On Black Tuesday, many NeXT staffers had 24 hours or less notice that they were losing their jobs. Among many long-time employees cut loose, the individual with the lowest employee number (21) was Alex Fitz, who worked in developer programs. Campus Consultants had no notice that their program was being axed. And no, they didn't get to keep their machines. NeXT wanted up to $2100 for a CC to keep an official loaner.
The cuts went way beyond discretionary areas like developer support and higher education. It also hit NeXT's core revenue producers, the direct sales force, which is down to 40 salespeople who will target the Fortune 1000. Other markets, including publishing and small business, will be served through indirect channels. Right.
While employees may have been caught short, NeXT's major investors were well briefed. Sullivan learned that Ross Perot had discussed the plan with Steve Jobs as long as a year ago. Canon's slow reaction in confirming the purchase of NeXT's hardware assets lends credence to the story that top management's rush visit to Japan in January was indeed a briefing and not a summons. In the deal, it appears that NeXT has bought out its debt to Canon.
Demand for black hardware is running high. After announcing the closing of the factory, so many orders came in from large customers the next day that NeXT reopened it for a final two-day run. The factory was closed with a stockpile of only 2500 machines. Steve himself ordered a NeXTstation Turbo Color (yes, he got the employee discount). Insiders are expecting him to store it at his house without opening it.
NeXTdimensions aren't among the stockpiled machines, so a true-color (24- or 32-bit) solution for NeXTSTEP doesn't currently exist. NeXT is working with several PC graphics-card vendors to get a working solution based on the latest Tseng Labs graphics coprocessor chip.
There has been a lot of talk about the NeXT RISC Workstation and its possible continued life in the new hardware company. Less discussed is the fate of the NeXTstation Nitro, the 40MHz '040 station with oversized on-board cache. The Nitro was expected to be a big win for applications like Insignia's newest rev to SoftPC, which relies on the cache for performance. Word is that it might not be dead on arrival. To help decide the fate of this near-product, send a note to Nitro@NeXT.com and give them the benefit of your opinion.
Just a week after the layoff announcements, the factory was hit by burglars for several hundred thousand dollars' worth of chips and other commodities. While chip heists have become a fairly common occurrence in Silicon Valley, Fremont police didn't rule out the possibility of an inside job Ð it seems the bad guys knew exactly which storage cabinets to strip. Investigators were amazed by the chintzy alarm system installed at the facility.
After dealing with the employees, NeXT execs faced customers and developers at a jam-packed meeting of the Bay Area NeXT Group. Besides defending the hardware decision, Steve and PVC let loose a few surprises. To wit: NeXT has been working on a QuickTime-like video standard and it may be demonstrated at NeXTWORLD Expo.
The DSP was, in Steve's blunt assessment, a "mistake."
Developers may have been pleased to hear Peter van Cuylenburg's commitment to shrinkwrapped applications. NeXTSTEP doesn't solve any problems, he said; applications solve problems. More concrete plans included a '486 loaner pool and on-site porting lab.
Steve sidestepped rumors about a SPARC port, including an outlandish one by a Sun salesman who told customers that the deal is done and the software could be ready by September. He also offered to take NeXTstation hardware in a trade-in offer for SPARCstation 10s. At BANG, Steve said it's premature to be trading in NeXTstations but jokingly suggested that users write to Scott McNealy. PVC said that any RISC port is a nine- to 12-month project.
Sitting quietly in the back of the auditorium, a disguised Lieutenant mulled over the various partial RISC ports he'd already seen running in the lab. This time, he thought, Steve had better be ready to pull one out of his hat.
There's more, much more. Why doesn't anyone ever consider upsizing? It's just as well for Lt. Sullivan, who is off on Agency assignment till Expo time. While he's out of touch, keep your supply of insider info coming to sullivan@nextworld.com or 415/978-3374 (voice-mail). One mug per tip Ð start your collection today.