Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!ucsd!nosc!crash!orbit!pnet51!chucks From: chucks@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Erik Funkenbusch) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: YOU PEOPLE HAD BETTER GET WIT THE PROGRAM!! (Was: Re: Commodore Business Machines) Message-ID: <5222@orbit.cts.com> Date: 26 Jun 91 09:35:35 GMT Sender: news@orbit.cts.com Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. Lines: 222 >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. No he's not. The main reason is that he as well as most of us don't really know what commodore is doing. besides that, his facts are wrong, as well as his logic. >$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 Wrong, Al's Son owns and runs the 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 >$you may have already seen them. He is not alone. We have heard from And he has not shown a single shred of proof. he claims reams of documentation, but when questioned keeps reverting back to old tired statements like "when i sent my tech guy to get trained they didn't open the computer". Everything he has stated has been pure hearsay. He's even gone so far as to accuse the CBM execs of being *convicted* of Stock Fraud. heh.. he's an Idiot that is spewing, this guy is worse than -MB-. (gosh i never thought anyone could be that bad). >$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. No, AL CLAIMS other dealers have talked to him. i've not seen one post from an Amiga dealer. and only heresay from people who claim their dealers told them something. >$To me, this says that something just isn't right down at the blue and >$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 >$world was asleep. Did Copperman ever say it would be a blanket blitz of the whole country? nah, didn't think so... >By the way, for the week, Commodore stock has dropped to 12 down 2 1/4 from last >week. Yeah, so what? Apple, Ibm, and everyone elses stocks have dropped too. Apple's by 33%. That proves nothing, other than people aren't buy Tech stocks right now. >$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. Al has proven his inability to communicate properly and in a business manner, it's no wonder cbm blew him off. if someone called you demanding everything under the sun you'd blow him off too. >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?! By getting rid of people like Al i would suppose. Al will end up in Jail for defamation of character, and all sorts of legal things if he keeps rambling about untruths. >$My SO has been a Loyal Commodore user since the days of the Pet >$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. They are good here too. They can't even keep 3000's in stock. >Let me tell you like this: If I'd have saved just $600 more then I would >have gotten a Mac LC on ed discount. But I needed a computer right THEN, not >three and four months down the road. I needed something I could do my >school work on THEN, not right before school ended so it could sit up in >my house collecting dust. So sell your amiga and get that LC. >$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!" Don't be rediculous. what do you call the power-up program? this is doing nothing? what do you call advertising? have you seen the 4 page ad's they've taken out in Unix World? >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. Apple's and IBM's also sell for much higher prices giving dealers a much larger profit margin. So what you want is for the price of amiga's to jump 100% so dealers can afford good store fronts? will you buy an Amiga when that happens? >$I once had big hopes for Commodore and the Amiga, but both seemed >$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!?!? You have *NO* idea about what CBM is doing. you've proven that with this post. you state cbm isn't doing anything when they are. >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. No, your not man enough to wake up and look what's happening. >$Enough of my ramblings. I've given up hope on CBM and the Amiga. I >$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. In one breath you scream about how expensive other computers are, and in the next you scream that CBM doesn't have the money to do what should be done. it's either being expensive, or not being able to shell out billions in advertising. >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. why don't you do something about it then? you haven't given any suggestions as to how cbm could improve other than things that can't happen without increasing the profit margins of dealers. >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?!) Well you must be half blind then, since you obviously don't see the good things that are happening. >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. You need to chill, and think about the situation. .--------------------------------------------------------------------------. | UUCP: {amdahl!tcnet, crash}!orbit!pnet51!chucks | "I know he's come back | | ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!chucks@nosc.mil | from the dead, but do | | INET: chucks@pnet51.orb.mn.org | you really think he's | |-------------------------------------------------| moved back in?" | | Amiga programmer at large, employment options | Lou Diamond Philips in | | welcome, inquire within. | "The First Power". | `--------------------------------------------------------------------------'