CompuServe Messages

Bill: As far as I'm concerend, PC compatability is now covered quite well. I too feel that Cross-Dos is a tremendous value… the rumors are that this filesystem compatability will be built in to the next release of AmigaDos. Consultron is also now selling a software PC emulator, that on an accelerated Amiga should give decent performance… I doubt it is much different than IBeM or the other pakage uploaded here more recently, but it does give you the peace of mind of buying the package from a company that will give you both phone and BBS support. Cross-Dos v.5 packaged with Cross-PC reatils for around $50 to registered owners of Cross-Dos, $79 to new users. Then, of course, there are the hardware packages: Supra, GVP and Vortex all have cards for the 500, and CBM continues to support the BridgeBoards (and has reduced the price of the XT & AT boards, probably in preparation for the release of a 286 BB). MAC-2-DOS and Amax both make MAC files available to the Amiga, and since most new MACs (dare I say, virtually ALL new MACs?) have SuperDrives which will save files to a MSDOS formatted disk, again, making it easy to transfer to the Amiga. BTW, The new version of CrossDos DOES support: the new CBM high Density floppy, msdos HD floppy's AND the 2 MEG floppy's that are just starting to show up. Also, I agree with you that a video display standard must be set so that add-ons like a HAM-E or FIRECRACKER can be added to ANY Amiga, and display all Amiga software, out of the box! I'm sure it's easier said than done, but I expect some major improvements from CBM in this regard. Remember, we have had a tremendous amount of backwards compatability with the Amiga OS. This may have held baack some advancement in Amiga technology… I heard rumors that 2.0 actually lost some of it's more advanced features for the sake of compatability. CBM is going to have to make the decision to let go of that stand, and introduce the next generation of Amiga… and that will, no doubt, make as many people angry, <continued>