Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!apple!oliveb!mipos3!omepd!griff From: griff@intelob.intel.com (Richard Griffith) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: No more Cinemaware stuff for Amiga !!!???? Message-ID: Date: 26 Jul 89 16:01:08 GMT References: <268@nrcvax.NRC.COM> <30140@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <4929@alvin.mcnc.org> <1989Jul24.163632.23920@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <21429@dcatla.UUCP> Sender: news@omepd.UUCP Organization: BiiN Information Systems, Hillsboro, Oregon Lines: 78 In-reply-to: mclek@dcatla.UUCP's message of 25 Jul 89 18:24:04 GMT In article <21429@dcatla.UUCP> mclek@dcatla.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar) writes: > Does Cinemaware make anything other than games? Just wondering. not that I know of....:-) >In article <1989Jul24.163632.23920@ddsw1.MCS.COM> karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) writes: >> >>[ bad experience at an SF convention ] >> >>After seeing this I decided then and there that my company would never produce >>an Amiga product. I've never seen something like this in the MSDOS or Unix >>world. [...] >> >>We'll stay with Unix products, even though we could write some really killer >>packages for the Amy. >Speaking as one who has *never* pirated Amiga software, your decision is >a loss to all of us. I won't say that piracy isn't a problem on the Amiga, >but I would go so far as to say that what you saw was extreme and rare -- you >caught the very worst of it the first time. >I've seen similar things in the Mac world -- including a '68 Mustang with >a trunk full of pirated Mac software -- and I'll bet you could find something >on a similar scale in the MS-DOS world if you looked around. I remember >reading something about a pirate board in New York City that had the *source >code* to Lotus 1-2-3 as well as a "cracked" binary! I've seen similar problems with MS-DOS - Although, with MS-DOS, I'd say the problem was *much* worse, I've seen full compilers, word processors, db's, spreadsheets - this is the *productivity* software folks - you don't see that getting copyed by Amigans much, the reason? Simple - MS-DOS productivity programs often have 2-3 "third party" manuals available for less than 1/4 the cost of the original program! So copy a disk, buy the cheap manual, and you're IN! You don't see a lot of Amiga 3rd party manuals (ok, there are *some*, quite good too, huh Rob?), so buying the productivity software is worthwhile... if for nothing else, just for the manuals! >Such extreme piracy probably does not exist in the Unix world -- although >as Unix gets more popular & lands on more desktops, it will happen. It's >just a matter of time. >>Wise up people. If you pirate enough the people who make the products you >>are _stealing_ will stop producing software, you'll have nothing to use, and >>the hardware companies will go out of business too (since without software a >>computer is useless!) >Example? Delta Research produces JForth, a really nice implementation of >Forth for the Amiga. I was having a problem with JForth 1.2, which I dis- >covered after 2.0 was available (for $50 upgrade). Instead of just saying >"buy the new version," Phil Burk (the owner) dug into the code, found the >bug, provided a workaround, THEN said "buy the new version; it doesn't have >this problem." I did. >Gold Disk *must* be doing well; they've just released several new Amiga >products. Of course, pirates really have no need for productivity software. >Pirates may copy it, but I doubt they actually use it. Case in point: WordPerfect. I know that there are a lot of people who aren't real crazy about WordPerfect, but they BUY IT, and USE IT. And, I find it real rare to find it PIRATED! - why? Their customer support is Superior. I once called and said that my "help" file was a "beta" version - they had a FULL SET of disks in the mail to me WITHIN THE WEEK- yep, snail mail, no less! >-- >Larry Kollar ...!gatech!dcatla!mclek >: life BEGIN funds @ enough_to_retire < WHILE work REPEAT ; -- * Richard E. Griffith, "griff" * Cyrus Hammerhand * * BiiN, Hillsboro Ore. * Household of the Golden Wolf * * UUCP: ...[!uunet]!tektronix!biin!griff * Dragons' Mist, An Tir * ************************************************************************** * "If you don't see the humor in something you take seriously, * * Then you're not taking it seriously enough!" - Poepping * * These are MY opinions, if BiiN wanted them, They'd pay for `em! *