#Pleasance's New Amiga
I posted a reply earlier on this thread about the evils of advance
announcements, but I think you've hit upon a good point.
I referred to Microsoft's annoying (and consistent) habit of
announcing products WAY, WAY ahead of time (a thing called NT comes
to mind…). In their case, they were most likely making their plans
known so that people would not opt for competing products (like OS/2
2.1) before the MS wonder-code became available. (As an aside, that's
really too bad, because OS/2 2.1 is really a nice product…) Anyway,
Commodore should have no such concerns – against what platform is the
Amiga still directly (and realistically) competitive? Now, don't
everyone get offended! My point is just that non-Amiga users are not
going to put off the purchase of a new 486 or Quadra (or whatever) to
wait for what is now Amiga vaporware. The only people who will do
this are for the most part current Amigans. OK, having said that, it
would seem that the real benefit of Pleasance's comments is an
indication that Commodore is indeed moving forward & planning ahead.
If nothing else, it may reassure some disillusioned Amiga users. If,
however, it turns out that there is no 5000 in the works, the
company's credibility will take a major blow and lose support where
it needs it most – its installed user base.
–MR, PC Mag