Las Vegas Ð NeXT began to show its '486 hand at the Comdex trade show here in November as four hardware manufacturers publicly demonstrated support for NeXTSTEP '486.
In addition to the previously demonstrated Dell hardware platform, NeXT showed its software on Epson, Compaq, and NEC boxes at the show. Goldstar did not demonstrate at the show but is likely to support NeXTSTEP. No notebook systems were shown, though Toshiba is expected to be among the vendors supporting NeXTSTEP on '486 laptop models.
Although NeXTSTEP will run unmodified on a large number of '486 platforms, manufacturer-specific drivers are needed for best results (see "'486 motherboards need direct access to video"). Because of its need to focus marketing resources, NeXT will limit the number of manufacturers with which it forms active partnerships.
NeXT users can look forward to superlative price and performance from "white hardware," as '486 hardware is termed, in contrast to NeXT's higher-priced "black hardware." Sources close to NeXT said that Epson's Progression machines using Wingine chips are the fastest all-around NeXTSTEP machines available. Project Manager Lynn Jennings attributed the computers' speed to the fact that they are optimized for Windows using a specially modified version of the Wingine chip that also speeds up NeXTSTEP.
Even including the $995 NeXTSTEP software, '486 machines will cost $1000 to $1500 less than a comparably equipped NeXTstation, with prices expected to continue dropping on '486 machines.
NeXTSTEP enters a rapidly changing marketplace for '486 machines, with prices swiftly dropping to commodity levels. Though makers welcome NeXT-STEP as a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors and sell machines loaded with high-margin items like memory and advanced graphics, NeXTSTEP's small installed base currently limits the marketing resources these companies can commit to the OS.
"It will be a flavor," said Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer Corporation, who explained that there is a great deal of interest in NeXTSTEP. But Dell's strength, he added, is in fulfilling customer demand in the marketplace, not creating it. Still, Dell did make modifications to its JAWS video standard to accommodate NeXT, and the two companies have begun making joint sales calls pitching the combination, according to Martin Seyer, Dell's director of advanced systems marketing.
It is becoming clear that hard-ware vendors consider NeXT responsible for creating customer demand for NeXTSTEP-equipped machines. NeXT appears ready to make that commitment: On December 1, Steve Jobs told an audience of bankers in London that up to 90 percent of NeXT's sales efforts would be directed toward software marketing. He also said that customers will decide the degree to which NeXT will remain a hardware versus software company.