Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-tis!lll-winken!scooter!neoucom!wtm
From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga public impressions
Keywords: new machine old user
Message-ID: <1380@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: 26 Oct 88 15:48:35 GMT
References: <12626@eecae.UUCP> <1377@neoucom.UUCP> <12722@eecae.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 36


I belive that the Amiga is not being sold with a C compiler beacuse
it is surmised that the target audiance for the machine does not
want a C compiler.  Of course, this may or may not be true.
Machines like the Macintosh and IBM [or clones thereof] do not
include C compilers.  With IBM, you don't even get DOS!  Of course,
you could use ROM BASIC on the IBM, but I don't know how you'd save
anything since the cassette recorder jacks are no longer included.
I suppose if C-A included Lattice C with every machine it sold,
they might be able to get a pretty good deal on the software
license.  The market that the Amiga 500 competes in is very price
sensative, and margins are relatively thin.   The extra 50 bucks
added to the cost (just guessing) would probably not be palletable.

Dealer support apparenty varies a lot too.  The dealer here happens
to be very good.  He has the complete fish library and a dedicated
Amiga running BBS-PC for an information forum.  Since there are
relatively few Amiga delers, it can be harder to find a competent
one within a given area.  IBM/clone dealers can be just as
incompetent.  All the IBM/clone dealers here are terrible.  The
nearest decent one is about a 45 mile drive.  Macintosh dealers are
usually good because Apple is very insistent that their dealers
provide a high level of support .. but the owner pays for by
suffering Apple's lack of price competetion.  C-A could police
dealers the way Apple does, but then Amigas would probalby have a
biased price structure similar to Apple's inflated prices.  Support
of Atari products is definitely worse than Amiga.  The only local
place that carries Atari is Toys R Us.  The profit has been pared
so thin on STs that nobody else is willing to carry it.  Toys R Us
treats the ST like any other comodity item they carry:  strictly
cash 'n carry.  The lady that rings-up cabbage patch dolls is the
same person that sells you your ST.. basically knows nothing other
than the ST is something that comes in a big box labeled "ST".

ST dealer-bashing is NOT ST-bashing.  Spare the flames.  The ST is
an OK piece of hardware, but it doesn't fit my particular
application as well as the Amiga fits.