Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!uwvax!oddjob!hao!noao!mcdsun!sunburn!gtx!edge!doug From: doug@edge.UUCP (Doug Pardee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: AmigaWorld Expo cancelled (Flames ahead) Message-ID: <784@edge.UUCP> Date: Thu, 28-May-87 16:03:24 EDT Article-I.D.: edge.784 Posted: Thu May 28 16:03:24 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 31-May-87 19:48:13 EDT References: <6648@amdahl.amdahl.com> <306@osupyr.UUCP> <1044@pinney.munsell.UUCP> <3121@well.UUCP> Organization: Edge Computer Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ Lines: 101 Keywords: self-destruct stupidity narrow-minded management marketing bean-counters Summary: Also PD software as Amiga's worst enemy? I know that the Amiga fanatics will insist on roasting me for this. Please e-mail your flames (to ...!ihnp4!mot!edge!doug) unless they are more than simple rebuttals and name-calling, okay? That way I'll read the flames, and the rest of the Amiga fans who already agree with you won't have to. Amiga's basic problem is simple. Commodore has not identified any market niches for it. A couple of market niches have stumbled onto it, mainly computer freaks who like nifty computer hardware just because it's nifty. It's hard for computer freaks to understand, but the fact is that nobody else gives a <> how nifty the hardware (or multi-tasking OS) is. Look at the IBM-PC. A most un-nifty box with a most un-nifty OS. And a rousing success. Because it does useful stuff at a reasonable price. The non-freak computer buyer is interested in these things: a) can the computer do what I want? b) can I get the hardware and software off-the-shelf to do what I want? c) is this the best/fastest/easiest-to-use system for doing what I want? d) is this the cheapest system for doing what I want? e) is the manufacturer reliable? f) can I upgrade the system later as my needs change? Of the above, only (a) is likely to be "yes" for the Amiga in any given application. And (d) is likely to be "no" for just about every application. In the case of the Amiga, much expense is incurred by the fancy graphics and sound. Any computer buyer who doesn't care about graphics and sound (including virtually all "business" computer buyers) is going to get something cheaper. A PC clone can now be obtained for under $600. Why pay twice as much for the Amiga? Whatever market niches the Amiga is going to succeed in are going to be heavily graphics and/or sound oriented. Aside from the computer freak market, and some design applications, I'm stumped. Sure, video games would be a market, but only if Amigas went for less than $300. Commodore needs to recognize the importance of the computer freak market for the Amiga. Apple turned its back on the hackers, and decided that the big bucks were in the business market. So they came out with the Apple /// and the Lisa, both dreadful flops. The MacIntosh is still floundering, although doing better since Apple accidentally created the "desktop publishing" market when it produced the LaserWriter. And everyone involved should be trying to identify other market niches. That is, market niches where the Amiga isn't just *an* answer, but where it is the *best* answer for the dollar. ... Now for some general spouting off... > "Commodore could take marketing lessons from AT&T." > -- Jerry Pournelle I think they did. That's why the Amiga is as big a seller as the AT&T Unix PC. AT&T can't market at all. If AT&T didn't own >95% of all long- distance communications circuits in the U.S., it'd be bankrupt by now. > Lest we forget that it was hackers and us computer science dweebs > that created the micro industry (never mind about Apple). We were kind > of looked at funny when we bought computers, and were asked, "You paid *how > much* for that?" But we stuck it out, and history has proven us right. No no no. The dweebs paid $2000 for an Apple ][ with 16K of memory and one ghastly slow low-capacity floppy disk. But what became history was the $2000 IBM-PC with 256K of memory and 2 fast 360Kb floppies. The folks who bought the PCs *still* look at the early Apple ][ purchasers as "tetched in the haid" for paying so much and getting so little. > >IBM is saying "[censored] You!" to all of us "wierdo" computer science types > >and is going back to cater to the snobbish stuffed shirt MIS market. > >Fine, if that's the market they want, they can have it! > > > So far, there are only 150,000 of us weirdo computer science > types. We all bought Amigas. All the $$$$ is in America's MIS > departments. I agree. IBM is doing the right thing in locking up the Fortune 500 market. > Now, if someone could port OS-VM to the Amiga... :-) > Better still! If someone would write a COBOL compiler for the Amiga, > there's a TON of applications waiting to be ported. No way. There's just no way that the Amiga (or any other machine) is going to break IBM's hold on the Fortune 500 marketplace. IBM won't let it happen. Bear in mind that IBM was crying and moaning that it *only* made 5 billion (with a B) dollars in *profit* (after expenses) last year. A company like Commodore which takes in only $1 billion in a year and can't manage to keep a penny as profit can't hope to succeed in an attack on IBM in the market that IBM considers to be "top priority." It'll have to find a market that IBM won't fight that hard to keep. As for COBOL, COBOL programs are written for totally different applications than what you'd run on a small machine. Heck, you don't even see any real amount of COBOL usage on IBM-PCs. COBOL is used to drive huge disks, tapes, and fast printers. None of which the Amiga has. Give up on the "business" marketplace. The Amiga hasn't a chance there. Quit beating your heads on a brick wall. Go find a marketplace where the Amiga can succeed. Attack that market with good applications, and you'll have a success. -- Doug Pardee -- Edge Computer Corp., Scottsdale, AZ -- ...!ihnp4!mot!edge!doug