From: philip@utstat.toronto.edu (Philip McDunnough)
Subject: Re: 1200/4000 pricing
Organization: University of Toronto, Dept. of Statistics
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 05:06:47 GMT

In article <1i5tknINNd3u@mozz.unh.edu> ggg@kepler.unh.edu (Gregory G Greene) writes:
>'>VGA is ok, not great. There is no sound standard on the PC. Basically the
>'>closest thing you'll get is the SB, not even the SB-Pro, SB-16, etc...
>
>	To tell you the truth, I kind of like it that way.  I don't really
>   want an all encompassing sound standard.  I'd rather have what we have  
>   today, a multitude of sound cards being supported.  I don't want to be
>   locked in to only one sound standard. 

This is odd. In the game arena only the very large companies can afford to 
support all the various sound cards. What one wants is a minimum standard
and if someone wants to add support for more then great. This is the case 
with the Mac, for example. In the PC's case most games support your basic
Adlib, SB (not even pro,16, etc...) and few non-game programs support any
sound, other than the beep. Sound should be placed on the motherboard. Then
perhaps there wouldn't be so many irq+interrupt problems with the various
offerings.
>
>'>The things just aren't very
>'>interesting, and companies that have tried to make them interesting are 
>'>having a hard time of it. The 486 I have is set up to be as interesting as
>'>a PC could possibly be at this time.  Yet few people who visit our home find
>'>the thing of interest, which is not what I can say about every other system I
>'>have.
>
>        I must have a different type of 486 PC then you do.  I find it very
>  interesting and fun to use.  It runs my astronomy/astrophotography software,
>  imaging software, and of course, games, wonderfully.  It provides me with what
>  I consider great graphics and sound.  Not everybody who owns a PC is using
>  it for spreadsheets and databases.

While it is true that not everyone who owns a PC is into speadsheets and
databases (you and me for instance), I find it difficult to imagine your
comment regarding great graphics and sound. Non-Windows' programs typically
support VGA which means, for games, either 640x480x16(colours) or 320x200
with 256 colours. In either case you have a chunky graphics' mode the moment 
there's movement.

>        As far as people who visit my home being interested in my computers,
>  well, who cares really.  I bought it for my own use.  Frankly, I have had
>  3 computers, an Apple IIe, an Amiga A500, and a 33/486, and few people 
>  have found any of them to be interesting.

Well, I agree that it's really the user in the end that decides preferences.
I simply wanted to point out that PC's were not appealing to most non-computer
users (and neither are the 3 that you mention above).Companies will simply 
have to do better if they expect any consumer market penetration. At the moment
the Mac is by far the best choice in that arena, and it's still too expensive.
Nevertheless it is what consumers like in terms of software. The AGA Amiga's
and CDTV could be big hits if only they had a decent home software base. I
hope that comes about with C='s A1200, but it certainly isn't the case now. As
for the PC, if there are certain types of programs you really like then you 
know they will exist on that platform. Still doesn't make it interesting.
>
>'>Had it not been for the PC we would have sound, motion, better TV/computer
>'>interaction, etc...for a very reasonable price. As it is the 486 has taken
>'>over the desktop and we have all these rather unpleasant things sitting
>'>around demoing Wolfenstein3D...It's a nightmare.
>
>	Now why would you want to demo Wolfenstein 3d when there is so much
>  more out there.  How about demoing Strike Commander or X-Wing?  Or maybe
>  one of those SVGA wargames like Patriot?  Ultima Underworld II?

I don't demo any of these, as I (1) have no use for wargames, flight simulators
and (2) a computer becomes appealing if someone can just sit down with it and
get a feeling for it in 10 minutes. If that can't be done, then it's not worth
buying( from a consumer point of view). This is the case with CDTV of course 
and the Mac, etc...but most certainly not the PC at this time. If OS/2 were
to become popular then that might be a different story (or even Windows).

Philip McDunnough
philip@utstat.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc