From: jerry@cs.mcgill.ca (Gerald (Jerry) KUCH)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: I hold in my hands the CBM 1992 Anual Report....
Date: 11 Oct 92 16:31:33 GMT
Organization: McGill University, Montreal, Canada

In article <1992Oct10.061752.12644@coplex.com> dannie@coplex.com (Dannie Gregoire) writes:
>iank@microsoft.com (Ian Kennedy) writes:
>>P.S. Get the Anual report. It's a barrel of laughs... Oh, the official
>>number of Amigas sold now is up to 3.7 Million (page 2).
>
>This is all coming from a company that wants every household appliance
>of the future to run windows as an interface...please.  Windows is
>useless enough when running on a PC let alone my refrigerator.  I 

I think I might agree on the refrigerator... but Windows is far from useless
on a PC... you may find fault with aspects of the API or overall omissions
from the design (no real preemptive multitasking, for instance), but for
the average user it sure beats dealing with the 1970s Lungfish MS-DOS system
directly.

A year ago I wouldn't have imagined defending Windows... but your comments
do drift into the realm of ignorance.

>have not seen the afore mentioned pictures, but if true, I wonder
>why they would feature a Graphica Looser Interface such as windows
>(Windows is NOT an operating system).

Even Microsoft called it an "operating environment" for the longest time.
And whether it's an operating system, or an operating environment (whatever
those words mean to you) is somewhat academic and able to be debated 
endlessly anyway.

>Perhaps microsoft dribble like yourself might also like to know that
>the Amiga is quite capable of running PC software (including windows

Errrr... actually Ian's owned a couple of Amigas and in all certainty has
a pretty clear idea of how capable the Amiga is of running PC software 
through the various software and hardware solutions.  But I don't think
you're going to have a happy time running Windows on a 2088 XT bridgeboard.
I'd be careful about the danger of concluding that somebody is "dribble"
or a fool because they work at Microsoft.  I'd also be careful about assuming
that they're (to use one of Ian's own phrases) a bunch of "crazed, blood
drinking MS-DOS cannibals."  You'll find a fair number of Amiga owners
at MS, and beyond them, a fair number of people who know and/or have at
least a bit of respect for the machine.

>and or word, unfortunately) at the SAME time as other Amiga software.
>This is of course a feat hoplessly impossible under windows, such is 
>life.

Yeah... it's impossible... but then again, for quite some time now it's
been possible to go out and buy a second machine, a cheapass PC clone 
on which to run Windows and Word, for only slightly more than the cost
of adding a fast enough BridgeBoard (bought new), a VGA card, a second
monitor, some more hard disk space, and some extra RAM for the PC side
to an Amiga.  I haven't seen the new 386 Bridgeboards yet though, and I
don't know what their pricing is like.

>
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> |    Dannie J. Gregoire            \\\\////         dannie@coplex.com     | 
> |  Copper Electronics Inc.         ////\\\\         !uunet!coplex!dannie  |
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+


-- 
 Jerry Kuch (jerry@cs.mcgill.ca) ----- SOMETHING NEAT SHOULD GO HERE.
 "I was wrong to play God.  Life is precious, not a thing to be toyed with.
  Now take out that brain and flush it down the toilet."
                  --- M. Burns  "Treehouse of Horror II"
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy