Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ginosko!usc!polyslo!nschultz
From: nschultz@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Ned W. Schultz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AmiExpo report (1 day only) && stuff
Keywords: AmiExpo, AMAS, A.M.A.S.
Message-ID: <1989Oct23.025127.27253@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
Date: 23 Oct 89 02:51:27 GMT
References: <18679@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: nschultz@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Ned W Schultz)
Organization: Cal Poly State University -- San Luis Obispo
Lines: 43


I had a good day at AmiExpo too, though it was disappointing to see who
failed to show up: Microillusions was not there, not demoing Music-X
(which is ironic since they demoed it so many times when it wasn't
available), but Music-X for $144 was one of the nice bargains I found
from the 4 retailers competing there.  Aegis was nowhere to be seen.
Jay Miner bravely sat at the Intuitive Tech. table, but he was alone...no
sign of UltraCard.
 
Imtronics was wowing people with graphics demos from their Hurricane cards.
Quasar Sound from Centaur was also attracting attention for its ability
to dump extremely large sound samples to floppies, without regard to how
much RAM you have.  I heard a lot of "voice mail" talk from people who
saw that.  
 
The word processor battles were limited to ProWrite (2.5?), PenPal and
WordPerfect.  Dr. T's had an active booth.  Elan Design was doing some
creative demoing of Performer and InVision Plus.  
 
The Newtek booth was showy but weak on substance.  The standard answer
on the Toaster was "this year" at $1595.  One of their showmen was
waving around a board that was supposedly the Toaster.  I've seen this
performance now at three different AmiExpos (over 3 years) so I'm a
little cynical about it.  I also couldn't get a clear answer about
the DigiView 4.0 upgrade policy.  The hires 4096 pictures looked very
nice.

Distant Suns looked very well done.  A new structured drawing program
called ProVector was available from Taliesin.  It looked like a decent
competitor to ProDraw.
 
Overall the show was appropriately subdued and pleasantly uncrowded.
I was surprised at the lack of new programs other than games.  As usual
there were lots of good bargains...I went home with my arms full.
 
Look for the new Allen Hastings animations.  Newtek was running those
and frankly, they were the best part of their exhibit.  I don't know
if these were entered in the BADGE contest, but anything that could
top their realism and professional look would be most impressive.  I
especially liked Chrome Teapots...there was also a slick moving sports
car and a nice sequence of a UFO flooding a house with a spotlight...
 
Ned Schultz     nschultz@polyslo.calpoly.edu