Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!passaret From: passaret@copernicus.crd.ge.com ("Mr. Mike" Passaretti) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.multimedia Subject: Re: Video Toast on a A3000 Message-ID: <18069@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> Date: 30 Mar 91 19:38:44 GMT References: <1991Mar25.130057.16108@infonode.ingr.com> <17907@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> <1991Mar29.015653.7643@ameristar> Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com Reply-To: Distribution: comp Organization: GE Corporate Research & Development Lines: 77 In-reply-to: rick@ameristar's message of 29 Mar 91 01:56:53 GMT In article <1991Mar29.015653.7643@ameristar> rick@ameristar (Rick Spanbauer) writes: # [ transcript of telephone call deleted ] # I hope I am not expressing the minority opinion here, but I think # Newtek handled your call about as well as _you_ allowed them to. They # clearly told you that they had no official position (yet?) on revving # their product to A3000. IMO, your preaching to them about the A3000 # was surely something they have heard many times. I would say their # conservative response to announcing their A3000 plans is simply # responsible management, especially given the history of the Toaster # itself. I relayed the entire conversation, and without much comment, but I should, perhaps, explain the parts that concerned me. 1) If they are planning to release an ECO or a new board/software rev and they are not going to tell us about it, then why say that they are working on it? I don't mind them making business decisions, but I might have some to make too. If I can't be sure that the toaster will EVER be supported on the 3000, that's a big problem for me. I'm not asking for anything definite here, but "within 1991" might be nice. This is a similar problem to the one I had with Quarterback Tools. "Your program just scrambled my hard drive (paraphrased for brevity)" "Are you running 2.0?" "Yes." "Is it a 3000?" "Yes." "It does that." "What can I do?" "Wait till we fix it." "When will that be?" "I can't say." "This year?" "I can't say." To give them credit, they fixed the problem in less than a month. I just didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling from them. They did not, however, do what NewTek did. Read on... 2) I'll admit that the part that really frosted me was the bit about them supporting Commodore, and the implication that it was Commodore's screw-ups that caused the problems in the first place. We all know different, but I can't imagine that anyone who talks to this woman is going to get a warm feeling about Commodore, and that worries me. This is a big problem in the Commodore development community. There seems to be this feeling that CBM doesn't know what it's doing, and that all these companies are doing them a favor by deigning to support their machine. If NewTek really feels this way, I could see a real problem if, for instance, they decide that the NeXT is a nice platform. If they do not feel that Commodore is supportive and reliable, we may be in for a big surprise. (Don't scream at me about the technical problems here, I know all about them. I eval'd the NeXT for an audio project similar in feel to the Toaster. There are some problems, but there are solutions too) # Speaking to the opening question, which you had apparently # misinterpreted as either belittling or an insult (ie "are you an # individual, ..."), I can say that in my dealings with companies # [...] 3) Bzzzz. Thank you for playing. Actually, I'm just a sarcastic sort at heart, and I can't (usually) resist a straight line like that. Again, the sotto voce "thought bubbles" were included for the sake of completeness. I didn't feel belittled, just amused. If I had been in a quicker mood, perhaps I would have reponded with "I am an individual, and I do not REPRESENT any corporation or institution" Grok? # Rick Spanbauer # Ameristar - MM -- passaretti@crd.ge.com {whatever}!crdgw1!brahe!passaret