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From: rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Badge Killer Demo Contest
Message-ID: <255@dana.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Oct-87 21:24:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: dana.255
Posted: Tue Oct 20 21:24:53 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 23-Oct-87 03:16:41 EDT
References: <245@dana.UUCP> <1970@gryphon.CTS.COM> <4466@zen.berkeley.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: Dana Computer, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 48
Summary: Well, alright, good points.

In article <4466@zen.berkeley.edu>, bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) writes:
> >In article <245@dana.UUCP> rap@dana.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes:
> >>
> >>...Yes, the entries were interesting and entertaining, but it
> >>would have been even better had it been obvious somehow that the entries
> >>(with appropriate software/hacking) could not have been done on any
> >>other computer.... 
> 
> I had real troubles with that category... what other computer?  With
> how much work???  Some used Amiga specifics where they might not be
> needed on another computer.  Some things were clean and elegant on
> the Amiga, but could be done with a "hack and slash" attitude on
> the others.
> 
> For the next contest I hope the "Amiga specifics" category is either
> pre-judged or judged by group consensus (after a discussion of just
> what makes this demo special). 
> 
>  [ lots more that addressed what points I raised... ]

Thanks, Bryce, for pointing out what I might have missed re the demo
contents and methods.  It just seemed to me that it would have been nice
to have more that a sophisticated person (read experienced on one or
more machines at an advanced programming level) might have to think
"man, that'd be do-able on my xxx-machine, but it'd be ugly or slow
or whatever".  

I think back to the very first time I saw Intuition screens demo'ed
where RJ called us in and pulled down the front screen to show something
else behind it.  My jaw dropped.  THAT was something I had never seen
any other computer do before and I believe that this experience is
what colored my own judgement of the Badge contest.

I was looking for a jaw-dropper, something that was obviously Amiga
and Amiga-only, something that the same sophisticate would have to say
perhaps "that's gotta be a videotape" or better still, a remark that
one of our guys overheard when the prototype boards of the Amiga were
first demo'ed at Vegas: "I design computers for a living, and I know ---
THAT CAN'T BE DONE!!!"

Great expectations, thats all.  The Amiga has spoiled me.  Now I expect
everything on Amiga to be WOW and FAB (aarrrgghhh - showing my age).
(sigh)

Rob Peck                   ...ihnp4!hplabs!dana!rap

(ps. re contest preparations... maybe next year...
     "next year" is only 2.33 months away  :-)     )