From: boberg@lysator.liu.se (Stefan Boberg)
Subject: Re: Way to go Commodore! Yeah...right.
Organization: Lysator Academic Computer Society, Linkoping University, Sweden
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 17:00:15 GMT

Mike_Noreen%cave@sweden.eu.net (Mike Noreen) writes:

>In a message dated Sun 12 Sep 92  4:19, Iank@microsoft.com (ian Kennedy)
>wrote:
> IK> Well the news from the WOC just reached my site.
> IK> Glad to know my not yet paid for A3000 is an orphaned
> IK> machine.

>Feels great, doesn't it. It's not six months since I shelled out $3000 for
>my A3000, and now I can almost see the guys at C= saying "GOTCHA
>SUCKER!!!". I cant even sell my A3000, cause it has dropped so much in
>price.

  Oh come on. This is ridiculous! Orphaned? In what way? There will still 
be plenty of hardware and software available, and the new operating systems 
work just fine on an A3000. This is so typical! When CBM finally brings out
a new system the same people who have been bitching about no new systems
earlier begin to bitch about that the new features cannot be retro-fitted
on older machines. Get real. Commodore never promised anything like it,
and noone forced you to buy your A3000. It is childish to believe that
CBM did this just for the hell of it.

> IK> Just who is going to develop software for the new AA chips?
> IK> Since none of the current machines can use them I see no reason to.

>This is a valid point. There isnt going to be any 256-colour games, just
>very few extreme high-end graphics utilities. All programmers will continue
>to write for 'the smallest common denominator', which is a 1Mb A500... A
>reasonable new computer might have changed that.

  And who the hell cares about games anyway? I sure don't. And all
programmers won't continue to write for the LCD. I'm thrilled with the
new machines and will certainly have AGA/KS3.0 support in all my forth-
coming GUI programs. I'm sure more programmers will - especially when the
68030/020 processor modules are ready and more people will be able to
afford an AGA machine.

  The A4000/040 is more high-end than low-end and at a very good price. 
I'm sure going to buy one, and I'm not pissed at CBM for making my
machine (A3000) `obsolete' even though I spent TWICE as much as you on 
it (yes, that's right - 30000SEK ~= US$6000).

>There actually IS logic here, of sorts. The AGA-chip computers aren't
>intended to be home computers. The C= product line is unchanged; the
>AGA-machines are optional extras for those who need it. This offcourse
>means that the PC-games will continue to improve, and the Amiga games
>continue to stagnate - leading to a 'game-drain', where all those 13 year
>old gamers go for PC.

  I don't think so. A reasonable PC is still far to expensive for a 
`13 year-old gamer' to buy just in order to play games. I'd say the REAL
competition in the games arena comes from the consoles. The SNES is a
far better buy than a PC if you want to play games.

>And lets not forget that it's the 13 year old gamers who carry the amiga.

  Commodore is obviously trying to change that. Why on earth would CBM
push the OS development and the new `Low-End'+`High-End' chipsets if
they want to capture the games market? As I see it, CBM is aiming for
the video-production and presentation markets, where the Amiga already 
has got a good reputation (at least here in Europe). I think they will 
succeed if only the can get the new stuff out the door soon enough.
There's a lot of money to make in low/mid-end video production.

>I feel rather more aggressive than depressed.

>But I guess the A3000 owners are few enough to be ignored without it
>affecting sales. I think I'll call C= and have a therapeutic yell.

  Get a life. Commodore owes you no apology, no NOTHING. You only have
yourself to blame for your bad decision. CBM is no damn charity 
organization. The A4000 will be quite cheap so you can sell your A3000 
and get an A4000 without shelling out too much money in the process.

  I mean, it's not like your A3000 is useless all of a sudden ... It's
just not their most powerful machine anymore.

--
Stefan Boberg - AP & EE student at Linkoping Institute of Technology, Sweden
 Author of LhA, ArjA and LhArcA. Co-author of Alien Breed, Project X, Full
  Contact and Miami Chase.
    EMail: boberg@lysator.liu.se, lha@augs.se       FidoNet: 2:204/404
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy