Besides chalk marks on mailboxes, there was plenty of other news out of northwest Washington, D.C., the location of January's East Coast Developer Conference. Tensions in the Intel hardware market flared into the open between the established OEMs and the noncertified box movers. One of the latter, eCesys, came to the show with low-level NeXT approval to display a custom-configured workstation. But when NeXT Director of Strategic Partnerships Paul Vais spotted the eCesys machine, he demanded it be torn down on the spot. Later, Vais took his turn on the conference program to tell customers that they should avoid the "little guys."
Tempers were also in evidence over the eight-bit color driver that Talus proudly demonstrated on a no-name notebook. NeXT considers the driver to be inferior technology, but at least one of the strategic OEMs, NEC, is interested enough that it may offer it on Versa notebooks. Sullivan is uncertain how much of the annoyance being expressed in the NeXT corner is the result of long-running tension between the company and Talus and how much is a legitimate technology difference. Certainly, the Talus dithered color is less than perfect, but it appears to be serviceable for Sullivan's purposes.
Negotiations went down to the wire over announcements of third-party ports. Digital Equipment Corporation was not happy that NeXT chose not to announce a DEC-supported Alpha port of NEXTSTEP. DEC had intended to push its DEXpcXL product heavily because it lets you use a Pentium or '486 now and upgrade to an Alpha chip when the port is released. At least one witness has seen NeXT Mach running (albeit in single-user mode) on an Alpha in Redwood City.
On the other hand, NeXT did include DEC's UNIX among its list of upcoming ports for Portable Distributed Objects. DEC representatives at the event later told Sullivan that the PDO deal had not been inked. Similarly, the long-expected NCR endorsement for PDO failed to materialize.
In case you were wondering, Ron Weissman is fine. Concentrating on his presentation in the bright glare of the stage lighting, he accidentally stepped off the platform. He got right back up and gamely went on but was noticeably limping later at the conference. One rumor mentioned a hairline fracture, but when I next saw Ron, he was just fine.
NeXT third-party developers are griping again. In his keynote presentation, Steve Jobs focused exclusively on custom apps and failed to highlight any current third-party software in his familiar NeXTMail-based demonstration. In fact, just about the only high-level mention of third-party developers came during Scott McNealy's NEXTIME-delivered remarks, which were addressed directly to commercial developers.
More than one developer who attended last November's executive briefing reminded Sullivan that NeXT has not yet delivered on its promised customer list. Most concede that the list need not contain the most sensitive contacts, but NeXT's resistance to coming up with references at its known customer sites is widely viewed as unnecessarily obstructionist. Meanwhile, the recent management change in NeXT's developer-relations program has brought a strategic shift as well. The department is apparently focusing on recruitment of major crossplatform developers to OpenStep. Sound familiar?
Among third-party developments, the big surprise of the month was the defection of longtime NeXT supporter Marc Munford from Insignia to Pages. Sullivan was also pleasantly surprised by all the interesting new stuff underway at Metrosoft, especially its MetroLock licensing technology, which can enable any kind of licensing scheme a developer chooses to implement, including locking down to the object level. This package could be one of the advances that will finally enable a true ObjectWare market.
It sometimes gets confusing in this hall of mirrors known as the counterintelligence game. Exchanging information is a good thing, as long as you remember where your loyalties lie. Nothing is better for keeping your compass setting than a white Lt. Sullivan mug in your home or office. Get yours for a tidbit of inside information. Reach Sullivan's voice mail at 415/978-3374 or e-mail him at sullivan@nextworld.com. RSA public key available upon request.