Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!brahms.udel.edu!don
From: don@chopin.udel.edu (Donald R Lloyd)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: The Amiga's Future
Message-ID: <17241@chopin.udel.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 91 03:58:26 GMT
References: <6678@vela.acs.oakland.edu> <1991Jun03.053144.3208@ariel.unm.edu> <1991Jun4.003619.3661@news.iastate.edu>
Organization: University of Delaware
Lines: 36

In article <1991Jun4.003619.3661@news.iastate.edu> taab5@isuvax.iastate.edu 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.
>

     For most Amiga users, the Toaster is useless, yes, especially since most
Amigas out there are 500s.  There are a large number of Ami users, though,
who can use it.
	 But that's really irrelevant.  The people who really _can_ use the Toaster,
and there are lots of them, are waking up to the Amiga like never before.  The
Toaster is not of huge significance to many current Amiga owners except by the
fact that it sells _lots_ of Amigas.  I spent about 4 hours at a local dealer
Saturday getting things ready for a big CDTV demo we're putting on here.
During that time, one person bought a 2000 with the intention of adding a
Toaster later; one person came in and played with it, was very impressed,
and took home all the pricing info and apparently planned on coming back.
Two people from a local private school came to see it, and are going to try to
get it on their budget for next year (starting July 1).  A CDTV unit was
also old, as well as some software.  The only non-CBM hardware I saw leave
the store (a store filled with Macs and various DOS machines) was an HP
printer.  The Toaster, CDTV, etc, are certainly boosting public awareness
of the Amiga.  Four new faces showed up at our users' group meeting this
weekend.  Response to our mailed invitations to our CDTV demo has been
much higher than we expected.  
     I guess I strayed off the original subject here, but my point is, in
any case, that despite the words of the doomsayers here and elsewhere, the
Amiga is not a dead or dieing machine.  Progress is slow, but it's there.


-- 
  Gibberish   May the        Publications Editor, AmigaNetwork 
  is spoken   fork() be      Amiga Student On-Campus Consultant, U of D
    here.     with you.      DISCLAIMER:  It's all YOUR fault.