Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!njin!uupsi!sunic!lth.se!kberg!svante From: svante@kberg.se (Svante Gellerstam) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Amiga Custom Chips - why hasn't C= made them faster? Message-ID: <1991Apr8.082156.2486@kberg.se> Date: 8 Apr 91 08:21:56 GMT References: <6456@amiga.UUCP> <1991Apr4.223101.7618@uncecs.edu> Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Organization: Karlberg & Karlberg AB, Lund, Sweden Lines: 80 In article <1991Apr4.223101.7618@uncecs.edu> urjlew@uncecs.edu (Rostyk Lewyckyj) writes: >In article <6456@amiga.UUCP>, jimm@amiga.UUCP (Jim Mackraz) writes: >> C= spends much less on R&D than other computer companies. >> >> This is true. It's a problem. In case you haven't noticed the >> Amiga is evolving *very* slowly, particularly in the "crown jewels," >> the custom chips. We all wonder why the A500 isn't trumpeted as >> a leader in the new "home computer influx" and the answer is that >> it's just too old to be of great interest to the media or the public. >> >> ......................................... >> >> But there should be more dollars, if the plan is to compete as >> a computer, or even as a home computer or game machine. Real >> >> .......................................... >> >> But I take issue with Marc's implication that C= doesn't know what >> it's doing. Perhaps Irving and Mehdi know exactly what they're >> doing, and maybe they're making a conscious choice to focus on the > > It is my understanding that both Messrs Irving and Mehdi are >getting on in years. Perhaps it is their concious decision not >to worry very much about futures, and just enjoy their incomes. >Plowing receipts back into research means less money for dividends, >Less money for a nice salary now . Why worry about the fate of the >company in 5 - 10 years from now. I find it very annoying that most people just complain about so and so not putting enough resources into this problem X which is very dear to the person complaining. Everybody seems to think along the lines that it is Commodore that has to do all new peripherals and all new inventions. This becomes a very hard task for Commodore to do as more and more expensive technology and know-how has imported into the company and researched from scratch. My view is that Commodore has to exploit the presence of companies who already has the solutions and knowledge. This would cut the development time as Commodore would not have to do the research part themselves. All that Commodore has to do to control the general formation of products is to provide standards - a general interface or form of appearance in the Amiga system. In all areas where Commodore has not yet presented a template for development, all that exists are niche solutions - products that costs much and has limited use (or 'well defined function' as a sales person would put it :-). The Amiga concept can only move so fast if niche solutions represents the broad cutting edge of the machine family. Evolutionary steps require the groundwork of theory that spans more than the immediate step in development. > Perhaps it would be good for the continued existance of the >company and in the longer run for the shareholders also, if the >leadership were changed, and I don't mean the second level of >management which at C= appears to be a revolving door anyways. It is rarely good for the stability of a company to change management. It usually causes some amount of turbulence among the employees. My belief is that if Commodore only creates the right 'feeling' about the company as a low-cost, state-of-the-art operation (or rather intensifies that image), the right people will want to find their way into the company. We already know this - the trick (and the problem is to let it be known all over). Am I talking sense here? > Reply-To: Rostyslaw Jarema Lewyckyj > urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP , urjlew@unc.bitnet > or urjlew@uncvm1.acs.unc.edu (ARPA,SURA,NSF etc. internet) > tel. (919)-962-6501 Please follow this up in the .advocacy group. -- Svante Gellerstam svante@kberg.se, d87sg@efd.lth.se