Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!im4u!ut-sally!utah-cs!utah-gr!stride!l5comp!scotty
From: scotty@l5comp.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Amiga's Worst Enemy
Message-ID: <136@l5comp.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-May-87 16:46:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: l5comp.136
Posted: Tue May 19 16:46:06 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 01:49:02 EDT
References: <18006@sun.uucp> <857@sputnik.COM> <1640@sphinx.uchicago.edu> <119@l5comp.UUCP> <3644@garfield.UUCP>
Reply-To: scotty@l5comp.UUCP (Scott Turner)
Distribution: world
Organization: L5 Computing, Edmonds, WA
Lines: 67
Keywords: Developers programmers comercial software MCC EA DeluxePaint
Xref: utgpu comp.sys.amiga:4700 comp.sys.ibm.pc:3709
Summary: MCC, the Dr. Jeckell/Mr. Hyde of the Amiga.

In article <3644@garfield.UUCP> john13@garfield.UUCP writes:
>The toolkit and shell from MetaComCo don't do anything you can't do just as
>well or better for free. Both Matt Dillon's shell and ConMan appeal to me more
>as CLI improvements than the MetaComCo shell, and the toolkit consists (if my
>memory serves correctly) of a tiny fraction of a disk-full of programs,
>including
The toolkit also comes with a top notch disassembler. This item by itself was
worth the price of the toolkit. As for your list of PD/shareware tools that
compete with MCC Toolkit. The toolkit was available before half the items you
list were available. :) I have also NEVER had any trouble with the MetaComCo
Shell, I can't say the same for the various PD/shareware shell's I've tried.
Even the ConMan had (or should I say 'has'?) his problems. The MCC stuff worked
OUT OF THE BOX, and came with PRINTED, BOUND documentation. I also get a company
I can yell at if anything does go bump. Yell at a PD author and ya either get A.
A list of his/her priorities with yours near the bottom. B. "What did ya expect
for free?" Source code is a 'luke warm' support at best, when the chips are
down and you have 2 hours to burn a set of EPROMs for delivery on a $100,000
contract THE LAST THING you need is to be forced to dig through the source code
to find the problem with a PD linker. And actually in that case I didn't have
source to BLink so I had to whip out the "vapor" Modula 2 and write a quick
hack to massage the file for the EPROM programmer. And I had been contacting
the authors via their BBS before that fateful last two hour period and kept
getting answer # A.

When I had a nasty problem with the Amiga Macro Assembler I called C-A tech
support. I got ZILCH except they took my bug report. :) I called MCC and got
instant attention and was told that the problem had been fixed, but sadly they
couldn't sell me the new assembler or update me or anything because of some
deal with C-A. Well today, 7 months later, I have that assembler that person
was talking about. Cost me $27. The bug is indeed gone, it's nearly twice as
fast, and carries a date stamp nearly a month in advance of when I called them.
(ie the guy wasn't lying to me) The stuff works. I have a hard time trying to
figure out how a bunch that can make such solid performers could also be the
same outfit that gave us the 'dog' but what would life be without puzzles?

As for EA and the Paint series... DP was great for doodling but if you had
serious work for it, like making illustrations to be printed on a laser printer,
it just couldn't handle it. And before the DP loyalists scream WHAT?!? lasers
print at 300 dpi. At that resolution even the largest screen DP can handle is
VERY tiny, so they have to be blown up by the printer. When this is done those
nice small dots become big fat squares... DP is also missing alot of those
"small" features that make MacPaint more useful (like hold down shift to move
in straight lines as a single example of what I mean). DPII excited me, here
was a MacPaint class drawing program! It's still doesn't leave me with a comfy
feeling to use it. I could work with MacPaint without fear that something I was
going to do would crash the machine and steal my work. The comments made above
about the lasso do nothing to make me feel better, why should it crash AT ALL?

As an Amiga programmer I've had my fill of an environment where the ROM likes
to stick it's guru out and say "ya shouldn't have done that". I want my tools
to KEEP me out of harms way. Not stand there and let me get run down and then
laugh about it! Sounds pretty silly to go into the boss and say "The copper
ate my illustration". And people like Jerry Pournelle get TONS of mileage out
of stuff like this! 

To summarize, I eat or starve by the quality of my tools. It's also not enough
for them to show up any ol' day, they have to be there when I need them. I don't
care WHERE the tool comes from but it has to be quality and be there when I need
it. I use both PD/shareware and commercial. I tend to find most commercial stuff
to be useless trash which makes my praise of MCC's tools all the higher.

Scott Turner

-- 
L5 Computing, the home of Merlin, Arthur, Excalibur and the CRAM.
GEnie: JST | UUCP: stride!l5comp!scotty | 12311 Maplewood Ave; Edmonds WA 98020
If Motorola had wanted us to use BPTR's they'd have built in shifts on A regs
[ BCPL? Just say *NO*! ] (I don't smoke, send flames to /dev/null)