🚀 go-pugleaf

I don't like the concept of Appsoft.  Essentially, they have taken NeXT  
software that was once freely useable, and now sell it.  Sure, they are going  
to slowly add features and support, but these added gimmicks have simply added  
to the cost of the machine.  We are talking about features that many users have  
grown dependent upon:  WriteNow, Icon, Scene, MusicKit etc.  To maintain  
functionality, users are forced to either remain with their current release, or  
spend money to purchase these once-free applications.  NeXT's handling of the  
musickit unbundling was excellent; it remains free, and it is now mantained by  
the same people that developed it (as they were laid off from NeXT).  WriteNow  
I forsee as a headache - apparently 2.x binaries will still operate under 3.0,  
but for how long?  Icon and Scene are completely hosed in 3.0 -- Scene was  
excellent for displaying images without Workspace clutter.  Very useful - I  
don't believe appsoft has a comparable feature.  Source code for scene exists  
at NeXT, however, it is padlocked.  Icon is a greater loss - I initially  
thought that the educational price for appsoft Image was going to be $99.  I  
have read now that the price is $295.  This is asinine.


NeXT was once heralded as a "higher-education" computer.

Is my $10,000+ investment in NeXT worth anything to you folks?

Yet another grad student enraged by NeXT's corporate pandering.


Christopher Penrose
penrose@silvertone.princeton.edu