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From: bn@attcc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Stability of Commodore/Amiga
Message-ID: <19000039@attcc.UUCP>
Date: 27 Feb 90 05:57:00 GMT
References: <476087196@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>
Lines: 57
Nf-ID: #R:deimos.cis.ksu.edu:476087196:attcc.UUCP:19000039:000:3393
Nf-From: attcc.UUCP!bn    Feb 26 23:57:00 1990


ok,
my 2 cents worth...
We keep hearing about how the Amiga is being surpassed by the low cost PCs on
the market, etc, etc... To be perfectly honest, I think that now is finally the
right time for the Amiga. Back in '85 it was too far ahead, and too expensive
for the average Joe User. I agree with the arguments that a 256 color mode is
definately nicer than the fringes that we get in the HAM mode, and that the
new '386 machines outperform the Amiga in computing power, however, let's look
at things from a realistic poit of view. The REAL driving force behind the
MS/DOS market are still the cheap XT clones, and the Amiga is way ahead of those
machines in every aspect. I see a proof of this everyday, as I work as a sales
associate in an electronics dept. in a national chain store. We sell anything
from a twin floppy CGA XT clone to a VGA '386 machine. The XTs still outsell the 
AT machines 3 to 1 (at least).  It makes me angry to see all those people 
throwing money away for those XT clones. The only reason they buy them is 
because they don't know any better, and their friend recommends that they
"get something that is IBM compatible." 

As far as Commodore is concerned... I think that they are heading in the right
dirrection. Two years ago was a good time for pessimism, however since then, 
we've seen the whole staff at Westchester replaced, and we've seen some
attempts at really trying to actually sell the machine. I am confident that
Commodore will finally establish them selves as a viable business computer
company with the introduction of the A3000/UNIX. I firmly believe that UNIX
will be the OS that will replace MS/DOS and Commodore seems to think that
also. Of course, this all depends on the way the machine is marketed. If they
just release it, and then let it be, I'd hate to see what will happen to the
company. Perhaps with Harry Copperman, comming from  Apple, we will see some
aggresive advertizing. I think that Apple's MAC commercials are very effective
in the way they present the machine. Commodore should approach the A3000
marketing in the same way. Show a few boring executives discussing some
computer related task, etc, etc.... This is not to say that they should 
present the computer as another boring run-of-the-mill 'puter but I tend
to think that that sort of advertizing seems to catch the eye of the corporate
types. The Amiga has already captured the Video production market, so why
not go after something different.

 I'm not going to repeat the same old stuff
about how the dealer network needs to improve, since we all aready know that.
(I live in Oklahoma City, and we have only two "dealers" - one being 
Software ETC, and the other I don't even want to mention)

To sum it all up, I see a bright future for the Amiga. I see the MS/DOS 
slowly start fading away as UNIX machines become more common. Remember 
CP/M???? my December '82 issue of Popular Computing states that "CP/M
is the most popular OS, and is used on over 80% of all personal Computers."
HA! that was only 8 years ago. where is CP/M now. I see the same future for
MS/DOS. I believe that with just a little bit of marketing, Commodore could
make the Amiga one of the most popular computers on the market just like
it did with the ol' C= 64. So, how about it Commodore? 

[Soapbox mode off]

Bo Najdrovsky
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