Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!microsoft!w-edwinh
From: w-edwinh@microsoft.UUCP (Edwin HOOGERBEETS)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Microsoft products
Message-ID: <55014@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 2 Jun 90 05:05:08 GMT
References: <04206.AA04206@sosaria.imp.com> <1990May29.212202.10871@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <795@sagpd1.UUCP>
Reply-To: w-edwinh@microsoft.UUCP (Edwin HOOGERBEETS)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 43

In article <795@sagpd1.UUCP> monty@sagpd1.UUCP (Monty Saine) writes:
%In article <1990May29.212202.10871@watdragon.waterloo.edu> gpsteffler@tiger.uwaterloo.ca (Glenn Steffler) writes:
%>They have already set up a very neat system where code is shared across 
%>architectures (MAC,OS/2,DOS) that allows for releases on the major platforms
%>very close to each other...the Amiga would be a very difficult platform to 
%>provide for...
%
%  If they have this "very neat system where code is shared across 
%architectures" why do you think the Amiga would be a "very difficult
%platform to provide for" sounds like a typical microsu**k thinking to me.

Let's say Word came out for the Amiga. Now we have a serious business
machine for word processing, with a choice of MS Word and Word Perfect,
nicely intuitionized, multitasking, etc. As a business owner, you may now 
consider the Amiga a good choice for a new office machine over a 386 box, 
for example.

But, businesses tend to buy more than one package: let's say the owner
now wants to automate his accounting with his nifty new Amiga, so he
goes out to buy some flashy Amiga spreadsheet... 

... but now MS has just lost a sale of Excel!

My point is that MS would have to port most of its apps to the Amiga all
at once, so as not to loose sales.  This would be a tremendous job, despite
shared code, and would not gain MS any new sales of other products. 

"But there are people out there who already have an Amiga, and who want
to run Word, or Excel, or... they would now be able to buy these things
-- ie. new sales!" you might think. The installed base of the Amiga is
just not big enough to warrant that, when you compare it to the PC/386
market. Granted, there would be new sales, but at a tremendous cost.

For this reason, I think that MS will never port anything to the Amiga
with Commodore's OS.

These are my opinions, not MS's.

And to those people bitching about MS's code quality: there is
also some well-written code out here, if you would care to look. 
I know. I wrote some! ;-)

Edwin