Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!rochester!cornell!mailrus!ames!elroy!gryphon!jdow
From: jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM (J. Dow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Mr. Pournelle is brain-dead.  News at 11:00.
Message-ID: <7518@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 6 Oct 88 07:04:49 GMT
References: <3060@hubcap.UUCP> <70319@sun.uucp> <386@uwslh.UUCP> <5127@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM (J. Dow)
Distribution: na
Organization: Wizardess Designs, Hermosa Beach, Ca.
Lines: 55

In article <5127@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) writes:
>I *used* to read B*TE every month, back when I was new to computers.  I can 
>remember Jerry going through extraordinary efforts to get the latest box 
>working that was sent to him from a clone manufacturer.  For those machines he
>had patience (in most cases, the machines were free, he received very good
>support (can be read as hand-holding if your english has that slant), and when 
>he called someone with a problem, he was treated with R E S P E C T.) but for 
>the Amiga, he has little.  I think that his criticisms have less basis than
>he would ever be willing to admit.
>Regardless, he has *power*, however we might wish it otherwise.  Other 
>manufacturers recognise it, and I wish Commodore would.  If Jerry prefers to
>be hand-held, so be it.  The investment in time and money is certainly worth
>the free publicity.  Lets admit it, chalk another one up to Commodore's 
>sometimes inept marketing style.  Having Jerry's readers reading GOOD things
>about the Amiga would be worth more than most ad campaigns they run.
>Please let it be known, I do not condone Jerry's behavior, I deplore it.  But, 
>when facing the problem, I can only conclude that the simplest solution is to
>go along with his particular idiosyncracies.  Can our pride not afford it?
>
>        -=-
>-=- Shannon Mann -=- smann@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca
>        -=-

Shannon, that is a large part of why I have tried to support him as best I can.
Mostly I have not had the time to hand walk him through some of the
peculiarities. When I get over there mostly all I have time to do is install
the new goodie I have for him or fix something that glitched. (His A1000 was
a wonder of flakiness. I saw it work flawlessly all evening. Then next time
it'd die every three seconds - sometimes not even completing a boot sequence.
Then inexplicably it'd start working right again. Talk about frustrating!!!)

Anyway - he is a bit on the abrasive side; but, he does strive to be an
honorable person and report what he sees when he works on stuff. Unfortunately
he saw an awful lot of crashes. And he saw a couple years ago a machine that
amounts to something that C= is JUST delivering. He was told that IT would be
the A2000, ie Bridge Card AND 68020 processor in every A2000. When the real
thing surfaced it was much different. A repackaged A1000 is not front page
news. (That is a sore point at BYTE re some Amiga execs who "demanded" the
cover for the A2000 unveiling... BYTE reserves THAT for real news not repackaged
computers.)

Jerry may be a tad er ah daunting from time to time. But somehow I trust him
when the chips are down. Ya just gotta remember, when dealing with him, that
his reactions seem to be several dB overstated.

-- 
Sometimes a bird in the hand leaves a sticky deposit.
Perhaps it were best it remain there in the bush with the other one.

{@_@}
	jdow@bix (where else?)		Sometimes the dragon wins. Sometimes
	jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM		the knight. Does the fair maiden ever
	{backbone}!gryphon!jdow		win? Surely both the knight and dragon
					stink. Maybe the maiden should suicide?
					Better yet - she should get an Amiga and					quit playing with dragons and knights.