Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!unido!pfm!nadia!dialog!root
From: root@dialog.UUCP (Christian Motz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Fat Agnus
Summary: Actually flaming Commodore Germany
Message-ID: <1014@dialog.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jun 89 09:13:58 GMT
References: <17836@louie.udel.EDU> <935@dialog.UUCP> <7154@cbmvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: root@dialog.UUCP (Christian Motz)
Organization: Dialog Software Development
Lines: 59

In article <7154@cbmvax.UUCP> higgin@cbmvax.UUCP (Paul Higginbottom) writes:
>
>What problem was this, please?

We posted the problem a while back on comp.sys.amiga.tech, and even wrote to
Dave Haynie about it. Obviously various memory expansion cards (including
the A2052) didn't work properly in the new Rev. 6 (the one with the hard-
ware hack, the small upside-down PCB on the board). The Rev. 6 released
now have this small PCB replaced by a single chip, and now there are no
longer any problems.

>Such as free support on usenet?

Which is alright, hell no, *GREAT*. But you have to understand that it is
simply *FRUSTRATING* for a customer when he buys his equipment for a lot
of money and sees a couple of months later that the company upgrades the
part he bought in a way that it can't be done with his machine.

>Do you have anything constructive to say?  I guess you can't count on the fact
>that we have delivered around a million Amigas either.

Most of which are A500s and were sold here in Germany. If it weren't for the
German customers, I seriously doubt the Amiga would have been such a success
in sales. Interestingly enough, Commodore Germany is probably the affiliate
with the largest sales and the worst support. This (and probably the stupid
but successful marketing of CBM Germany) is why the Amiga still has the flair
of the C64 (which it is actually replacing in the market). The A 2000 is
usually bought by rich parents for their spoiled little brats, so that they
can brag about it in the neighborhood. Very few people buy the A 2000 for
"serious" applications, and the reason for this is exactly what I cited:
The A 2000 has a rather bad name, for the various reasons I cited in my
article before. Add to that the usually rather uninterested dealers, and
you have the worst combination you can get.

>$Remember the upgrade deal from the A1000 to the A2000?
>
>Which was highly successful, and ran for months longer than it was originally
>intended due to demand.  We also sent a mailing to all registered A1000 owners.

Ok, ok, so I goofed up on that one -- but that is probably because this
offer was only made in the U.S. and not here in Germany. If it was made
here also, Commodore Germany probably made sure nobody heard about it.
I was already corrected on that by John Schilling (CBM-QA) via mail (ugh-
Usenet is fast -- it took the message only 16 hours from cbmvax to my
system here in Germany).

Don't get me wrong: I *LIKE* my Amiga. There are times when I could throw
it out the window, but that would be the same with any other computer
(probably more so with an IBM). My current configuration reflects that,
'cause I now have a brandnew Rev. 6 /w 2090A and two 40 MByte Harddisks.
My only plea to you guys is, never to do anything like the 2000A/B and
2090/2090A thing again. I don't have anything against upgrades that can
be installed in older systems also, but I hate it when I have to buy
complete new equipment to get up-to-date with my hardware (besides, I
can't really afford it), and I suppose I am not the only one.

--
Christian Motz       uucp: ...!uunet!mcvax!unido!pfm!nadia!dialog!root
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" -- Sledge Hammer         Bix: cmotz