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- Path: sparky!uunet!opl.com!hri.com!spool.mu.edu!torn!utgpu!utstat!philip
- From: philip@utstat.toronto.edu (Rob Tibshirani)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
- Subject: Re: Business Week article (NeXT to dump hardware)
- Message-ID: <C1I5xq.BGB@utstat.toronto.edu>
- Date: 27 Jan 93 07:53:50 GMT
- References: <1993Jan26.182207.198723@zeus.calpoly.edu> <1k4udc$1cb@agate.berkeley.edu>
- Organization: University of Toronto, Dept. of Statistics
- Lines: 39
-
- In article <1k4udc$1cb@agate.berkeley.edu> izumi@pinoko.berkeley.edu writes:
-
- [ ]
- >
- >But then, at least in the NS486 market, it should be pretty easy for
- >a small clone maker to preload NS486 to their clone with tested
- >video cards, ethernet cards and hard disks. And guarantee that things
- >work. Loading NS486 to existing clones would be problematic, but
- >no one on the selling side is interested in that -- loads of troubles
- >and little money to be made.
-
- Why on earth will users flock to NS486 when they have yet to leave DOS? There
- are so many OS's on the PC that it's getting confusing at this point. In any
- case, NS486 is hardly going to make a dent in sales and users of DOS, Windows,
- OS/2.
- >
- >I would bet that NS486 would definitely eat into NeXT's hardware sales
- >because there are enough dealers that bend over backword to differentiate
- >themselves from the rest. Even with $600 price the dealers might
- >pay for NS486, they can slap together a 66MHz 486 machine that is
- >competitive with NeXT hardware, and preload NS486, with satisfaction
- >guaranteed or money back.
- >Recent prices of local bus 486 machines are amazing.
- >And NS486 will sell the top of the line machines for them.
-
- Why would NS486 sell the top of the line machines? There are already OS's out
- there for these machines that have a whole lot of applications now.
-
- I'm not saying that NS486 will fail. It will sell as a niche product. However,
- it would be foolish for NeXT to give up making hardware and to become a
- software vendor. That would really be the final straw.
-
- There's no reason to stop making NeXT hardware.
-
- Incidentally, which local bus are you referring to? I was under the impression
- that there was no standard set.
-
- Philip McDunnough
- philip@utstat.toronto.edu
-