From: jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Jake Rose)
Subject: CBM is dead, alive, dead, alive, dead, alive...
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 18:47:44 GMT

Well, I've been quiet about this whole thing, but I think that there are a few
points on either side of the argument that have perhaps been overlooked.

First, CBM's at fault for their lack of success in the union for a few reasons,
and the American public is at fault for the success of IBM PC-compatibles for
a few more.

In order to compete in the American computer industry, which is becoming more
and more computer *service* oriented rather than hardware-oriented, CBM needs
to do several things.  First, they need to provide a regular pricing scheme
that is at least somewhat logical, so that people can confidently purchase
equipment from them without worrying that the prices might go up or down at any
moment.  Second, they need to get software houses into the picture, offering
them incentives to enter the Amiga market.  This could even entail funding them
on a few early projects, or even writing the software and then selling it to
other companies to continue development with.  Claris software is an example of
this, as is MicroSoft.  Claris is a spin-off company from Apple computer, and
MicroSoft was initially funded by IBM to write software for PC-compatibles.
Both of these markets have done well, since there were at least the basic pieces
of software available that people look for on a computer.

	The Amiga market has matured to a certain degree, so quality word
processing and desktop publishing packages are starting to come available,
primarily due to CBM finally realizing that a 1985 OS just wasn't going to cut
it for all eternity.  But these products need to be advertised alongside the
machine - maybe bundle some good productivity software with Amigas, like a
simple word processor - just so people who enter the Amiga world don't have to
start out with nothing and no real ideas about where to go to get anything.

	Hot, classy advertising is another problem.  I mean, cut a few percent
off Irv's salary and get the US executives interested in the machines!  Perhaps
the best use of some development money would be spent producing a file
conversion utility such as Macs come with these days for translating between
foreign word processor, spreadsheet, etcetera formats to native Amiga ones.

	There are two big problems with Amiga hardware, too.  Only recently is
any kind of networking support coming out of CBM, and business *requires*
networking these days in the US.  Virtually every place with any kind of office
automation has their systems on some sort of network, and without any kind of
readily available networking support, the Amiga is right out of the picture.

	The second problem with Amiga hardware is its self-incompatibility.
>From one machine to the next, I have never seen hardware come out of one
company that used so many different bus systems, interfaces, and chip sets.
When I heard about the the A600, I wondered if CBM had learned anything in
building the 3000 - it broke so many standards!  It used an IDE interface for
the drive, while the 3000 comes standard with SCSI [Great, now if I'm a 600
owner and I want to upgrade, I have to buy an IDE interface for my drive or
sell it].  It used data cards like the CDTV, but the formats were different,
which screws with users exchanging data between machines.  Its internal
expansion wasn't compatible with the A500, so all the development that Amiga
companies had put into 500 devices went out the window.  American business
has accepted the Mac grudgingly because it is a smoothly integrated system,
for the most part.  Granted, there are some problems with it, but they all have
AppleTalk (slow, but it's something), they now have high-density, 
MS-compatible floppy drives, they support a single hard drive interface
standard (SCSI), and so on.  If they can accept the Mac only grudgingly, it's
obvious why they can't take the Amiga, when no two machines can swap devices
as needed, and upgrades have to be a strenuous exercise.

	Now, for the American public.  The major problem with the American
market is that it's so big and so governed by businesspeople who have no real
knowledge of the machines they are using that steering it is virtually
impossible.  In order for a change to be made, it needs to be directed at the
business market, so that it will filter down to home use.  Not the other way
around.  If a machine is targeted for home use, it will stay in the home, and
it will only stay in homes that have little business affiliation unless people
can take their work home from the office and use the same tools at home that
they do there.  What to do about the stubborn, unknowledgeable people at the
top?  I'm not sure anything *can* be done.  Certainly, trying would involve
offering free seminars on using the Amiga in business markets, not for "video
production" and the things that the Amiga is easily best at (don't wimp out,
CBM), but for real business applications - spreadsheets, DTP, word processing,
etcetera.  A more productive idea might be to offer systems with networking
capability to new businesses at low cost.  Sacrifice a little now to gain
later, CBM - think ahead!  Compete with PC-compatibles in *price* as well
as performance and win!  It's possible to get a fully built 486 for under
$2000 now, and you're offering a similarly equipped 040 for $6000?  Compare
the Amiga in terms of performance against Macs and IBMs - show that it can be
more cost-effective to take the Amiga route!  Government agencies here are
required to take the lowest bidder that meets their requirements - meet their
requirements and be the lowest bidder, and you've expanded your user base!

	Blow them away - show off the features of the Amiga, don't just leave
them to figure it out for themselves.  Offer as much support as you can think
of.  Go out of your way to make at least a few sites really happy with the
Amiga.  Above all, don't forget that these are people you're dealing with, and
they deserve respect and the best you can give them.

Jake Rose               | 
NeuSoft/Amiga           | "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!"
jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu | 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc