cb29+@andrew.cmu.edu (Chad Kavanaugh Bisk) (10/27/88)
Here is a quick review stat sheet on the company NeXT. This should answer most
of the basic questions people have had. I'm pretty sure of everything except
where noted by a question mark. If you find anything in error or have anything
to add, please email me.
------------------------------ NeXT ------------------------------
Main Office:
NeXT, Inc.
3475 Deer Creek Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(415) 424-0200
(415) 424-0476 FAX
Announcement Locations:
- October 12, 1988 - 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall
(invitation only)
201 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California
- October 13, 1988
The NeXT Day
(an event for developers)
San Francisco Hilton
- October 25, 1988
Scheduled Press Conference
(content unknown)
New York, NY
- October 25 - 27
NeXT at EDUCOM
Regional Sales Office:
Next Sales Office
Two NorthCenter
Pittsburgh, Pa 15212
(412) 231-4466
State of the Corporation:
- Founded: October 1985
- Members of the Board:
Steve Jobs: Chairman
H. Ross Perot: representing personal interests
John P. Crecine: representing Georgia Inst. of Tech. (was from CMU)
- Monetary Status:
$20M invested by H. Ross Perot
$660,000 invested by Stanford
$660,000 invested by CMU
$12M invested by Steve Jobs
- Ownership:
63% - Steve Jobs
16% - Ross Perot
2% - each of the (5?) people that originally broke away from Apple to
join him
1% - Stanford
1% - CMU
- Assets:
- Pixar:
- from dow-jones.indust.edp bboard: "A small computer-graphics
company in San Rafael, Calif. called Pixar Inc. -- also owned by Jobs -- already
uses the [DSP] technology to generate in just second moving images that other
computers need hours to draw."
- Automated assembly plant - Fremont, CA
Board of Advisors: (24 college representatives)
- Barbara Morgan, director of advanced technology planning, UCB
- Williams Y. Arms? - CMU
Marketable Products:
NeXT T-Shirt: (shipped to many early developers)
- colored
- displays NeXT logo
- paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo
NeXT coffee mug: (may be for company gifting only)
- clear glass with etched (monochrome) logo
NeXT pencils, bags, and folders: given away at NeXT Day
NeXT machine: see below for details
Capabilities of NeXT machine:
- Hardware Specs: (basic machine)
- 25 MHz 68030 main processor
- 25 MHz 68882 math coprocessor
- 25 MHz DSP56001 (2 cycles/instr giving 12.5MIPS) (confirmed)
- Integrated Channel Processor (ICP) - 12 DMA channel controller
- Optical Storage Processor (OSP) - provides ECC and double buffering
- 16 SIMM slots on main board - accepts 1MB modules or higher (when
avail.)
- 8 slots come filled with 1MB SIMMs for 8MB standard
- no parity or ECC - 8 1Mx1bit chips per SIMM
- 256 KB for display RAM
- 256 MB erasable optical disk (drive by Canon/controller by NeXT)
- 2 5.25" full height device bays - 1 taken by optical disk
- 2 16-bit D/A's (44.1 MHz) for stereo output (in monitor unit)
- 8-bit codec for voice input (in monitor unit)
- 4 32-bit, 25MHz, CMOS level NuBus like slots
- Form Factor: Eurocard Type C connector
- 1 slot taken by main board - 3 left open
- Universal power supply
- Ports:
- DB-19 monitor port - video, keyboard, mouse, stereo sound, microphone
input, and 12V DC power
- "thin" Ethernet port - 10Mbit/sec - AM7996 Ethernet transceiver chip
- DB-9 serial printer port - 1.8 mbps and 3.2 mbps
- DB-25 SCSI port - rated at up to 4.8 MB/sec (NCR 53C90 chip)
- 2 serial ports (Mac mini DIN-8, 230.4Kbps sync and 38.4Kbps asynch)
- DB-15 DSP port (to synch and asynch channels on port C of DSP)
- Externals: (included in basic system)
- 17-inch 2 bits/pixel gray-scale monitor - 1120 x 832 pels, 94-dpi
- keyboard - 84 key - attaches to monitor
- mouse - 2 button optomechanical - attaches to keyboard
Software Included: (all on the boot disk)
- System Software
- MACH operating system (from CMU)
- system-call compatible w/ BSD4.3
- includes Sun NFS RPC service (version 2) built upon UDP
- includes current Van Jacobsen TCP code
- supports shared libraries
- NeXT mods are being reported back to CMU MACH
- Display PostScript Window Server and fonts (Adobe)
- System administration tools
- Application Development Tools
- Objective C 4.0 (Stepstone Inc., Sandy Hook, Connecticut)
- GNU ANSI C compiler (Free Software Foundation)
- libraries rewritten by NeXT
- compiled programs are not restricted by GNU license
- GNU C debugger (Free Software Foundation) with Objective C extensions
- GNU emacs (Free Software Foundation)
- Allegro Common Lisp (Franz, Inc.)
- Berkeley Unix utilities
- Terminal Emulator
- NeXT Step interface (sold rights to IBM for $10M)
- Interface Builder
- DSP Tools - assembler, debugger, and array processing routines
- Speech features - record and play only (recognition stuff *not*
bundled!)
- Object-oriented software kits:
- Application Kit
- Sound Kit
- Music Kit
- High-speed text-retrieval application (called "Find")
- Array Processing Kit (using DSP)
- Applications
- Mathematica (Wolfram Research)
- Write Now (word processor, owned by NeXT)
- Workspace Manager - window-based file manager
- Mailapp - electronic mail (including VOICE mail)
- Jot (Notepad, text database manager)
- NeXT SQL Database Server (Sybase)
- Digital Librarian - includes but is not limited to:
- Merriam-Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus
- Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Oxford Univ. Press)
- Oxford Complete Works of Shakespeare (Oxford Univ. Press)
- NeXT technical references
- user and programmer manuals
Software in the Works:
- page layout program (Frame Technology Corp.)
Price:
- $6,500 to educational institutions only
- Does not include distribution and service charges? Institution will
have to handle that.
Delivery Dates: (none solid)
- 4thQtr 88 - version 0.8 - to developers only
- 1stQtr 89 - version 0.9 - developers & agressive users
- 2ndQtr 89 - version 1.0 - educational institutions & developers
Options:
- laser printer - $2,000
- customized, Canon based? print engine - 8 page/sec
- uses standard toner cartridges and paper trays
- 300 DPI @ 1.8 Mbit/sec and 400 DPI @ 3.2 Mbit/sec
- no controls on printer (not even a power switch)
- no memory or CPU onboard, streams data from interface to image
- 330 MB winchester internal hard disk (Maxtor) - $2,000
- 660 MB winchester internal hard disk (Maxtor) - $4,000
- extra 256M optical disk drive - $1,500?
- optical diskettes - $50
- 25MHz CMOS NuBus interface chip - $25 to developers
- RJ-11 Phone Plug adapter - still under develpment
- (rumoured) color graphics (Pixar) - still under development
Steve Jobs:
- estimated worth on leaving Apple: $90M in stocks
- attended Reed - dropped out?
- Past hits: Apple II, Macintosh
- Past misses: Apple III, Lisa
Misc Goodies:
- It's black and made of magnesium
- NeXT.com is on the arpanet
- sunset.NeXT.COM (4.0/NeXT0.0-Aleph)
- next.NeXT.COM (4.0/SMI-4.0Beta)
- herman.NeXT.COM (4.0/SMI-4.0Beta)
- reminder: arpa rules - no business or commercial related use
- the desktop has a black hole for file deletion
References:
- In print:
- Infoworld issue of Sept. 26
- San Jose Mercury News of October 7
- Wall Street Journal, October 12 - ** best general info
- Unix Review, October?
- EE Times, October 17, 1988
- PC Week - October 17, 1988; vol. 5, no. 42
- CMU Public Relations Office
- Byte article (also avail. on BIX) - ** best technical info.
- Newsweek - cover story - Oct. 24, 1988
- BusinessWeek - cover story - Oct. 24, 1988
- On-Line:
- Unix NetNews: comp.sys.misc
- Internet domain BBoard: info-mach
- Unix NetNews: comp.os.mach
- Gnu information: gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu
Interim contact for people interested in becoming a developer:
- John Ison, (415) 424-0200
NeXT employees: (total of 160 as of 10/20/88)
- Peter Schofield - Pacific NW regional manager for NeXT
- Ali T. Ozer, aozer@NeXT.com - NeXT Developer Support
- John Ison
- Julius Smith
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this helps.
-- Chad Bisk
-- cb29@andrew.cmu.eduswilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) (10/27/88)
> - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo
When I saw this on that entrepreneur show on PBS (?) featuring Jobs
and others (I guess it was on about a year and a half ago) I was
amazed that for $100,000 all you could get was the ugly NeXT logo.
Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for
which they paid dearly. Ah, but then again I work for a company
with one of the slickest logos going....
About two years ago I saw a Mercedes with the license plate "NEXT INC"
(I think that's what it was) driving on Page Mill near the NeXT
building. Anyone know if it's Jobs that has that plate?
--
Scott Wilson arpa: swilson@sun.com
Sun Microsystems uucp: ...!sun!swilson
Mt. View, CAchavez@ksl.stanford.edu (R. Martin Chavez) (10/28/88)
In article <74950@sun.uucp> swilson@sun.UUCP (Scott Wilson) writes: >> - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo > >When I saw this on that entrepreneur show on PBS (?) featuring Jobs >and others (I guess it was on about a year and a half ago) I was >amazed that for $100,000 all you could get was the ugly NeXT logo. I happen to really like the NeXT logo, especially as it appears (in relief) on the actual Cube. De gustibus non est disputandum. R. Martin Chavez Stanford Medical School
kent@lloyd.camex.uucp (Kent Borg) (10/28/88)
For Announcement Locations you forgot: Boston Computer Society's November General Meeting. November 21, 7:30 PM, Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusettes Avenue, Boston. One ofthe first times mortals will get a chance to see it. Kent Borg (BCS Member) kent@lloyd.uucp or hscfvax!lloyd!kent
jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) (10/28/88)
In article <74950@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) writes: > > - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo > > Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for > which they paid dearly. Ah, but then again I work for a company > with one of the slickest logos going.... Yes... Sun has *the* slickest logo going (at least that's my opinion). I'm not interested in buying a logo though... I'm buying the guts of a machine and boy do I like what I see in the guts of the NeXT's hideous little box. I particularly like the fact that it runs an OS for which I can obtain source code and which will be compatibile with numerous public domain packages. Anybody know what SUN or APPLE are offering to compete or is it too soon to ask? I was considering a used SUN or a Mac II running A/UX for a home machine, but these options look pretty silly now compared to NeXT. -- John T. Nelson UUCP: sun!sundc!potomac!jtn Advanced Decision Systems Internet: jtn@potomac.ads.com 1500 Wilson Blvd #512; Arlington, VA 22209-2401 (703) 243-1611 Shar and Enjoy!
wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu (William M. Bumgarner) (10/29/88)
> Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for
which they paid dearly
But the rectangle is tilted at exactly 14 degrees... which translates to a
4 to 1 run to rise pixel ratio on a system with a square pixel ratio; Macintosh.
more trivia from hell,
wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu
Ok, Ok, it may not be 14 degrees exactly, but it is a 4:1 run:rise-- to cut
down on screen and print jaggies (well, at least make them spaced regularly).
It was designed with that in mind.cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (10/29/88)
In article <74950@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) writes: > > - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo > > When I saw this on that entrepreneur show on PBS (?) featuring Jobs > and others (I guess it was on about a year and a half ago) I was > amazed that for $100,000 all you could get was the ugly NeXT logo. > Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for > which they paid dearly. Ah, but then again I work for a company > with one of the slickest logos going.... > -- > Scott Wilson arpa: swilson@sun.com I think I have disagree. The Sun logo is clever, but I don't find it pretty -- the NeXT logo is at least pretty. Anyone who needs to throw a $100,000 into logo production, email me -- I'm sure I can come up with something every bit as nice as the NeXT logo, and I'll only charge you $50,000. :-) Seriously, the money people put into logo designs makes no sense -- especially when you look at how unimpressive the results are. Remember when NBC paid five or six figures for a two color "N"? -- Clayton E. Cramer ..!ames!pyramid!kontron!optilin!cramer
jim@athsys.uucp (Jim Becker) (10/29/88)
From article <74950@sun.uucp>, by swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson): > > About two years ago I saw a Mercedes with the license plate "NEXT INC" > (I think that's what it was) driving on Page Mill near the NeXT > building. Anyone know if it's Jobs that has that plate? > > Scott Wilson Yes, that's him. I had the pleasure of being next to this car in a typical traffic jam one Saturday evening on 280. Steven Jobs was in the car with none other than Mr. Perot. When he isn't in traffic, he books. I have had him buzz by me several times and haven't been able to catch up... -Jim Becker
Charlie@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (Charles Anderson) (10/29/88)
In article <7080@potomac.ads.com> jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) writes: |In article <74950@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) writes: |> > - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo |> |> Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for |> which they paid dearly. Ah, but then again I work for a company |> with one of the slickest logos going.... | |Yes... Sun has *the* slickest logo going (at least that's my opinion). Personally I like the SGI 3D wire frame cube. (our eclipses at work came with this neeto keen spining SGI logo....It says personal IRIS.. I love it.) -Charles Anderson-- Charlie Anderson - caa@midgard.mn.org
guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) (10/29/88)
>I particularly like the fact that it runs an OS for which >I can obtain source code As long as you've bought the requisite license from AT&T (no, CMU didn't rewrite every single piece of it) - and assuming that NeXT will provide the source to all the requisite bits (the kernel and library stuff they changed? NeXTStEP?).
ns@cat.cmu.edu (Nicholas Spies) (10/29/88)
In article <74950@sun.uucp> swilson@sun.UUCP (Scott Wilson) writes: >> - paid $100,000 to Paul Rand to design logo >... >amazed that for $100,000 all you could get was the ugly NeXT logo. >Almost as bad as the infamous tilted rectangle logo of CMU for >which they paid dearly. Ah, but then again I work for a company >with one of the slickest logos going.... > The classic logo story is that of NBC, who also paid something like $100,000 for a logo that turned out to be _identical_ to that of Nebraska Public Television, which got some sort of cash settlement, and I think some equipment for the trouble. The Nebraska people had, of course, paid very little to an artist, whom we can only hope has gone on to bigger and better things... -- Nicholas Spies ns@cat.cmu.edu.arpa Center for Design of Educational Computing Carnegie Mellon University
jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) (11/01/88)
In article <346@auspex.UUCP>, guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) writes: > >I particularly like the fact that it runs an OS for which > >I can obtain source code > > As long as you've bought the requisite license from AT&T (no, CMU didn't > rewrite every single piece of it) - and assuming that NeXT will provide > the source to all the requisite bits (the kernel and library stuff they > changed? NeXTStEP?). My understanding is that the AT&T parts are being replaced. There's aa lot there to be replaced though I'm sure. AT&T wrote more than just the kernel. There are all kinds of tools as well. At least we have the GNU C and C++ compilers. The fact that NeXT is using these is a GOOD sign. Jobs philosophy on computing seems coherent and straight-forward so far. I'm hoping that he will maintain a policy of complete openess and deliver all source code as well as updates (not everyone has access to the net) and libraries. Source code strictures and resistance to change are killing Unix and Mach might be just what's needed to spark some creative progress (or plunge us all into total anarchy ;-). -- John T. Nelson UUCP: sun!sundc!potomac!jtn Advanced Decision Systems Internet: jtn@potomac.ads.com 1500 Wilson Blvd #512; Arlington, VA 22209-2401 (703) 243-1611 Shar and Enjoy!
stuart@ihlpe.ATT.COM (S. D. Ericson) (11/02/88)
In article <7080@potomac.ads.com>, jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) writes: > Anybody know what SUN or APPLE are offering to compete or is it too > soon to ask? I was considering a used SUN or a Mac II running A/UX > for a home machine, but these options look pretty silly now compared to > NeXT. > Well, John, the problem is that the real release of the "cube" won't be availble until the second quarter of 1989 (release 1.0 of the software not expected until then). Also, Jobs has stated EXPLICITLY that it is only available to university people then. Besides, what software do you want for it? I wouldn't count on the "cube" being available to the general public until mid 1990 at least. So if you want to get anything done, buy the Sun or Mac II. The Mac, at least, has lots of affordable commercial packages. Both the Mac and the Sun support large quantities of public domain software, NOW. Is it worth waiting 18 months for a machine? If so, why do you even need it? Sorry, I'm probably overreacting. Crud! Where *IS* that asbestos coat? Stu -- Stuart Ericson AT&T Bell Laboratories USEnet: att!ihlpe!stuart IH 2H210 ARPA: stuart@ihlpe.att.com 2000 N. Naperville Road Voice: (312) 979-4491 Naperville, Il 60566-7033
dhsu@crunchyfrog.Sun.COM (David Hsu) (11/03/88)
In article <609@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes: >In article <74950@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) writes: >> . Ah, but then again I work for a company >> with one of the slickest logos going.... > >I think I have disagree. The Sun logo is clever, but I don't find >it pretty -- the NeXT logo is at least pretty. Actually, it all seems kinda funny to me since (if I'm not mistaken) Sun paid somebody a tidy sum to tell them to turn the original logo 45 degrees and to paint it purple. -dave David Hsu dhsu@sun.com <standard disclaimer> "I feel better already knowing that Sherlock Holmes is British."
jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) (11/11/88)
In article <3717@ihlpe.ATT.COM>, stuart@ihlpe.ATT.COM (S. D. Ericson) writes: > In article <7080@potomac.ads.com>, jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) writes: > > Anybody know what SUN or APPLE are offering to compete or is it too > > soon to ask? I was considering a used SUN or a Mac II running A/UX > > for a home machine, but these options look pretty silly now compared to > > NeXT. > > > Well, John, the problem is that the real release of the "cube" won't > be availble until the second quarter of 1989 (release 1.0 of the > software not expected until then). This is true.... and I intend to wait until then for my machine. > Also, Jobs has stated EXPLICITLY that it is only available to > university people then. Besides, what software do you want for it? Well, I'm a part-time student and... I've done a lot of reading in my spare time (remember the commercial on TV where Abe Lincoln is explaining why he should be admitted to college?). Seriously, I am a part-time student so maybe I can get one this way. What software do I want for it? Well... I want a Mach kernel and 4.3 running on it. I want to talk to my machines at work via something like SLIP and exchange news/mail withe machines on Usenet and Internet. I REALLY want to buy a sampler board for the thing (when they become available) and generate CD quality music with it so I intend to write/port/obtain sequencer/composer/sample manipulation software. Ambitious enough? > I wouldn't count on the "cube" being available to the general > public until mid 1990 at least. So if you want to get anything > done, buy the Sun or Mac II. The Mac, at least, has lots of > affordable commercial packages. Both the Mac and the Sun support > large quantities of public domain software, NOW. But neither machine implements a public domain Unix with any hope of producing 44.1 Khz sound (boards are available for the Mac but A/UX is not terribly attractive compared to Mach). -- John T. Nelson UUCP: sun!sundc!potomac!jtn Advanced Decision Systems Internet: jtn@potomac.ads.com 1500 Wilson Blvd #512; Arlington, VA 22209-2401 (703) 243-1611 Shar and Enjoy!