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From: preece@ccvaxa.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga
Subject: Re: Ultimate Computers
Message-ID: <26600039@ccvaxa>
Date: Thu, 18-Sep-86 12:34:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ccvaxa.26600039
Posted: Thu Sep 18 12:34:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Sep-86 20:58:10 EDT
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Nf-From: ccvaxa.UUCP!preece    Sep 18 11:34:00 1986


> [ranjit@cory.berkeley.edu writes]
>  Apple II compatibility is like making a race-car Volkswagen
> compatible, but it could help business.  
----------
If making a race car "Volkswagen-compatible" meant making it run
on normal gasoline, that wouldn't be such a bad thing, marketing-wise.
The number of programs available for the Apple II is something like
two orders of magnitude greater than the number available for the
Amiga.  That's called a built-in market.  The ONLY machine for
which substantial quantities of school software is available is
the Apple II.
----------

> Speaking of compatibility, is there any interest in a simple Apple II
> emulator running on the A?
----------
An Apple II emulator would sell lots of machines, if it was (a) really
compatible and (b) faster than an Apple II.  Schools are a BIG market;
homes are a big market; the Apple II software available for those
markets is most of what's available for those markets.  The Amiga
offers enhanced capabilities in exactly the right places for those
markets to compete with the Apple II (though the GS may have made
and end run around the Amiga's capabilities in some areas).
I'm not sure that the Amiga is fast enough to do a software emulation
and I'm not sure that a hardware add-on could be cheap enough to
leave the whole system competitive (schools take bids -- if you've
got to sell the cheapest system capable of meeting performance
requirements that are based on an Apple II, you've got to be
cheaper than an Apple II or offer some advantage that is so
clear that you can convince school boards to include it in the
RFP; multi-tasking isn't going to make it).

-- 
scott preece
gould/csd - urbana
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