentioned this set of words. . .
"Contractual Obligation" Contractual Obligation explained, means that our
site had signed a contract that stipulated that two (2) people MUST
attend Support Camp. There's no way out. They were insistent on this.
Our NeXT machine takes a trip
So, I grudgingly accepted my fate of "Contractual Obligation" - two days in
Pittsburgh at Support Camp. These conversations took place on Wednesday
with NeXT in Palo Alto and NeXT in Pittsburgh. Two days later, on Friday
at 2pm I get a call from Linda Shooer at NeXT with instructions on how to
send our NeXT machine to Pittsburgh. "Send our NeXT machine to Pittsburgh???"
Yes, by Federal Express overnight to the Westin William Penn.
Chaos ensues. Why do we need to send this machine to Pittsburgh?. What
about our users and data? Regular Federal Express pickup is at 4:45pm.
We have 2 hours to backup the machine, get it packed and get the forms
filled out for Federal Express Overnight.
Support Camp - "Birds of a feather 'get flocked' together"
Class begins at 8:30 am on Tuesday Feb 7. We begin by going around the
room (the class is limited to 12 people) giving some background info on
ourselves and our site. Of the 12 people present 4 people (myself
included) are there by "Contractual Obligation". One person had already
been to the Developers Course in Palo Alto and yet he was here, at Support
Camp, due to this obligation.
We all had a fine time made possible by Peter Birns of NeXT who taught the
bulk of the class. A number of other NeXT people made appearances throughout
the two days including Tim Carlin.
Judgement Day
On the second and last day of class, at about 4:00pm or so, after we had
packed up the machines it was question and answer time with Tim Carlin.
I don't recall what prompted this response but at this point we learned
that (according to Tim) there was NO "contractual obligation" for people
to attend Support Camp. That it was our choice whether we wanted to be
here or not. That was quite a surprise.
The cost of it all - what did we get.
I'm not saying that Support Camp was useless. For me, it was the by-product of
those people who shouldn't of been there that gave it value. We did have the
opportunity to share our experiences of the machine with other universities
as well as the opportunity to present questions to NeXT.
On the other hand, what did it cost. $353 airfare to Pittsburgh, $95/day
at the Westin William Penn for 3 nights, approx $150-$200 to send the NeXT
machine Federal Express overnight to Pittsburgh.
When I got back to Chicago people asked me if I learned anything. The
proper answer is "no". People who have been making use of the machine
since mid-December don't need to (re)learn how to plug a machine in or
how to use a mouse or keyset, or how to get it on the internet. We
already had a copy of the Support Camp notes from December and these
were more or less identical to what I brought back. We have plenty of
UNIX expertise. Money is tight around here and the question has been
asked - who will pay the expenses for this trip which is now viewed as
useless and unnecessary (The machine is owned by one group and I work
for another). Its all just a real bad time.
Questions, Suggestions & Observations after this experience
1. What is the status of this "Contractual Obligation" to send two people
to Support Camp ? Calls put to NeXT in Palo Alto resulted in a diametrically
opposed answer to what I got from Tim Carlin on the last day of Support Camp.
If there is no obligation that NeXT intends to hold people to then the
University of Chicago just wasted about $800
2. I was told that Support Camp class sizes are limited to 12 people.
Hasn't NeXT got 12 machines that can be permanently allocated to instructional
purposes? Wouldn't education be an important and ongoing activity that NeXT
could justify setting aside 12 machines for this purpose? Giving a sites
NeXT machine an expensive trip to Pittsburgh (or Palo Alto) via Federal
Express Overnight isn't healthy for budgets or for the machine.
3. We have people on this campus who would like to write software for the
NeXT machine. The NeXT is presently in the same state as the Mac was in
1984 - no software. I can WriteNow, I can Jot, I can look up words and
read Shakespeare. If NeXT expects software from universities for universities
then how is this to be accomplished given there is no stress on programming
within the Campus Support Program ? Better than requiring two people to
attend Support Camp require one person to attend a programming class. Then,
you'll have both bases covered on university campuses - users and software
developers.
4. You might want to tell people that the technical doc is free and send
checks back to those people who sent in the $250. It works like this. If
you attend the programming class you get the doc as part of the class (2
binders + class notes). If you attend the Support Camp you get a free copy
of the tech doc (2 binders). Since you insist that every campus sends people
to Support Camp then every campus will get one copy of the doc for free. The
only reason to buy the doc is if someone wants a personal copy It seems, that
if a campus is willing to give someone access to a NeXT machine then they ought
also let them see the doc or put the doc in a public place.
5. NeXT underestimates the UNIX expertise on University campuses. Support
Camp is totally unnecessary for sites having solid UNIX expertise. If you
don't have UNIX expertise 2 days won't help. Include a copy of the class
notes I received at Support Camp with every machine - that doc is essential
and should probably be integrated with the Users Guide.
Trying, against all odds, to be a NeXT advocate...
... but disappointed once again.
Gary
Disclaimer: These opinions are totally my own and do not represent
attitiudes/opinions of the University of Chicago Computing
Organizations.