Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!amdahl!kim
From: kim@amdahl.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Technical excellence in publishing (or a lack thereof)
Message-ID: <13323@amdahl.amdahl.com>
Date: Sun, 30-Aug-87 23:30:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdahl.13323
Posted: Sun Aug 30 23:30:13 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 1-Sep-87 00:37:28 EDT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation,  Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Lines: 54
Keywords: BYTE BIX Dr. Dobb's lack of coverage Days of Future Passed


[ For all you do ... this line's for you ... ]

I just picked up the new (September) issue of BYTE Magazine, and was very
disappointed to see that they've dropped the Amiga (and ST) coverage from
their "Best of BIX" area.

Not that I ever really got much out of the section in the first place, but
I saw the recognition (by BYTE) as a positive thing.

And, while I haven't looked at each article individually yet, none of them
appear to be targeted toward Amiga/ST owners.  Remember how about a year
ago BYTE said they'd do a special 68000-oriented issue like they do for
PClone's?  And then they backed off to doing 68000-oriented coverage on a
regular and continuing basis in their regular issues?  Sigh.

I guess this is good for AmigaWorld (who is now going monthly), Amazing
Computing, and the AmiProject, as the concentration of *good* technical
articles should be higher in them, potential authors having fewer
publication alternatives.  But it sure won't help show off the unique
capabilities of these machines to the non-enthusiast.  Of course if
Commodore were to do some *serious* advertising ...

It's sad, really, that the premire technical publications like BYTE and
Dr. Dobb's have chosen to largely ignore technically superior machines
in favor of continual re-hashing of the more popular (in terms of market
penetration, anyway) ones.  For example, the only Amiga related article
I can recall in Dr. Dobb's, was a biased and inaccurate comparison of
the Amiga vs. the Mac WRT programming the two machines by Jan Harrington.

Gone are the irreverent but informative articles, and the willingness to
strike out in new directions that was the hallmark of "Dr. Dobb's Journal
of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia  [Running Light Without Overbyte]".
Sad.

You will be pleased to know though that you can now buy a "Micro Clipper
Graphics Subsystem" for your aging PClone (for $3300 ... math coprocessor
and additional memory recommended, but extra), that will allow you to select
16 simultaneous colors from a palette of 4096 ... :-)  [Actually, this looks
like a pretty nice product, and is said to run AutoCAD "5 to 10" times faster
than native PClones, depending on model].

Sorry to ramble on so ... I'll stop now.

/kim



-- 
UUCP:  kim@amdahl.amdahl.com
  or:  {sun,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,ihnp4,seismo,oliveb,cbosgd}!amdahl!kim
DDD:   408-746-8462
USPS:  Amdahl Corp.  M/S 249,  1250 E. Arques Av,  Sunnyvale, CA 94086
CIS:   76535,25