CompuServe Messages

I heard a factoid yesterday (from a source within the company) which deeply concerns me about Commodore's marketing focus for the Amiga in the immediate future. As it stands today, the new 8-bit graphics, 16-bit sound, and super floppy drive that had been anticipated for the Amiga Family (and about which Irving Gould was quoted) may be spun-off into a new machine, not Amiga-compatible. My understanding is that the company hasn't determined just what to do yet. My aim in this open letter is to spark some debate and give Commodore marketeers an earfull. (This kind of market research is both inexpensive and hopefully, informative, to the company). If my thesis is true, then this presents a quandry for both Commodore and Amiga-users. It is difficult enough to attract software developers to write for our platform given the size of competing markets. My case in point: I only bought AMAX-II to run Microsoft-Excel. When I discovered that the text coming out of my Canon Bubblejet looked sick compared to what came out of a MAC connected to the same printer, I changed over to MAC-WRITE II and JETLINK EXPRESS. Why is there no MICROSOFT WORKS for the Amiga? I often hear Steve Jobs ridiculed for the NeXT, but he has a strategic focus. He has invested precious capital in his startup to get the software users need. I think his strategy will ultimately succeed. Why? Users buy hardware because of how the software empowers them. The NeXT is doing radical and wonderful things, things the Amiga could probably do better if the software was in place. Commodore chooses not to fund the big guys to develop their software for our machine. They figure if they grow the market than the big guys should jump in. I agree with that logic, but… If Commodore were to engineer and market a successor to the Amiga for multimedia markets, what would be the draw for developers? Instead of an installed base of 3 million, the base would number in the hundreds or thousands. I would hazard a guess [ MORE ]