From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: Amiga 4000/Atari Falcon
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 13:37:16 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.035014.22539@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au> davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au (David Meiklejohn) writes:
>In article <mykes.0cwe@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>>
>>Great!  Put me in your killfile.  Whatever yanks your chain.
>
>Nay, not mine.  I agree with a lot of what you say, but not the tone you've
>been using.  It's wearing a bit thin.

It worries me more than anything else...

>>I still DO support the Amiga.  I still spend MORE time using the Amiga than I
>>do my PC.
>
>It's been difficult to tell that from your recent posts.

I've been accused of the same thing, but believe me I still use and like
my Amiga very much, but I want something better.  If I were the type to
be satisfied with old technology, I'd never have bought an A1000 or an
A3000.  Despite all the news about the recession in the US and other
parts of the globe, there are some of us who've been doing OK and would
like to upgrade our systems.  I'd much rather buy a new Amiga instead
of a clone, but I'm not going to spend $6000 on an A3000T.  C= is out
of their mind running the Byte ad right next to ads for Dell 486 machines
with similar specs for half the price!

>>  After the
>>negative news article published across the US in newspapers about the
>>Amiga, any hopes of the Amiga gaining any acceptance at all in the US
>>are ZIP, NADA, ZERO, GONE, to the phantom zone/twitlight zone/forbidden
>>zone.
>
>OK - let's assume this is true - the Amiga has no hope in the US, and nothing
>Commodore can do can ever change that.  So?  What exactly are you advocating?
>You say:
>
>>That's 100% CBM's fault.
>
>But, so what?  That's in the past.  What is that you'd like to see happen now?

I believe that many Amiga owners in this country just want a little
assurance from C= that there is a future for the machine in this
country.  Their recent plea for help against the Robinson letter is
truly pitiful and was a big mistake.  They boast that they are a
billion dollar company, yet they won't act like one.

>Do you think that C= should just give up all Amiga development and only sell
>clones from now on?  Should all of us who own Amigas throw them out and buy
>486s with OS/2?

I won't speak for Mike, but it is very difficult to continue to support 
the Amiga when C= won't.  There are still some things about my A3000 
that I prefer over the 486-50 I use at work, but the list is getting
shorter with each passing day.  If the specs for the AA chipset and the
new machines are true and the price is right, I'll buy one.  But if C=
thinks that I'm going to pay $6000 for an A3000T with the same audio and
video capabilities as my old A1000, their nuts.  If I were to spend $6000,
I'd be better off getting an unbelievable clone or a Mac Quadra.

>It's all very well to rant and rave, do you have any solutions?  Should we all
>just give up, close down the comp.sys.amiga groups, and turn off the lights?
>If not, what should C= and us users be doing?

I don't think that the users should have to do anything.  If C= were a
startup with few resources I'd be willing to help.  Billion dollar 
companies shouldn't need to rely on grass-roots efforts.

>I can tell you what I'm going to be doing - I'm going to buy one of the new
>systems when they appear (assuming the price is reasonable).  I plan on using
>Amigas for years to come, and look forward to the introduction of new
>technologies, such as RTG, in the not-too-distant future.

Hey, me too!  My boss and fellow grad students think that I'm nuts, but
I'm putting away money now for an A3400.

>Maybe I'm an optimist, but that's the plan.

I'm giving them till the end of the year, you still doing the same?

>>Read what I wrote:  OS/2 apps ARE AmigaOS apps.  I have seen both, know
>>both from a technical perspective, and I know they are the same.
>
>I've always supported OS/2 (since 1987, I've wanted to see it succeed).  I
>really hope it does well in the PC marketplace, and I'll continue pushing
>for it's introduction where I work.  But, that doesn't make me want to
>give up the Amiga - it simply means that PCs aren't as bad an alternative as
>they used to be.  No matter how well they perform, how much software there is,
>how good that software is, and how cheap they are, they're still kludges,
>from their Intel cpus to their 8 MHz 16-bit AT busses and conflicting localbus
>standards, and I just don't want that sort of thing as MY computer.  I want
>the best, and that's Amiga.

I think that you, Mike, Marc, Colin, myself, and others all want the same 
thing, we just have different ways of dealing with our frustration.  It is
a shame that persons as talented as Mike is are migrating to the PC, but
the blame lies with C=, not the users.  If C= continues with their idiotic
policies, I fear that we'll see more posts like his instead of less.  :-(

>David Meiklejohn                  | Internet : davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au


Skip Sauls
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu