Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!haven!grebyn!ckp
From: ckp@grebyn.com (Checkpoint Technologies)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Better than Advertising
Keywords: value enhancement
Message-ID: <19478@grebyn.com>
Date: 19 Mar 90 22:33:22 GMT
References: <5830@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Reply-To: ckp@grebyn.UUCP (Checkpoint Technologies)
Distribution: na
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing, Vienna, VA, USA
Lines: 36

In article <5830@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> brianr@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Brian E Rhodefer) writes:
>Recently, and from time to time, people lament Commodore's
>feeble advertising campaigns.  I can't say how effective
>the pre-Christmas media barrage was in generating sales,
>but I remember hearing that Commodore spent several millions
>of dollars on the effort.
>
>Given the enormous costs of advertising, it might just be cheaper
>to eliminate the main objections many people have against buying
>an Amiga:  lack of a commercial-quality spreadsheet, and lack of
>WYSIWYG-capable document preparation.
> [ says how Lotus 1-2-3 and outline fonts would be supported ]

	Sorry, I don't think that's the problem.  I think the problem
that must be addressed has nothing whatever to do with technical merit
or available applications.

	I recently overheard a story about a video production package
proposed to a major TV network.  It was wonderful, it was low-cost, it
was high-quality, it was easy to use, and it used Amigas; and if the
Amiga doesn't excel at video and graphics, nothing does.

	The official response: "Hey, it's great! Too bad it's an Amiga.
We'd buy it if it were a Mac."

	I personally don't know what could be done.  It's image
perception.  Maybe if the Amiga were bought by HP, and re-introduced as
the HP Power Video Workstation, running a new WB revision that doesn't
look like AmigaDOS 1.3, people might re-examine it on it's own merit.
And maybe the open-minded video graphics companies that buy Amiga-based
solutions will under-bid and out-perform the closed-minded PC/Mac-
minded companies to the extent that they're driven out of business.

	There's hope, I think, but it won't come soon and it won't be
easy.  Look how many years ago Japannese cars were considered cheap
toys, and now today the Lexus and Infiniti are respected luxury cars...