Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!udel!mmdf
From: AAW151%URIACC.BITNET@brownvm.brown.edu (Andy Patrizio)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Amiga competitiveness
Message-ID: <32251@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 3 Oct 90 16:19:46 GMT
Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 43


>Huh? I think you two ought to go looking thru the computer shopper. MOST
>clones are bought in pieces. The minimum configuration is a CPU box, and
>keyboard, with serial port, parallel port and a Floppy drive. If you want
>a hard drive they sell it as an option, or as alternate setup costing more.
>Just like you can buy a 2000HD for a more than a 2000 without a hard drive.

I'm talking if you go to your local dealership. He isn't going to sell you
parts, he sells it as a whole. And even if you do buy from Computer
Shopper (and what professional will? CS is for hackers who want to build
their own, not a corporation that wants to waste time assembling the box.),
you WILL buy a hard drive. Application software demands it. Only an idiot
would buy a 286/386/486 with 2 floppies.

>MacIntoshes cost extra for the hard drive, heck you have to even pay extra
>to get a keyboard when you buy a Mac.

Don't forget, this is Apple we're talking about, the company that's a living
testament to the dangers of a monopoly in business. Macs originally came
without a hard drive because they didn't want it to compete with the Lisa
(this was in 1984, mind you). When the SuperDrives came out, Apple freaked.
"You're not SUPPOSED to be able to put a hard drive inside a Mac!" was
their cry.

Let's face it; the Amiga's forte is video, and image files are HUGE. I doubt
a local cable company wants to have their Public Access pictures on a floppy
disk and sit around, waiting for it to load. With image files, a hard drive
is necessary, and a machine ready to do that kind of work out of the box
becomes a necessity.

Actually, if I was to make any ONE big change in the Amiga line, I'd get rid of
the IBM slots, or at least introuce another box with six or eight Amiga slots.
One friend who does video work has loaded his 2500; Flicker fixer, HD, GVP 3001
card, Frame Buffer, and RAM up the wazoo. More slots are needed in this beast.


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* Andy Patrizio                    |  Box 705 Ellery Hall        | what else? *
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