CompuServe Messages

I dunno, Frank. Everything any of us has to say on the subject is speculation. None of us are able to predict the future (if only I had realized that geeky little kid at that trade show would become Bill Gates or that the guy asking me to invest would be writing 1-2-3. . . ). What I look at is the market's momentum – and I really doubt that there's much room for anything that doesn't conform to the Wintel standard – and maybe with good reason. You can buy a blowaway Pentium for under a couple of thousand these days. Equip it properly and it will do just about anything you want. Take a look at Apple and their absurd premium pricing on high end PowerPC's. Mine has been primarily a Mac shop since 1984 – and I'm abandoning ship. The Mac, particularly with the advent of Win95 and WinNT, simply no longer has any advantage. Sure, there's a lot of room for niche machines and we share the belief that the Amiga could prosper there. But even a niche machine has to be supported and I don't think the Amiga is going to find a first-rate support structure. Too much water has flowed under the bridge, too many people had rent to pay and have moved to other platforms. Realistically speaking, with only an 8% market share, Apple itself is a niche player and will probably occupy a smaller share yet within a couple of years. (Some financial and market analysts are predicting a 6% market share in 1996 and 5% by 1997.) The Amiga could well remain popular among the lower end video production and kiosk market for several years to come, but I don't think its glory days are over. Jerry