Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!lll-tis!elxsi!beatnix!wilkes From: wilkes@beatnix.UUCP (John Wilkes) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga 1000 buy-back & changing standards... Message-ID: <598@elxsi.UUCP> Date: Wed, 21-Oct-87 17:57:08 EDT Article-I.D.: elxsi.598 Posted: Wed Oct 21 17:57:08 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 24-Oct-87 07:03:22 EDT References: <5550@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: nobody@elxsi.UUCP Reply-To: wilkes@beatnix.UUCP (John Wilkes) Organization: ELXSI Super Computers, San Jose Lines: 62 mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes: >Warning: I'm about to vent a lot of steam at Commodore. > >Gee, what a neat buy-back program. Something else to leave me stuck >with obsolete hardware. [You hear a loud hissing - the sound of escaping steam...] >But now I hear "The 1000 -> 2000 upgrade is being offered only to >A1000 owners. That should tell you what we have in mind for the 1000." >And the A2000 has hooks for more CHIP ram, and the video slot. Well, Yeah, I'm pretty disenchanted with Comode-or myself. Especially the above quotation that recently emenated from somewhere in Pennsylvania. (Hi, George. I hope you don't get in deep yogurt for that one.) Let's look at this buy back deal that's been touted as such a Good Thing. When I bought my Amiga back in September 1985, I paid something on the order of $3000 for the privilege. (This for 512K, 1080 monitor, external 3.5in floppy drive.) I bought my machine from a dealer, one of the first they got. I had to wait 3 months or so to buy the Amiga C compiler. This C compiler was actually Lattice C. Now Lattice C has been upgraded *twice* since then, but I have not heard a peep out of Commode-or. We won't talk about the so-called Amiga Lisp or Amiga Pascal products. Sometime later I coughed up $700 for one of the first commercially available 2M ram expansion boards. As mwm pointed out, this board is now incompatible with everything else in the expansion marketplace, thanks to the oft-changed expansion specs from Commode-or. I figure I've got easily over $4000 invested in this now-obsolete system. And now they want me to spend an additional $1000 for the privilege of turning in my A1000 for a A2000? Then more $$$ for 2M of expansion ram? (Didn't I already pay for that once?) How much more $$$ for a hard disk? No thanks. I spent my $2400 on somebody else's obsolete hardware. One of those 3-letter companies (no, not *that* one, I'll never own one of *those*). Yep, a 68010, 2M ram, 64M hard disk, unix V.3 (mostly). Comes with free 90 day hotline support at an 800 number. If it breaks in the first 90 days, someone comes out to my house to fix it. It's called various names, like unix-pc, 7300, and 3b1. And it's not really made by AT&T, whose name is on it. And it's a discontinued product. But it doesn't crash when I make a programming error in an application (i.e., user level) program. And it has a much larger base of public domain software. And it's on the net, sending and receiving mail. And it runs real emacs (well, not *real* real emacs - you need a PDP-10 and teco for that.) (No offense to the mwm and mg1, but it's not GNU emacs, is it?) It runs ksh. Oh, I see I'm boring you. Sorry. I'll still keep my A1000, if only to be able to see Leo's work. Besides, I've got over 4 grand in it, and what could I get for it, $1500 maybe? For a two year old computer! (I'll listen to offers - send mail.) Remember the five finger trick? Or was it the middle finger trick? "Amiga, born a Champion" "We made Amiga, they f*ck*d it up" >