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From: etxtomp@eos.ericsson.se (Tommy Petersson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A European point of view (LONG)
Keywords: Copy protection, games, breaking the OS
Message-ID: <1990Dec10.144603.2980@ericsson.se>
Date: 10 Dec 90 14:46:03 GMT
References: <1990Dec6.185453.5684@cbnewsk.att.com> <1990Dec6.201824.13502@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <1990Dec7.161251.27384@cs.umu.se>
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In article <1990Dec7.161251.27384@cs.umu.se> dvljhg@cs.umu.se (J|rgen Holmberg) writes:
-Hi all!
-
-The article I am responding to was just a tiny bit long :-). So here are my
-view on the subject. Peoples attitude towards piracy IS changing. Their
-wallet size isn't --> hence piracy will remain for a long while. About the
-messages asking you to buy pirated software you like. They would be a good
-thing if it wasn't for the fact that they are put in by those crackers in
-europe that are into organised selling of pirated software. They make big
-bucks out of illegal activities and then add that disclaimer. :-(

One problem is that many people have bought several lousy games for high
prices, and don't want to make that same mistake again. They start to get
pirated games, often made from buggy beta-versions, and won't buy "that
lousy software either". In several magazines, having a disc included (like
AmigaFormat), a demo version with a limited part of a game is included.
You can get a fair understanding of the game and how well it is done, and
decide if You want to buy it. I think this is the best way to go. Game
companies must be thought to plan for a demo version of a game. The normal
magazines couldn't then cope with the raized number of demos wanting to be
included on the disc, so this have to be handled in a way similar to the
Fish discs. It won't solve anything, but be a bit on the way.

-About the price of the A3000. The price in sweden is more like $10000 for
-an A3000 25Mhz 100Mb Hd machine. Basically you can buy a '486 or '040 machine
-with any other OS cheaper. Add to this commodores reputation for nonexistant
-service and poor marketing and you will realize that A3000 doesn't stand a
-chance in sweden. I will still buy one in germany if I can afford it but the
-swedish market will not do so.

I don't know if the A3000 will be that expensive in Sweden (discounts are
possible even in this country) but if You compare the prices for the other
machines it is possible. I think that it is the last two years that the
largest user poll in a big swedish computer magazine have had Commodore
in a rock bottom position on support and quality. They were in a class of
their own (something like 25% dis-satisfied customers compared to 12% for
second place). These figures were for Commodore PC support, which is at a
priority sky-high over Amiga support. It has even gone so far that Commodore
Sweden one day suddenly closed down and You only had an answering machine
saying something about 'reorganizing'. Sweden was made into a subsidary of
Norway (what a shame).

I beleive Commodore will have to keep a firmer grip on their daughter
companies in other countries, the same way as Apple do (they can make some
things right, they to).

-
-Regards, Jorgen
--- 
-*******************************************************************************
-email dvljhg@cs.umu.se - other ways to communicate are a waste of time.
-Everything I say is always true, just apply it to the right reality.
-"Credo, quia absurdum est."

Tommy Petersson