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From: kuan@iris.ucdavis.edu (Frank [Who me?] Kuan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: IBM clones are nice...
Summary: Warning - This post is obnoxious
Keywords: cockroach, IBM
Message-ID: <9254@aggie.ucdavis.edu>
Date: 9 Nov 90 23:43:29 GMT
References: <9240@aggie.ucdavis.edu> <11479@hubcap.clemson.edu> <TJANTUNE.90Nov9122112@robocop.hut.fi> <11500@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Sender: usenet@aggie.ucdavis.edu
Reply-To: kuan@iris.ucdavis.edu (Frank [Who me?] Kuan)
Organization: U.C. Davis - Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Lines: 46


The only redeeming quality of IBM clones are that they're so
inexpensive. You can get a 386 (25 mhz), 40meg hd drive, super
vga card and monitor for about 2400$. Compare that with 
the 3600$ that it costs to get an A3000 similarly equipped
through the educational discount (Plus TAX because I'm in
Ca.)       

I can't for the life of me figure out why IBM continues to
do so well. In the current market, where you can get a 386 25mhz
clone for so cheap, IBM astounds the world by coming out with
the PS/1, which uses the 386's crippled sibling,
the 16bit 386sx. Is it my imagination or are we going BACKWARDS
in technology? Surprisingly, the 386sx performs quite well,
since almost all IBM lameware is 8088 code. But IBM makes up
for their stupidity by introducing something revolutionary in
the PS/1 line. It has a volume control knob (so you can control
the volume of the farting noises). I kid you not. 

IBM marketing: I saw a commerical the other day for the PS/1 on
television. Now, the PS/1 is targeted for the home market. The
commercial is dry and boring. So boring in fact, I can't remember
what it was about. On the other hand, IBM licensed Hagar (the
cartoon strip) on their new Risc workstations (which are priced
in the 30,000$ range) for their advertisement campaign in 
magazines. I'm not even going to try to figure this one out.

IBM and Intel: They were meant for each other. It's just too bad
that they own the market. 

The masses are asses: It's not surprising that IBM's are more
common than cockroaches. I can't even convince people in Engineering
and Computer Science that the Amiga is a technically superior
machine. If people who are supposed to understand computers
blindly follow the evil forces of IBM, is there any hope for 
the common man?

What can you say about a country that goes to war over oil,
elects a ruthless former CIA head and a dufus into the two
highest offices in the nation, cuts educational spending to
maintin the military budget and subsidize the tobacco industry,
award the Communist Pigs in China with "favored status" after
the Tiennamen Square Massacre, a teenage population that
idolizes New Kids on the Block, and as a collective country
acknowledges the IBM PS/2 (Piece of ...) running OS/2 (half
an operating system) as the supreme PC?