Did NeXT ever release production numbers for the different models? I remember reading that at one time their was a "NeXT Registry" of sorts, does it still exist? Just curious as to how many in total were made, and how many have been accounted for.
Chef
Can't tell You anything about that but I'm working on a online form where anybody interested can "register" his or her machine - including some sort of counter just to get a general impression on how many machines survived.
J
I had read somewhere..... that there are approx. 50,000 + units that were produced across all models/makes.
Quote from: "matrix01"I had read somewhere..... that there are approx. 50,000 + units that were produced across all models/makes.
yeah but how many are still around and kicking today?
THAT statistic would be NeXT (ha ha) to impossible to determine. At least with any accuracy.
Quote from: "helf"THAT statistic would be NeXT (ha ha) to impossible to determine. At least with any accuracy.
very true, but we could at least try to make an accurate estimation on the number around. i would venture to guess at least half of the machines are still up and going
Quote from: "matrix01"I had read somewhere..... that there are approx. 50,000 + units that were produced across all models/makes.
That's been the oft-touted estimate, but overlooks a TON of govt sold units - which have never been disclosed.
To get an idea how far off the mark this makes things, in Feb 1993 NeXT announced that they were stopping production. Afterwards, the factory ran for nearly an additional month making reserve units for the military and intelligence agency customers.
I've heard estimates of nearly double the 50,000 but that was a LONG time ago.
Quote from: "mgabrys"Quote from: "matrix01"I had read somewhere..... that there are approx. 50,000 + units that were produced across all models/makes.
That's been the oft-touted estimate, but overlooks a TON of govt sold units - which have never been disclosed.
To get an idea how far off the mark this makes things, in Feb 1993 NeXT announced that they were stopping production. Afterwards, the factory ran for nearly an additional month making reserve units for the military and intelligence agency customers.
I've heard estimates of nearly double the 50,000 but that was a LONG time ago.
yeah im sure its really hard to put a total # on units
Quote from: "mgabrys"Quote from: "matrix01"I had read somewhere..... that there are approx. 50,000 + units that were produced across all models/makes.
That's been the oft-touted estimate, but overlooks a TON of govt sold units - which have never been disclosed.
To get an idea how far off the mark this makes things, in Feb 1993 NeXT announced that they were stopping production. Afterwards, the factory ran for nearly an additional month making reserve units for the military and intelligence agency customers.
I've heard estimates of nearly double the 50,000 but that was a LONG time ago.
Good point, and if you think about the actual serial numbers on the boxes, many of them are above 50,000, and I'm sure they wouldn't "skip" any while making the boxes (not at least without a serious reason)
I have 3 Cubes, 1 Color Station, 1 Turbo Color Station, and probably 3 Turbo and 3 non-Turbo Stations.
Seems to me the one person who might know how many NeXT machines were manufactured is Susan K. Barnes.
She was the CFO for Next, so she'd probably be the one who had most of the facts and figures.
As far as I can tell, she is currently employed by Intuitive Surgical and is the "Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Assistant Secretary". [Outdated. See below.]
Anyone have a current e-mail? Although who knows if she'd really want to be bothered with what may be ancient history to her...
Nevermind... Looks like she left in March of last year. No idea what she's doing now... [Outdated. See below.]
After doing more searching it looks like she's a director on the board of Northstar Neuroscience since February of last year. They also say that she's currently a director of RAE Systems Inc. Looks like they make radiation detection equipment. No mention of her on their website that I can find.
Good detective work Ashman!
I don't have anything as concrete to share, but I have re-affirmation for what mgabrys was saying about the military: an ex-NeXT hardware engineer told me, today actually, that the US Pentagon was their number one account. Now, he didn't say for what dates and any number of units...