From: danaf@bray1a.its.rpi.edu (Frank R. Dana Jr.)
Subject: Re: NEWTEK: WHAT HAPPENED?
Reply-To: danaf@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 04:32:09 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.050929.14127@rmece49.upr.clu.edu>, raist@rmece02.upr.clu.edu (Ricardo Hernandez) writes:
|>    Just to start another trail but still being related to the Toaster
|> @ the Discovery channel:
|> 
|>    I saw in CNN a report from NewTek too last summer.  True, they seem
|> like they are living it up.  They also said on some add looking for
|> people to work for them I think, something about still working on something
|> new...

I hope so. They've brought us some great stuff in the past.
|> 
|>    Well, all I can think of it is that maybe they are working on a real-time
|> stuff to digitize full motion video.  But then, is NewTek the same
|> 'Amiga guys' that they used to be?  I highly doubt it. 

Well, yes and no.    (I could run for office...)

NewTek is, deep in its heart, still the same basic bunch-of-great-designers it
was way back when. However, the company has undergone a major split since 
they've "hit it big". The designers still rollerskate in the office. They still
make stupid videotapes of each other doing stupider things. They still have the
cover off every Amiga in the place. The marketing people, on the other hand,
are NOT part of the NewTek we know. They have a glass-walled office in Topeka.
They wear 3-piece suits to work. They use MACs because "everyone else does". 
They basically know sh*t about computers, and even less about the Amiga.

This, in short, is the problem. The designers go off into their little holes
in the middle of nowhere, get no sleep for seven months, and come out and say
"hey, look what we did!" The marketing whizzes then grab the new product, pat
the designers on their collective head, and proceed to royally screw the Amiga
community out of every penny they can.

I don't know what happened, but the NewTek of old made a major mistake in 
letting the marketing sharks get control of the company. A leveraged buyout
or some other sort of legal trickery may be in order...

|>    I have started to work with a Video Toaster finally, and I have been
|> reading the manual.  They barely mention the word AMIGA!  Even they don't

"Amiga" doesn't sell units. Research has shown that. (Theirs, at least...)

|>    On the other hand, they mention the Mac and PC quite a few times...
|> it's incredible... I guess that NewTek will be mega-tempted to make 
|> a real Toaster for the PC's since they have such a huge market share,
|> even if it costs say, $1000 more than the Amiga version.

Nahh, the Toaster-killers will be out long before Toaster-PC ever would, and
with price tags ranging from (estimated...) $4000-$10,000, and recognizable
names behind them, NewTek would have a big problem competing.

|>    NewTek: WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?  I remember all your artistic and wild
|> 'DemoReels'....  Isn't there any 'AGA-demo reel?', any DigiView updates
|> for the AGA? Since DigiView digitizes internally in 21 bits - 2.1
|> million colors- just changing the software for AGA would be a snap...

DemoReels don't sell units. You want a fast-growing, dynamic company to GIVE
STUFF AWAY FOR FREE!?!?!?!?!?!? The marketing people would scream so high all
of their neat glass windows would shatter!

|>   What about a 'tiny toaster' for other Amigas? (A500's, etc.) for home
|> editing?  What about releasing LightWave 3D as a stand-alone package
|> for DCTV, AGA, etc.?  WHAT ABOUT A TOASTER FOR THE A3000/A4000?

The market for the Toasters is primarily in the realm of the Video Professional,
someone who does not already own an Amiga, and will want to buy the Toaster and
the "really big power supply and casing" (which is how NewTek would love every-
one to think of the Amiga...) together. Therefore, that pro can buy a 2000. 
There is no reason to build a Toaster for any other machine.

|>   My view of NewTek for the future:
|> 
|>    * Release Toaster 3.0
|>    * Continue working on old Toaster
|>    * Work on a new Toaster for PC's or the Mac's

Your view for the future is, sadly, based on the NewTek of the past...

|>   I don't know why, but I don't think that NewTek will continue sticking
|> to the Amiga market for the distant future....

They've "outgrown" us.

|> --------------------------------------------------------------
|>   Raist   // Amiga 500, 38Mhz Special MegaMidget Racer

Please NOTE:

Just about everything I entered here, with regards to NewTek policy, is just me
playing devil's advocate. It's meant to be in an extremely sarcastic vein. I 
don't believe most of it, of course - in fact, it's all a crock of sh*t.

-- 
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