Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!nstar!tbissett From: tbissett@nstar.rn.com (Travis Bissett) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: The Amiga's Future Message-ID: Date: 4 Jun 91 02:51:30 GMT References: <1991Jun4.003619.3661@news.iastate.edu> Sender: bbs@nstar.rn.com (BBS Account) Organization: NSTAR, Indiana's BBS 219-289-0287/317-251-7391 Lines: 45 taab5@isuvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett) writes: > > Time for a reality check. For 95% of the people in the Amiga community, > the Toaster is totally useless. The Toaster is not going to save the > Amiga, because it is a product intended for a very limited purpose. Few > Amiga owners have any need whatsoever for a special-effects box, and the > flickering display makes the Toaster unsuitable for other applications. > > The ECS isn't going to do much for the Amiga, either, because it was > obsolete before it even went into production. The ECS is also 98% > identical to the very oldest Amiga chipset. > Your arguement is emminently logical. however, I have noticed that humans rarely act from logic. Especially in issues of marketing. The applications that established particular kinds of microscomputers as serious, respectible machines were not particularly useful to 95% of the market. 1-2-3 made the original IBM PC a thing to notice and more IBM compatibles have since been sold for non-business uses. How many cloneheads out there actually use 1-2-3 to balance their checkbooks, track their stocks, or computer their taxes? IMHO less than 95%. And how 'bout the Mac, which PageMaker made a market called DTP? How many Macs get actually used for DTP overall? Same with Amiga. The number of people that use Toaster is less important than the "quality" of media excitement it generates. It may very well prove to be the killer app that Amiga has been waiting for. Most people may not NEED a Toaster in their lives, but the Amiga needs this kind of thing -- any kiond ///// kind of thing -- to get noticed as a serious machine. If professionals and elite types put their money in this machine then maybe I can safely do likewise, the true logic goes. People start to see what were once gimmicks are now features. Obsolete? So what. It may or may not be important. Once market momentum builds it is no longer a question of how long you make it -- it's how you make it long. The ECS technology is far less obsolete than the basic architecture that beats at the heart of the vast majority of computers sold today -- from micro all the way up to mainframe. After all, every corporate data center in America "wisely" buys new and faster ways to emulate System 370 -- mid 60's stuff -- because of their "huge" investment in a software installed base. But that's for another soap box . . . -- Travis Bissett NSTAR conferencing site 219-289-0287/317-251-7391 internet: tbissett@nstar.rn.com 1300 newsgroups - 8 inbound lines uucp: ..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!tbissett 99 file areas - 4300 megabytes --- backbone news & mail feeds available - contact larry@nstar.rn.com ---