From: pockets@netcom.com (Sean C. Cunningham)
Subject: The State of Amiga Software...a proposal
Organization: Metrolight Studios, L.A.
Distribution: comp.sys.amiga.misc, comp.sys.amiga.programmer, comp.sys.amiga.applications
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 22:19:18 GMT

			     A MODEST PROPOSAL

	I think we've all heard about software publishers that are either
pulling out of the Amiga market or exploring other markets for increased
revenue.  People like Electronic Arts, Impulse, Hash Enterprises, Gold Disk
and others.  I'm not going to suggest that Amiga users begrudge them
for exploring new markets.  What I am going to suggest is that we all start
asking for more from the companies that are still producing Amiga software
because all too often it is the software company that fails in the 
developer-user relationship, not us.
 
	Powerful software is next to worthless if it is either too difficult
to use, too buggy, or suffers from bad interface design.  Buggy software is
just a fact of life.  I spend most of my time using SGI software, most of
which carries a pricetag equal to your average European or domestic 
sportscar.  And there are usually just as many bugs in a $50,000 piece of
software as there are in a $500 piece of software.  The difference lies in
the support.  There's not much a developer can do about bugs except release
a new revision.  On both the Amiga and SGI, your more reputable developers
do this on a regular basis.  Bad interface design, on the other hand, is
usually very hard to change.  On both platforms.  
 
	How many of you have seen the Interface Style Guide published by
Commodore around the release of OS2.04?  For those of you that haven't, it
covers the new ground rules for Amiga software that were developed to ensure
that software would live through OS changes and provide the end user (that
means you and I) with a consistent and professional interface.  Now take a
look at your present collection of software and ask yourself this question:
Have my developers read this book?  Odds are, you'll answer no.  And you
probably have hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in evidence sitting on
your hard drive and in floppy boxes. In face, I'm having a very tough time
trying to think of any software package that I own or have even seen 
advertised that follows the Style Guide.

	If we were to take a good, long look at the present crop of Amiga
software we would find the following: custom screens that care little for
the user's Workbench settings, icluding screen size, monitor type or
color settings; non-standard windows; non-standard gadgets; non-standard
file requesters; windows that don't move; non-standard menu handling; imbedded
fonts; imbedded pointer graphics and the list could go on and on.  This has
got to stop.  Are you with me?

	I don't know about you, but when I set up my Workbench display, I
chose a resolution and refresh I was comfortable with.  I chose screen colors
that I was comfortable with.  I chose a mouse pointer that I was comfortable
with and I chose fonts that I was comfortable with.  Most software totally
ignores what I, the user, am comfortable with and forces me to deal with
what the programmer was comfortable with.  Now, I hate to break this to you
developers out there, but the user is the all-important entity that you should
be bending over backwards to please.  You want our money, right?  And as I
said earlier, powerful software is worthless if it's not being used, or used
to its full potential.

	I have seen applications being marketed with "OS 2.0 look."  This
usually means that package has a raised 3D appearance and has nothing to do
with what makes the new Workbench the new Workbench.  Come on, nearly all of
the current window managers being used today have a raised 3D appearance.  Do
they all look like AmigaDOS 2.0?  Of course not. What sets each interface
apart is its own brand of gadgets and protocols.   
 
	To add insult to injury, I have noticed that quite a few of the 
developers that have either jumped ship or persued additional markets tend to
stick to the established interface guidelines that exist in those markets. 
This denotes a general lack of respect for Amiga users and must not be
tolerated.  A pox on these software houses and may filthy, stinking pirates
run them into Chapter 11.  They know who they are.
 
	I'm sure we all remember the little green stickers that first started
appearing on software after the release of the Amiga 3000.  It told you and I,
the user, that we could count on this software running on future releases of
AmigaDOS.  Software publishers quickly responded to the market's need and
ensured that their software carried this badge of honor.  Well, the hoopla has
diminished and the OS 2.0 compliant sticker carries about as much
impact as the parental advisory sticker on an Ice-T CD.  Now it's time for
a new sticker.
 
	I want to see a sticker that reads, "Amiga Style Guide Compliant."
This will ensure you and I that not only does a developer care if their 
software runs under OS2.0 or higher, but that it looks nice and will fit into
the look and feel that we've established and are comfortable with.  With
almost no exception, all new software should use standard gadgets, requesters,
text boxes, user-defined fonts and run in a window on the Workbench display.
One obvious exception would be entertainment software.  And I'll add that
any software that might require its own custom screen because of pixel depth
or display resolution (paint and 3D software) should first inform the user 
that this is going to take place with a dialogue box and give the user the
option of changing their Workbench display to meet the needs of the software
(ie: increase depth from 3 or 4 bits to 8 bits).
 
	Commodore can take the initiative and come up with their own 
program to ensure that the Style Guide's standards are met.  Or the Amiga
Developers Association (ADA) can do it for them, that is, if this organization
still exists (you wouldn't know it).  Or developers could just adopt the new
standard outlined in the Style Guide, as they should be expected to, without
the need of a cattle prod or little green sticker.  I don't care which way
it goes because the user will be the winner in the end.  
 
	We've been plagued by un-professional, non-standard software for far
too long.  I'm sure that if enough users voice their opinion we can make some
changes.  Feel free to forward this message to whomever you choose, so long
as it is the entire message.

	We don't need the software available in other environments.  What
we do need is the same respect commanded by users in those other environments. 

Thanks for your time,

 
-- 
                       DISCLAIMER: I'm my own person

    // "ocketsPay,                    /         Real World: Sean C. Cunningham
  \X/   ethay onderWay oyBay"       (M-          MetroLand: sean@iris13
                                      \           Internet: pockets@netcom.com

                           Metrolight Studios, L.A.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc