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From: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga DSP Boards.
Message-ID: <4e201fb9.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 20 Nov 90 20:19:00 GMT
References: <944.27477729@weyr.FIDONET.ORG>
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Reply-To: rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 38

In article <944.27477729@weyr.FIDONET.ORG> David.Plummer@f70.n140.z1.FIDONET.ORG (David Plummer) writes:
>I would suggest to you that the low, make that very low, proportion of
>amigas that are equipped with DSP boards would be indicative of the 
>general market's need for such boards.  Given that, it would seem that
>the inclusion of said hardware with every NeXT system is a waste, since
>95% of NeXT owners therefore pay for hardware that only 5% of them really
>need or use.
> 
>Granted, there are people who need these boards, and they'll either buy
>a NeXT or become the 101st Amiga owner to add such a board.  All in all,
>I don't feel that Digital Signal Processing is a mainstream need, and in
>no way reflect the credibility of a machine or it's users.  

Uhhh, and the first mainframe makers thought there was a worldwide
market for at most, what, 10 machines?  And H.P. underestimated the
market for their first handheld scientific calculator by, what, two
orders of magnitude?

What I'm getting at is that I think it's an enabling technology.
Obviously the general market can exist without it, because they have.
But if people could have STANDARD voice-mail & fax capabilities on their
desk in the same box that crunches their Lotus spreadsheets (i.e.: without
needing to be intimidated by the process of figuring out what optional
'wares to buy), I think a DSP would quickly become a "necessity" in their
minds.  (Or rather, the features that a DSP makes easier and more cost-
effective to provide would become the necessity.)

We seem to be at an odd point in time, in which hardware gets niftier
faster than software can be written to really take advantage of it.
I think there's a number of technologies (CD-ROM, DSPs, video-in-a-
window, to name a few) that we haven't begun to fully exploit, and
not because the hardware is really exhorbitantly priced anymore.

(No "the Amiga will die because it doesn't have XYZ" message is implied.)
--
The goons are riding motorcycles, but WE'VE  | (Steve) rehrauer@apollo.hp.com
got a whole big metal car! This will be like | The Apollo Systems Division of
stepping on ants... -- Freelance Police      |       Hewlett-Packard