Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!caen.engin.umich.edu!srvr1!chrisl From: chrisl@caen.engin.umich.edu (Chris Lang) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga Fading? : Revisited Message-ID: <1990Mar27.005237.22703@caen.engin.umich.edu> Date: 27 Mar 90 00:52 GMT References: <15047@snow-white.udel.EDU> Sender: news@caen.engin.umich.edu (Mr. Usenet) Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor Lines: 91 In article <15047@snow-white.udel.EDU> BARRETT%FOREST.ECIL.IASTATE.EDU@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Marc Barrett) writes: > Several months ago, I posted a message to this and another list >entitled "Amiga Fading?" This was a comment about an article in >TIME which compared Commodore's big bashes in New York and Las Angeles >to a party for an aging star. I basically agreed with the article, >and commented that the Amiga, as a serious influence on the computer >industry, is fading fast. As is my patience with your baseless postings to this newsgroup...this is the third posting from you I've read in 10 minutes without the slightest bit of merit. > In the last few months since I wrote that message, I have had my >opppinions confirmed over and over and over again. Nobody in the >computer industry pays attention to the Amiga anymore, even in >areas such as multimedia where the Amiga really shines. The Amiga >is rapidly becoming a home computer and game machine, going the >way of the Commodore 64 and Atari ST. Odd you should say that as the Amiga is steadily beginning to get recognition in multimedia/video production. The release of AmigaVision will no doubt help that immensely, as it is already getting favorable coverage before its release. (Or haven't you actually been READING this newsgroup?) > Commodore is developing some Amiga-based UNIX systems, but they >won't really be Amiga systems. The systems will, most likely, be >based on the Lowell video card. From such systems, the Amiga custom >chips could be totally removed from the systems without affecting >the system's marketability as a UNIX system. More baseless rumors. You have no idea what the final system will look like. While it is probably likely the ULowell card will be an option, I cannot imagine making it a *requirement* to run Unix. And what would removing the custom chips bother you, if indeed it would not affect marketability at all? > I don't really see any hope for the Amiga as it currently is. >The Amiga's custom chips are years out-of-date, and, in the higher- >end machines, will be replaced by the TI 32010 used in the Lowell >card. The operating system is also years out-of-date -- lacking >critical capabilities such as full virtual memory and support for >memory-management units -- and will be replaced by UNIX in the >higher-end machines. Thus, the new higher-end machines can hardly >be called Amigas at all. If you think that everyone who buys higher-end machines will be running Unix on them, you're more out of touch with reality than your postings indicate. AmigaDOS is continuing to grow, and is becoming more mature with every release (granted, it has a ways to go). I agree the custom chips need upgrading, and I am sure Commodore realizes that. They are still, however, the best available for the price. I think you're deluding yourself again if you think that the ULowell card is going to become the new standard for high-end Amiga graphics. It is a special-purpose card, and not everyone is going to run out and buy one just because it's better than the standard Amiga video. Those who need it will buy it, and those who use their Amigas for something other than highly video-intensive pursuits won't. > I look forward to the new machines, since I am a UNIX fanatic >and am also looking forward to the possibility of finally being >able to use scientific software -- such as Mathematica -- which is >totally lacking for the Amiga. But other people won't be so happy, >because it will mean that the only good software that will be >available for "Amiga" machines in the future will be expensive and >only available for Amiga UNIX. You're still working on the absurd assumption that Unix is going to be the only OS around. As much work is being put into 1.4 as into Unix, I am sure, and there are an awful lot of talented developers out there working to provide the "good software" that you think is so impossible. (Being constructive has its merits....you ought to try it sometime.) > Is there any real hope for the real, true Amiga? I doubt it. >Commodore has their attentions on UNIX, and the computer industry >doesn't pay attention to the Amiga at all. Is it any wonder, when they see pouty-faced Amiga users who can only whine and complain that things aren't fair? Until you can prove yourself capable of discussing something in other than blatantly false and unconstructive blather, I don't see how you can expect anyone to take you seriously. > Marc Barrett -Chris -- Chris Lang, University of Michigan, College of Engineering +1 313 763 1832 4622 Bursley, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 chrisl@caen.engin.umich.edu WORK: National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, 900 Victors Way, Suite 226, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108 +1 313 995 0300 "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson