Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!ptsfa!lll-lcc!seismo!cmcl2!yale!husc6!panda!genrad!decvax!decwrl!labrea!navajo!ali From: ali@navajo.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Byte A2000 Article Message-ID: <1421@navajo.STANFORD.EDU> Date: Sat, 28-Feb-87 06:22:26 EST Article-I.D.: navajo.1421 Posted: Sat Feb 28 06:22:26 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 1-Mar-87 15:44:16 EST References: <9599@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> <544@cti.cti.UUCP> Reply-To: ali@navajo.UUCP (Ali Ozer) Distribution: world Organization: Stanford University Lines: 48 In article <544@cti.cti.UUCP> frazier@cti.UUCP (Rick Frazier) writes: >In article <9599@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>, (Gerard Lachac) writes: >> I've just read the A2000 preview in the March issue of Byte. In a word, >> awesome!! ... (This is no dream, I read this!!!!) > >Oh, you poor, misguided soul! 8-) The article you read may not >have been YOUR dream, but it's unclear how much of it was the result >of the Author's dreamworld or "visions". >CAN YOU SAY "VAPORWARE"?............. I thought you could! 8-> Oh, I don't think the Amiga 2000 is vaporware. Since I've first heard about it, I guess about a month ago, there has been a lot of discussions about it and at least 3 magazines (Byte, AmigaWorld, and Compute!) have published articles with pictures about this machine. Look at the Mega STs --- they were announced about a month ago, and I haven't seen a picture of it yet, anywhere (but I must confess I haven't looked at any ST magazines...). Also, the article is not a product of the author's "visions." When I first heard about the Sidecar, back in summer '86 at a BADGE meeting (RJ was the speaker), I thought, "really, full IBM compability?" I was sceptical, but only for half an hour --- then RJ brought out the Sidecar, plugged it in, and got the Flight Simulator running as a subtask before our very own eyes. I think articles like the one published in Byte should have been published about the Sidecar back then --- Amiga's IBM emulation, with hardware bit swapping, etc, is really pretty amazing, and does indeed exist. And, although the IBM emulation will not be useful to me, I know people who will buy the Amiga when they hear that for a few extra hundred bucks (I guess $500, or $600?) they will be able to run any IBM program they want. The joys of being able to run DBase III Plus and Marble Madness on the same machine! Being an academic programmer at Stanford (and also a student, but that's a constant background task...), I sometimes get IBM software manufacturers who try to demo their products to me (and a few other programmers). We sit in front of a PC and the rep plugs his/her demo in and shows off... I can't wait to get an A2000 with the IBM card and drive in my hands so that next time these reps come over I can sit all of us in front of an Amiga... Oh, one more point. Take a look at comp.sys.atari.st sometime and read all messages sent during the past two weeks with the word "Amiga" in them. Almost all of them are hate letters directed at Atari, sent by current ST owners. Seems like with the Mega STs Atari is kind of forgetting about the 520 and 1040 users, and these users are justifiably upset. Even Apple --- most recent rumors say that the open Mac they'll be announcing on Monday won't run some (a quarter, maybe?) of the current Mac Plus software. The machine isn't even multitasking, and they still aren't 100% compatible! Ali Ozer, ali@navajo.stanford.edu