Ten MOST WANTED

The big change is the loss of all those In the Bag asterisks. With 3.0 shipping, most of our original Top Ten are officially retired. Newly bagged items are 3-D modelers (nPOINT, 3DMan, and others in the works) and keyboard choice (which disappeared in grand style with NeXT's new ADB input devices). Among the fastest risers are performance workstations and servers. Readers are looking for new luster on the hardware side of the business.

Rank Last Qtrs.   Item                       Comment
     Qtr. on List 
 1    2     4     NeXTSTEP notebook          Your choice of Intel boxes
 2    6     4     $99/MIPS workstation       Hello, hardware division
 3    3     6     Full-featured CAD software Positive trends in Europe
 4    7     2     NeXT management stability  Key spots still not filled
 5    8     3     Workable support mechanism Developer pricing scheme troublesome
 6    1     4     MPEG compression           Less reader mail this time
 7    4     3     Expanded marketing message Grand Unification Theory
 8    5     4     OD survival                Society for Creative Anachronism
 9   U&C*   3     SPARCstation port          Readers' choice
10   Ð      1     1993 Expo information      Stay tuned

Up and Coming

  
Item   Comment
Object-management standard              ODI deal intriguing
Games                                   Getting bored around the office
High-performance server                 Agnosticism isn't enough
Silicon Graphics alliance               Natural partners
Low-cost entry-level system             Not just a cheap '486
Time-based media standard               Show Apple how
End-user relational database            Not everyone is client-server capable
Multiuser project-management software   Still AWOL

In the Bag

   
Item                               Date Removed   Comment
3-D modeling package**             Sept 1992      Spate of enhancers
Choice of keyboards                Sept 1992      New board and mouse 
                                                   should quiet dissent
Page-layout program                July 1992      The wait pays off
Built-in MIDI ports or card        May  1992      MIDI Link from Quest 
3-D graphics/animation             Jan. 1992      3DKit in NeXTSTEP 3.0
Inexpensive color printer          Jan. 1992      NCP, anyone? 
NeXTWORLD Expo                     Jan. 1992      First of many
OS distribution via CD-ROM         Jan. 1992      Get your drive
NeXTSTEP port to Intel PCs **      Jan. 1992      Looking like Q1 '93
NeXT support for Mac floppies      Jan. 1992      NeXTSTEP 3.0
Services for linking applications  Jan. 1992      3.0's Object Links
Hypertext authoring system         Jan. 1992      Good start in CraftMan
NeXT marketing message             Nov. 1991      Custom apps
*On Up-and-Coming list last quarter

**Announced but not shipping