Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!ncar!mephisto!udel!mmdf From: GWO110%URIACC.BITNET@brownvm.brown.edu (F. Michael Theilig) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Commodore & Universities Message-ID: <25499@snow-white.udel.EDU> Date: 24 Jul 90 17:05:00 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 74 On 24 Jul 90 02:37:01 GMT you said: > > In message <46200104@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>, >writes: > >> I just finished lobbying for an Amiga to be included in a grant >> with no success. The end result was a request for a Mac IIfx. >> Of course the biggest complaint people had with the Amiga was "it >> has no software". > > The Amiga has no software available for it because there is no market >for Amiga software. As much as I'd like to see such software as MATLAB >and Mathematica ported to the Amiga, this will likely never happen. If >the developers of these programs were to port them to the Amiga, they would >only sell three or four copies, making it not worth the effort of these >developers. > The lack of a software market has little to do with the lack of machines available. There must be almost 2 million machines out there. problem is that Amiga owners aren't willing to spend as much on software as Mac owners. Also, there is the question of piracy. There was major development for Mac software long before the shipped their 500,000th unit. If Commodore is going to be criticized, it should be for not inciting developers to port their wares to the Amiga. > Until Commodore starts getting serious with marketing the Amiga at >(and to) Universities, this situation will not change. And by 'getting >serious' I do not mean putting ads in a couple of school newspapers >and pushing the Amiga at a couple of Universities. I mean taking the >Amiga and actively showing it at every major University in the country. >The reason that Apple has the market penetration that they have is >because they have done (and continue to do) precisely this, and >Commodore must do the same. Commodore cannot expect to enter this >market by osmosis, expecting the Amiga to magically become popular >as a machine for scientific and research uses with no effort. It >will take hard work (and lots of it) from Commodore for this to >happen. > University students are not major buyers of software. Still, I'd like to see more educational push. Commodore DOES expect to enter universities by osmosis, and it has worked to some extent. I found out that there was an Amiga lab here at my University. They don't advertise it much, but it's here. And Commodore didn't have to do anything to get it. > About a year ago, Iowa State University made it known (through >the proper channels) that they were interested in purchasing several >hundred workstation systems, and were taking bids. Nearly every >workstation and PC vendor responded (from Zenith to DEC), shipping >sample machines to ISU for review purposes -- except Commodore. >Apple responded by shipping a beta IIfx system four months before >it was introduced. Other companies made similar efforts. Eventually, >the contract was awarded to DEC. But I am continually amazed that >Commodore made absolutely no effort whatsoever to bid on this $5M >contract. They might not have gotten it, but they could have shipped >some beta A3000 systems with AmigaOS 2.0 and Amiga UNIX, to show >that they are a serious company. As it is, I have seen absolutely >nothing from Commodore to convince me that they are at all serious >in entering markets like these. > There is little immediate money in that style of marketing. It's a great long term investment, but Commodore may feel they are not in the financial position to pull this off. Again, I'd like to see it also, but flaming C.S.A isn't going to do anything. Getting mad seldom get's anything accomplished (unless you are a baseball manager ;-) > > -MB- -------- F. Michael Theilig - The University of Rhode Island at Little Rest GWO110 at URIACC.Bitnet GKZ117 at URIACC.Bitnet "Gooooood coffee."