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From: mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu (Malcolm Diallo Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: YOU PEOPLE HAD BETTER GET WIT THE PROGRAM!! (Was: Re: Commodore Business Machines)
Message-ID: <4190@ux.acs.umn.edu>
Date: 23 Jun 91 19:05:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: ux.4190
References: <7471@vela.acs.oakland.edu$
Organization: University of Minnesota, Academic Computing Services
Lines: 168

In article <7471@vela.acs.oakland.edu$ lmbailey@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Laurana Bailey) writes:
$
$Every day, in every way, I see myself agreeing more and more with Marc
$Barret on more and more things. Not so much the technical aspects of
$the machines as much as the simple fact that Commodore keeps screwing
$up. This bothers me because I really can't stand Marc that much and
$yet I keep nodding my head when I read his posts. I don't know if he
$has a clue as to what needs to be done to fix things, but he's right
$on the money when he says CBM is screwing up.
$

And you people can sit there and laff and dis him if you want to; yeah he
may be a rathead and an asshole and all that, but if you really look at 
what he's saying, you know that he's exactly right.

$My boyfriend runs a Paragon BBS off and on when he's got the extra $$$
$to do so. He writes a door program called Castle Dungeon for it that
$is popular on a lot of Paragon/StarNet, TransAmiga, and XenoLink BBS
$systems. This puts him in contact with a lot of other BBS sysops. One
$of the ones he's become good friends with runs ClickMeTwice BBS, a 6
$line system dedicated to serving the Amiga, which also happens to be a
$computer dealer for the Amiga. Al, the owner of the store and BBS
$system, is going bankrupt selling Amigas. He has recently been posting
$some of the reasons why in the Amiga FidoNet Echomail areas. Some of
$you may have already seen them. He is not alone. We have heard from
$other dealers around the country who have had multiple problems with
$Commodore resulting in their not being able to maintain a profit and
$thus closing their doors.
$
$To me, this says that something just isn't right down at the blue and
$red. Al cited the fact that at the dealer's conference that was held
$when Copperman first arrived more advertising, a virtual blitz they
$were told, was about to be launched. TV, Print, Radio. The works.
$Everyone was excited and went home to wait and watch. Alas, there were
$many market areas virtually untouched by this "Blitz". Al's area, and
$even here in the Metro Detroit area, saw little, if any, of the ads
$and then they were usually on around 1 or 2 A.M. when most of the
$world was asleep.

Now TELL me, how the hell you gonna buy a computer that you don't even know
about?  Let me tell you like THIS:  I was SET on buying an Atari ST until I
happened to read one of those "Make up your own Mind" pamphlets.  And when
I realized that there was better support and better graphics than the ST and
was cheaper than the Mac? (Yes, I had considered Mac, too, but even the 
Classic was too overpriced for my budget)  I had to jump on that!!  Well,
I'm glad I got an Amiga, but I see more people are agreeing with Marc that if
we don't say or do something right now, then we'll be in as bad a shape as
Atari is in!

By the way, for the week, Commodore stock has dropped to 12 down 2 1/4 from last
week.

$
$Al called Commodore and voiced his complaints and was only told "Come
$up with $10,000 and we'll co-op one with you for your area." What? If
$Al had $10,000 he wouldn't NEED the advertising that was PROMISED,
$he'd be making a profit on a machine that would have to be selling. He
$isn't though and as such he will be closing down. He's fully expecting
$Commodore to pull his dealership status for having the gall to speak
$out about his problems, and with the way Commodore has been the last
$few years, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they did.
$

What the hell is WRONG with Commodore??  To all the Commodore people who
read this net, I don't give a god damn WHAT department you work in (because
you represent Commodore in any aspect) How do you all expect to make any 
money when you turn your back on people who are trying to help you SELL
your computer?!

$
$My SO has been a Loyal Commodore user since the days of the Pet
$computers and has owned several different Commodore machines. Pet,
$Vic20, C-64 (several of these), C-128, and Amiga 1000 and 2000. I
$converted from Apple with the arrivial of the Amiga. All in all we
$have little complaints with the machine itself, even if it is getting
$dated compared to the rest. Our complaints are with the relative
$in-activity at Commodore with selling machines. Sure they're doing
$great overseas, but I don't live in Europe so that does me no good.
$

Let me tell you like this:  If I'd have saved just $600 more then I would
have gotten a Mac LC on ed discount.  But I needed a computer right THEN, not
three and four months down the road.  I needed something I could do my
school work on THEN, not right before school ended so it could sit up in
my house collecting dust.

$There were even rumors for awhile that Commodore was thinking about
$shutting down US sales seeing as they couldn't do well here. Couldn't
$do well? They haven't done anything to promote good sales here. Makes
$you wish you could sit down with the CBM big-wigs and say "Hi! I'm
$Jane/Joe User." (SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!) "WAKE UP YOU IDIOTS!"
$

Exactly.  John Q Customer walks into a computer store and sees big Apple
banners and big IBM Banners.  And in the corner there's a little Amiga sign.
Now you tell me which f*ckin computer he's gonna get first if he doesn't
know everything about computers and isn't deep into the knowledge of differen-
ces in systems.


$I once had big hopes for Commodore and the Amiga, but both seemed
$doomed to stay a second class company with  a second class machine.
$When the rumors of the Hewlett Packard buy-out were floating around I
$PRAYED it would happen! Whatever HP did with the Amiga, it would STILL
$have been more than what CBM was doing. Same thing with the recent
$Sony rumors. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE will someone with some
$advertising BRAINS and interest in advanced R&D PLEASE BUY OUT
$COMMODORE and get this thing MOVING in SOME sort of direction!?!?
$

Somebody needs to do something.  Because we're all getting jacked, and every
body knows it, but we're not man enough to admit it.

WAKE UP COMMODORE!!  Get your product out!  Make it so people can SEE the damn
thing!  Make a big Commodore banner!  Naw, F*ck that, make a big ELECTRONIC
SIGN, and have that motherf*cker flashing in FRONT of the store, so it's the
first thing they see!!!

$Enough of my ramblings. I've given up hope on CBM and the Amiga. I
$will continue to use my machine happily until Commodore inevitably
$dies off and then I will probably buy a Macintosh. Sure it's more
$expensive, but there won't be a CBM around to offer anything better so
$why sweat it. It's been fun Commodore, wish you would have done a
$better job.
$

Although I haven't given up on the Amiga.......

I'm afraid I'm in the same boat as Laurana here.  I will continue to buy soft0
ware and hardware for my Amiga as long as it's there.  But when it's time to
move on, it's time to move on.  Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later,
but if we sit on our ASSES like Commodore is doing, it WILL be sooner.]

AND To those Sucker Ducks who wanna lash out and say "Why don't you just
Buy a Mac or an IBM if you're so scared?"...:

Motherf*ck that!  That's all you have to say!  Which means you ain't trying
to do shit with the computer you got, and you can't face facts that there are
some serious questions in The Amiga's Future, if we even have one!  DO we have
a future?  Do we?!  We won't if we rely on backhoes like you with your wickety-
wick-wack lash-outs because YOU know YOU are scared too!  If I had REALLY
wanted to buy a Mac, I WOULD have waited.  But I wanted an Amiga, dammit,
because first of all it's a powerful computer at a low price, and second,
it has the POTENTIAL (notice how I used 'POTENTIAL') to go very far in the
computer world.  But weak sucker ducks just resting on their laurels ain't
gonna cut it.  And you KNOW it and you might as well DEAL with it.

Yall might think this is funny and I'm just blowing a lot of air out of my
butt but I'm dead serious because I've been watching, and I damn sure don't 
like what I see, and although I'm actively trying to change that situation,
I don't see anybody else doing anything but talking a lot of technical
bullshit (not that it's all bullshit, but will it get C= into the office
and into the howwwwse?!)

I'm telling All of you, you had better Get Wit the Program, before the program
gets Jacked from under you, and you're grabbing at nothing.

P.S. To those that may be offended by this- You know that key on your keyboard
between 'B' and 'M'?  Hit that motherf*cker.

**********************Malcolm "The Capital MD" Moore**************************
* 		   *               The                *                      *
*  CHICAGO BULLS   *    Microcomputer & Workstation   *   "Whaddaya want,    * 
*    THE 1991       *        Networks Center         *       a biscuit?"     *
*       NBA         *      would have to PAY me      *	                     * 
*     CHAMPZ!       *    to express any kind of an   *       - LL Cool J     *
* 		    *    opinion in their behalf.    *                       *
*******[AMIGA]************[mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu]*****************************