Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!kddlab!cs.titech!wnoc-tyo-news!scslwide!wsgw!headgw!cvgw!yamanaka From: yamanaka@cv.sony.co.jp (Brian Yamanaka) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Who cares if its made in USA? Message-ID: Date: 28 Jun 91 04:15:17 GMT Sender: news@cv.sony.co.jp (Usenet News System) Organization: Sony Corporation, Consumer Video Group Lines: 83 In article <1991Jun27.200801.24637@wehi.dn.mu.oz> baxter_a@wehi.dn.mu.oz writes: >In article , rkushner@sycom.UUCP (Ronald Kushner) writes: >> baxter_a@wehi.dn.mu.oz writes: >>>> Does Commodore have a Japanese version of AmigaDOS??? If not, why not?! I be >>>.... >>> (some silly stuff deleted) >> >> You call an Japanese version of AmigaDOS silly!? 200,000 people from Japan >> working in the US with computer systems that are very un-friendly to >> them!?!??!! The NEC systems here don't run the Japanese software...Apple if >> left unchallanged will make a killing! > >Yes. I do. There is a great deal more involved aiming a product at a market >than getting the language right. The Amiga attempting to compete in Japan >against Japanese companies would have troubles because: > >Limited keyboard size. >Limited resolution. >No (Japanese) software. >Transport costs. >The effectiveness of Japanese "Buy home made goods" programs. I have been avoiding jumping into this topic line for many reasons, (1) although American I am of Japanese lineage, (2) I work in Japan for (3) a large international firm based in Japan. Tho' I think I can finally say something without getting attacked on all sides. There just is too many assumptions made by many about Japanese. While I don't know if it's worth trying to market the Amiga in Japan, I think that making a Japanese OS is not so bad an idea if done correctly. I think few people have had a chance to use "Kanjitalk" on the Mac. First of all it uses a standard keyboard, as do all new Japanese word processors. The trick is that you type the romanized version and the system translates it into the Japanese character. If it can resolve the character it makes a good guess and allows the user to easily select froma list of matches. On the Mac it is a simple front end that reads the input stream before sending it to the application. Of course the character set is based on a 14-bit character set that is created using escape sequences. This is pretty established as witnessed by the Japanese version of internet where things are all done in Japanese. It has been my experience that the popularity of the Mac in Japan is due to its ease of use and willingness to make a Japanese OS. On the Mac this is fairly easy since all you do is use somthing like resedit and edit the menu and requester resources. I do the reverse in some cases and change the Japanese apps menus to English. Resolution is not really a problem as witnessed by how the NEC PC9800 can handle Japanese characters. This thing is a mutation of an old PC XT, not PC compatible in native mode, and can make decent representations. The Mac display is more acceptable, but the Amiga could easily match this in Hi-res interlace. In fact I have seen one Japanese word processor for the Amiga, but it was not very impressive. Software would be the biggest problem. I visit an Amiga dealer in Tokyo and all the software is in English. For games, the largest market in Japan, this is no problem. Tho' the prices are really steep, since there are no Amiga software disributors in Japan. I have to disagree with the "Buy home made goods" statement. The popularity of the Mac attests to this. Most applications we use in the office come from America. Claris, Farallon, Macromind, all big Mac software vendors sell lots of their products here. Believe most Japanese software is not very good, except for the games. The Japanese just buy what they believe to be better. I don't want to start a flame war so I'll stop at that statement. >Regards Alan Of course anything I have said is my own opinion and do not reflect in any way those of my employer. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brian YAMANAKA (aka The VISCA dude) |"I knew I should have made that Sony Corporation, Personal Video Group | left turn at Albuquerque." Email: yamanaka@cv.sony.co.jp | -Bugs Bunny Phone: +81-3-5488-6160 | FAX: +81-3-5488-6469 |Hawaii,Illinois,Japan...what's next?