Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!lion!nrjwong From: nrjwong@lion.waterloo.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga Fading? : Revisited Message-ID: <22616@watdragon.waterloo.edu> Date: 28 Mar 90 22:36:14 GMT References: <15047@snow-white.udel.EDU> <5464@sugar.hackercorp.com> <26994@ut-emx.UUCP> <1990Mar27.215908.24233@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Sender: daemon@watdragon.waterloo.edu Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 111 In article <1990Mar27.215908.24233@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes: > > I've heard many arguments here that the Amiga has no >potential, that the Amiga is and always will be a home computer, ... >Also a lot of very opinionated people just saying how much better the >competition is. Although the Amiga has drawbacks, I don't think the >hardware is it. A 25MHz 68030 is quite fast, and as the Personal >Workstation (MIPS?) article said, a 33MHz Amiga (with GVP) rated >better than Macs AND Apollos at the same speed. So speed isn't it. Ever played F-18 Interceptor on a 2500 - REAL NICE. >Also, some people dislike the Amiga interface. TAKE A LOOK AT >MS-WINDOWS AND OS/2! I would much prefer the Amiga interface to any >other besides the Macintosh and MAYBE the NeXT. And who knows what 1.4 >will do to the look. As John Dvorak said about MS Windows, aesthetics is something that you have to work at. It isn't an easy task. I don't think the Amiga is aesthetically pleasing, at least not a stock Amiga. Just my opinion. Consistency guidelines would also help here. Are there any available for developers? > As I said, there is a downside. I think that is software and >networking availability. There is so much BAD software that if you >don't have someone helping you pick out software you are likely to >choose wrong and suffer the consequences, and also think badly of the >Amiga. There is a lot of good software too, but in the Word Processing >arena there is nothing of the level of Mac Microsoft Word, no >spreadsheet (that I have seen) of the level of Lotus or Excel. I have >heard too many good things about SuperBase, so I will assume it is as >good as dBASE (not saying much). I see a lot of merit in what Gold >Disk is doing, integrating several different kinds of programs. >However, there are failings in the current level of Amiga software. > Re networking, there is now Amiganet, EtherNet and DecNet and >Commodore is coming out with Novell. X-Windows is already here. The >networking problem is getting better. > Basically, IMHO (And there have been a lot of not-so HO's >recently), before Copperman, things seemed pretty bad. However, it has >been one year since he took control and things do seem to be changing. >It is too soon to judge what he can or can't do. The A3000 and 1.4, >along with Unix, DO have the potential to turn things around. There >HAS been a lot of coverage of the Amiga recently, in Byte, Personal >Workstation, Publish, AV/Video. In fact, AV/Video bought a booth at >AmiExpo to show their committment. I'd say this is definitely an >improvement in coverage. Give him 6 more months and see what products >are released in the interim. Then judge. The main driving force in the computer industry are the big corporations and government. The main reason for Apple's A/UX and parity memory is so they can be considered for government contracts. Microsoft just stated that they would be providing SGML ( or whatever the acronym is, it's a markup language standard used by the government) for their Microsoft Word for Windows word processor. MS will have a shot at huge orders when they incorporate this feature. Why do you think anyone is even interested in Ada? :-) There are about 10 million PC clones out there, 1-2 million Macs and ~1 million Amigas. For a software manufacturer, getting even 10% share of the PC market is a lot easier than trying for 100% of the Amiga market. These days, big corporations are standardising on hardware and software. Commodore will have to push hard in order to get the Amiga into corporations these days. The software, other than Wordperfect, just isn't there. Of the software that is available, big corporations like getting support for things they purchase or acquire. Who is willing to do that? Freeware/Shareware/PDware won't cut it unless they get someone to support the stuff in-house [i.e. unlikely]. Commodore marketing is still lost, IMHO. The teenager commercials don't give the right image to entice big business. Multimedia is Commodore's big weapon - just that the maturity level of the commercials has to go up a notch or two. > BTW, the people in Europe have a completely different >perspective. They don't know what the heck a Macintosh is, yet they >have tons of Amigas. > -- Ethan > But, most of these machines tend to be A500's with only 512K. How many programs other than games will run in 512K? Fancy graphics and sound needs memory. Ever tried GoldDisk's MovieSetter in 512K? It's a contortion exercise since the player and movie designer can't fit into memory at once. >Ethan Solomita: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu > >"If Commodore had to market sushi they'd call it `raw cold fish'" > -- The Bandito, inevitably stolen from someone else I'm a power user. I'll admit that. But for people who already have a PC clone or Mac and just do the odd bit of word processing or database/spreadsheet stuff, what will the Amiga offer to make them switch over? The differences aren't that great for them to make'em switch. They've already spent enough time learning how to use their machine and software. Why should they change? Unless the Amiga can offer something they need that their current resources can't handle, they won't change. People still use C64's and Apple II's. This industry is driven by technology. You won't get far standing still in this industry. Hopefully Commodore will be able to recover from a few years of standing around. Johnny Lee Standard Disclaimer.