Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!apple!rutgers!att!homxb!homxc!doug
From: doug@homxc.ATT.COM (D.SULPY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: More on WordPerfects Reasons
Message-ID: <6550@homxc.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 May 89 15:04:06 GMT
References: <45600063@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: AT&T BL Holmdel NJ USA
Lines: 42

In article <45600063@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>, someone writes:
...Since  our  products  are  targeted heavily to the 
business market, we do not think that our market share can dramically increase 
until the Amiga has a much stronger hold in the business world. The market the 
CBM claims may be there, but unless you're writing games, you're not going  to 
even  come  close to getting much of it.
WPCorp is doing the things it needs to in order to keep alive, it  will  still 
be  around  when  the Amiga finally takes it's place in the business community 
(assuming CBM gets it's act together).  We'll be able to  re-enter  the  Amiga 
market  with  all  the  technology we're developing on other graphics oriented 
machines. 
   
// Lynn LeBaron 
\X/  Manager, Amiga Development 
WordPerfect Corporation 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder if it has ever entered WordPerfect's collective head that their
lack of sales isn't due to a problem with Amiga owners, but due to Amiga
owners' problems with WordPerfect. I'm not a WordPerfect owner (and never
will be), but the reviews I've seen of it here on the NET are generally
far from favorable (no WYSIWYG being the most common complaint). WP's
biased attitude that the Amiga is basically a game machine suggests that
they never took the Amiga seriously enough to consider the features that
Amiga users demand. WP portrays it's I.B.M.-Mindset by it's insinuation
that CBM will only have "it's act together" when it offers itself as
a serious competitor to I.B.M. in the business market -- God, I hope
that never happens, because it would mean that all of the things the
Amiga does best would be wasted on...uh, bar charts, and perhaps the
synthesized voice droning out per capita incomes. Yuck.
So it's a shame the Amiga has to lose WP - the prestige associated with
WP's existence for the Amiga probably helped the Amiga's reputation
in the general public - but it's probably best they're quitting now.
I'm sure some Amiga-specific company will fill the gap, without wasting
the thousands in development costs WP keeps whining about losing.

Note: In the above posting, when I say "WordPerfect" (or "WP") I'm
referring to Lynn LeBaron's posting, assuming it's representative
of WordPerfect's opinions. 
Disclaimer: I'm not speaking for AT&T. They don't make word processors.
I think they make phones.