From: cuadrasola@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Commodore and the Osborne Syndrome
Date: 25 Jul 92 13:49:10 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

One of the things that I (and many other people) dislike of Commodore is that
they never release any news on the kind of products they are working on and
plan to release in the near future.  We all think that Commodore marketing is
under the influence of a strong Osborne Syndrome and that's why they just would
not tell us what's cooking in their labs.  However I think this is BS and that
the reasons why Commodore do not want to tell us about new products is that
their lack of a well structured marketing as well as R&D effort does not allow
them to really know with a tolerable degree of certainty what products will be
released when.

I think that what happened to Osborne can happen to any other company but only
in the case of the release of a new computer system or a product that would
make a current product line of the company obsolete.  When it comes to
peripherals or products that would enhance the current product line of the
company, anouncing and releasing information on such products should be
beneficial for the company since it creates expectation for them and give the
customers an incentive to wait paciently until the products are released.

I keep wondering why Commodore just would not let us know what is going on 
with OS2.1, the HD drives, the new chip set, the bridge boards, and so many
other products that we know are cooking.  Is it because the Osborne Syndrome?
No way!  Wouldn't we all Amiga users get exited if we just had an official
word from Commodore letting us now when and what we can expect from OS 2.1 for
example?  Wouldn't that actually benefit them?  But no, it is actually the
oposite.  They just would not even admit that 2.1 exists.  Same thing for the
HD drives and many other products.  All I know about these products are rumors
and I am sick of them.

Not too long ago a friend of mine bought a Vortex 286 emulator for his Amiga
2000.  He wanted to have PC emulation in his computer but it was not something
that he needed right away.  Now he is disapointed because Commodore just
released the 386SX bridge board shortly after he bought the Vortex board.  If
Commodore had given some publicity to this new bridge board before it was
released I am sure my friend would have waited.  Now he is stuck with an
inferior product and Commodore will sell one less of their 386SX emulators.

Many other companies release news of their future products way before the
product is actually released.  Look at Apple and the Newton.  It is not supposed
to be released until next year, but already the company has created so much
exitement about it that so many people are already eager to buy one.  Why
didn't Commodore do the same with the CDTV?  I think the same kind of exitement
could have been created with the CDTV if Commodore had taken steps towards it
just like Apple has done with Newton.  After all the CDTV, just as the Newton,
was the first of its kind.

Lisen Commodore:  you have a set of customers that love the Amiga and are very
easy to get exited about new products and who are very much willing to make
other non-amiga users get exited about these new products that are (or at least
should be) coming out soon.  If something is cooking let us know.  We know how 
be pacient (as we have proved many times in the past).  Don't fool us with
arguments around the Osborne Syndrome.

So Commodore, let me know when I'll have an Amiga 4000 on my desk.  Or better
yet, send me one so that I can betta test it...  

-- 
Juan 

+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
|                                      |   IBM/MAC        //                |
| Juan P. Cuadra-Sola                  |   ~~~~~~~       //                 |
| cuadrasola@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu        |  ( *   * )   \\//  Amiga (3000)    |
| Electrical and Computer Engineering  |   |  ^  |     \/   forever.        |
| University of Kansas                 |    \ = /  --+                      |
| Lawrence, KS. 66045                  |     \_/     +--> "I'm just a       |
|                                      |                   cave man..."     |
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy