Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucsd!ucsbcsl!hbo@nobbs.ucsb.edu From: hbo@nobbs.ucsb.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: AM(iga un)IX Message-ID: <1366@hub.ucsb.edu> Date: 21 Mar 89 04:07:15 GMT Sender: news@hub.ucsb.edu Distribution: na Organization: UC, Santa Barbara. Physics Computer Services Lines: 42 In article <2421@sbcs.sunysb.edu>, root@sbcs.sunysb.edu (root) writes... > > Sam, the other side to your argument is this: what if, god forbid, > Commodore continues to undercut and screw their developers by > bringing any profitable product in house because it is > "strategic"? This happened to all the third party disk people, > memory people, soon the genlock people, etc. If this trend > continues you will have ZERO hardware developers in the Amiga > marketplace and then what? When the next "gotta have" hardware > widget comes down the pike, you will be left to wait for Commodore > to provide it. Do you like to wait for two years for such things? > (Stuff deleted) > Rick Spanbauer > Ameristar Technology ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ While I recognize that Ameristar has made significant contributions to what success the Amiga 2000 enjoys in the low end workstation market, and while I think they are producing a reasonably priced and functional product, it always bothers me to hear a hardware vendor complain about how competition is going to screw up their business. There are quite a few third party disk and memory vendors still in the Amiga market, at least judging by the ads in Amazing Computing and elsewhere. Their margins might have been cut by competition from CBM, but apparently they are still finding it profitable to do business. The consumer (that's most of us here) ends up with a wider choice of RAM and disk products as a result. I grant that the market for Amiga ethernet hardware and software may be thinner than for disks and RAM, but if it really won't support two vendors, one assumes Commodore won't jump in. If the A2500 does take off as a low end workstation on the other hand, I think the market for networking products may fatten up. (Can you say "Appletalk?") In that case, I'd be glad to see more than one source for the hardware. I kind of doubt Ameristar would pick up its marbles and go home in that event. -- Howard Owen, Computer Systems Manager internet: hbo@nobbs.ucsb.edu Physics Computer Services BITNET: HBO@SBITP.BITNET University of California, Santa Barbara HEPNET/SPAN: SBPHY::HBO "I am not a pay TV service!" 805-961-8366 (work)