CompuServe Messages

Paul, I think we are banging our heads against the "appliance" mentality. This machine, whatever it is, be it Amiga, Mac or IBM, is only good for one or two things, and God help the person that suggests that, perhaps, this machine may be good for more than those two things. People don't think that way. A toaster (not the video kind) toasts bread, a car transports you from one place to another, etc. ad nauseum. I think many people are missing the essential nature of the computer, i.e. it is FULLY (excuse my caps) programmable, unlike a toaster or a car. It should be no suprise that it is capable of accomplishing more than one thing at a time, but every time we demonstrate such to a new computer owner it comes as a whole new concept, frequently forgotten by the next day. THAT is the fundamental failure of the Amiga in the marketplace. There is no expectation that ANY machine is capable of multitasking, let alone that such a feature is _desirable_. People think in linear sets, i.e. that any machine is only capable of one, or perhaps two, tasks which it does well, be it word processing, spreadsheet, or video graphics. Until we communicate, as a group, that this is a desirable, nay a _MANDATORY_ capability, this machine won't sell. This is what sold me on the Amiga on its introduction in '85. The only way I've managed to convince others of its value since then is as the ultimate game machine, but that has since been undermined by the SEGA 16 bit systems and such. We really need, as does Microsoft with their Windows/NT system, to SELL the notion that multi-tasking is a VERY desirable feature. I wish them, and us, luck. <stepping off of soapbox> Brian