From: eas3714@ultb.isc.rit.edu (E.A. Story )
Subject: Re: Amiga 4000/Atari Falcon
Originator: eas3714@ultb
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 22:54:13 GMT

In kes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>In mp.qdpi.oz.au> davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au (David Meiklejohn) writes:
>>
>> 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.
>
>The tone I am using?  It is more like yours, where instead of just ignorantly
>bashing other computers that used to be "lessor" technology, I am starting
>to reject the ignorance.

And there's the tone.. Calling people ignorant doesn't help much.. 

>And flame CBM.  If you don't like me flaming CBM, tough.  That's all I can
>say about it :)  But note:  I do not flame the Amiga - it is plenty good
>enough at many things.  I do not flame the engineers at CBM - they are plenty
>good enough, too (if not too few).  CBM I flame.

Standard stuff... 

>Look at the X-NewsSoftware in the header of this article :)

Chuckle.

>> That's in the past.  What is that you'd like to see happen now?
>
>What DO I want to see happen now?  You WON'T like it...  If I were CBM, I'd be
>looking at a 486 box with custom chipsets and AmigaOS and DOS compatibility.

AmigaOS compatibility?  Good luck, dude!  AmigaOS won't run on an Intel
processor too fast.. ;)

>Yes, 486.  As much as I love the 68K line, it is a niche market, at best.

I wouldn't call Macintosh a niche market, myself.  The 68k line has as
far to go as the 80k line... We still dont really have any cheap
computers that utilize the full potential of EITHER of these processors.

>But a 486 makes it possible for Borland to port C++ to AmigaOS and for Lotus
>to port 1-2-3.  Give it those Kludged up 16-bit ISA slots so we can use those
>cheapo hardware addons.  And Zorro III slots, too, if you think they have any
>value (I don't have a single Z3 board in my A3000 after ~2 years of owning it).

Er, Why does either Lotus or Borland need a 486 to port(?) software?
This is stupid.. If there was a 486 with AmigaDOS, it wouldn't be any
easier to get these companies to bring their software over.. AmigaDOS on
a 486 would have even less of a user base that it does now!  You'd end
up running it in DOS compatibility mode most of the time..

>The A600 _could_ be the same price and have a 386 in it.  Think about it...

And nothing but DOS programs would be run on it... This is dumb.

>Should people
>buy NEW Amiga machines?  
>NO WAY.  The newspaper articles are true - and struck
>a nerve in me.  Buy the new machines if you want to do video tape/production
>work only.  The Amiga is a vertical market machine, as NewTek has proven.

Its what you make it.. If mostly video people buy the machine, it
becomes a video machine, if there's more diversity, it becomes more
general purpose.  Right now, the Amiga is a capable video machine, but
video professionals don't make up the majority of the buyers of the
Amiga, lowend to midrange consumers do.   IF CBM wants to sell the new
Amigas, they better be reasonably priced and reasonably featured... None
of this 3000T/40 or A600 crap.  

>CBM put the ball in the 3rd party court from day one.  It has failed miserably.
>The ball must be put in CBM's court and they better do something with it.

Agreed.  The ball seems to have been forced into CBM's court recently,
maybe they'll do something with it other than sell underfeatured systems
at high prices.  

>> 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.
>
>Sorry, but you sound like you want to chain yourself into a dead end.  FWIW,
>OS/2 is as much of a dead end, at least for now.

Well, we'll see.  You can't tell the future better than anyone else
around here, so it's really all a guessing game on anyone's part.
There's no sign on the Amiga or any machine saying "NO OUTLET"... 
:)

I personally will wait and see what comes out.  I like the graphics
display specs, but that's all anyone except developers around here have
been privy to.  I wanna see how Blitter speed, Audio, and Floppy disk
stack up...and maybe if there are some NEW features? (hehe) 
If the new amigas have just the graphics specs listed, and nothing else
new, or if the lowest end model sells for $1200+.. I won't be buying
one, and I expect noone else will.  We'll see.......

-- 
"THAT is a DRY turtle.  That turtle is NOT moist!"
Ezra Story, a student at RIT, and
eas3714@ultb.isc.rit.edu, his trusty(?) mailing address.