Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!nosc!crash!pro-graphics.cts.com!pierre From: pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com (Pierre Altamore) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Multimedia farce Message-ID: <4060@crash.cts.com> Date: 23 Aug 90 11:36:02 GMT Sender: root@crash.cts.com Lines: 128 After reading a few article in the August 1990 issue of Personal Workstation I became somewhat pissed at the exclusion of the Amiga from such articles as, "Getting GUI" and "Creation Stations: Platforms for Multimedia Authoring". They totally ignored it and are doing a great disservice to all of you. Please write or email these people, they obviously are pretty clueless. Write to: Editors, Personal Workstation, 501 Galveston Dr., Redwood City, CA 94063 or email them at uunet!pwmag!editors. Here's the letter I sent them: Jeffrey S. Young August 23, 1990 Editor-in-Chief Personal Workstation Magazine uunet!pwmag!editors Mr Young, Your August 1990 issue contained two SERIOUS errors. The first misadventure begins on page 32 with the article "Getting GUI". In this artice you review various GUIs and stress versatility, customization and functionality. Your staff has a lot to learn when they overlook a major contender, the Commodore Amiga and it's Workbench GUI. While previous versions for this interface lacked the spiffy look of many of it's competitors, the three critical criterion I mentioned above were adequately covered. The event that your staff was apparantly oblivious to is the recent release, by Commodore, of Workbench 2.0, a revolutionary new GUI introduced with the Amiga 3000 and compatible with existing Amiga computers. How could any competent staff miss this gem? Upon examination of this GUI you will find that it easily competes with the ones you reviewed and notably makes the Macintosh Desktop look downright crude. Do your homework next time! The second error is even more heinous. "Creation Stations: Platforms for Multimedia Authoring" by Bud E. Smith is a piece of literature that is so deprived of any semblance of common sense that it's comical. Here is an excerpt that strongly supports the last sentence, "In this article, we'll survey the current state of multimedia authoring capability on today's most important platforms: Apple's Macintosh; Intel-based PCs; and workstations from NeXT, Silicon Graphics and Sun". Are you still with me? Ever hear of the Amiga in your sheltered world of VME and CD-ROM? Why are you reviewing the NeXT GUI when the machine is an utter failure with 5000 units sold? The Amiga installed base is quickly approaching the 2 million mark and it garners nary a word from your diligent writer. The recent introduction of Commodore's CDTV seems to have escaped his blind eye as well. This CD-ROM based multimedia engine will define the term "multimedia" for the 90s. Does the word "AmigaVision" ring any bells? Maybe my two favorite words, VIDEO TOASTER, will jog your memory. AmigaVision, CDTV and the Video Toaster are new products that will have a profound effect on the multimedia market. Does Bud E. Smith really belong on the writing staff of ANY magazine? If ignorance is a prerequisite then he is eminently qualified. While he spouts ostentatious headlines like, "Leading PC and workstation companies are stuggling to create usable multimedia workstations" the Amiga (especially the Amiga 3000) easily delivers the multimedia punch he never seemed to find. Here is the Amiga entry which I find impossible to ignore: Amiga 3000/25 ------------------------------------- Base System ///////////////////////// ------------------------------------- CPU, FPU 25-MHz 68030, 68882 Cache none Bus Zorro III Sound Chip Paula (4 voice 2 channel stereo sound with built-in speech) Available slots 6 (4 Zorro II, 1 Video, 1 CPU) Hard Disk 100 Mbytes OS AmigaDOS 2.0 True multitasking Yes System Price $4499 Video card Built-in up to 1280x400 Video slot for 3rd party 24-bit Example: Newtek Video Toaster 24-bit $1600 Monitor 14" A1950 Multisync Resolution 800x600 Price $799 Price w/video $6898 ------------------------------------- VIDEO OPTIONS /////////////////////// ------------------------------------- NTSC/PAL output third-party Video Acceleration built-in Video in window not yet Frame grabber third-party ------------------------------------- MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE ///////////////// ------------------------------------- HyperCard-type included with all systems product Authoring many Animation many Rendering many OS multimedia comprehensive support I urge you to print this letter, or make known to your readers the merits and heretofore acknowledged dominance of the Commodore Amiga in the multimedia market. A market that is based on capabilities that this machine has possessed and excelled at for quite a few years. Irritably yours, Peter J. Altamore Critical Mass Software P.O. Box 23 Short Hills, NJ 07078 UUCP: ...crash!pro-graphics!pierre | Critical Mass Software ARPA/DDN: pro-graphics!pierre@nosc.mil | P.O. Box 23 Internet: pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com | Short Hills, NJ 07078