#Rumor Mill
22 messages in this thread
Interesting …. In the May 3, 1993 edition of Digital News & Review
there is the following line from the Rumor Roundup section. "… a
downsized ex-service tech from Digital told me that Commodore will
soon build a most-affordable line of home computers based on the
Alpha 21066 chip."
Hmmmmm, sounds interesting. I wonder what they mean by "affordable"
though.
A most interesting rumor. The Amiga does NT? Could be
interesting…or could be CBM's biggest debacle yet.
Okay, we're talking about rumours…
What about the rumour that CBM are pulling out of the US? According to
a US CDTV developer (whose name I'll keep quiet for now) he says that
he's heard that CBM have lost the fight in the US (lotsa developments
but the Amiga has failed to gain the market share necessary,
competition catching up, etc, etc). His info is strong enough for
him to declare that his company is switching to the 3DO, PC CD-ROM
and console CDs instead. Any more on this one guys?
I've been hearing that CBM is pulling out of the US since 1989. I
don't think they'll ever pull out of the U.S. They'll just keep
laying people off until they hit 0.
I agree. However, this rumor is rampant to the point that it now may
be contributing to further sales lag. I was shopping in the local
Amiga store yesterday and in walk two guys interested in A4000s,
Toasters and anything related to video. They use Silicon Graphics
stuff but evidently are thinking of spinning off a business and
getting into the Amiga. They told the sales guy that they know people
who use Toasters. Disturbingly, within moments of their arrival the
talk turned from technical wizardry (they seem well convinced of the
Toaster's prowess) to stuff on the order of: "We heard Commodore is
pulling out of domestic distribution," and "We know a couple guys
with Toasters who are getting out," and, "We like the Amiga but we
don't want to end up with orphan computers."
One rumor these two customers shared was that C= is going to kill off
its domestic sales force. The sales guy said he heard that Newtek and
Merisel might be handed full responsibility for pushing the machines
in the US. Even noted (sagely!) that if C= were indeed to surrender
marketing chores, Amiga sales probably would shoot upwards.
Nevertheless, the point is, this kind of talk hurts. And I wouldn't
be surprised if competitors for Amiga's share of the DTV market
weren't busily spreading this rumor on their sales floors. Cutthroat
marketing as usual in the computer industry.
This is a matter that Commodore Rumor Control needs to address in a
hurry, like it did with that nasty Phil Robinson (sp?) column on the
Amiga's supposed death last year. It's no fun always having to go on
the defensive (just ask Bill Clinton!), but C= simply can't stay
above it all and pretend there's no concern out there. Perception is
reality.
Hi Denny,
Yea, that sounds more like it <g>. I just thought…with this CD
developer n'all.
Paul
Paul,
As far as I can tell–and I am a Direct Dealer with Comoodre US, they are
*not* pulling out of the US market.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Hi Mark,
Assuming that's true, then it's a relief. This CD developer guy made me
think twice, though. No-matter, he's probably been hit by similar
rumour-mongers.
Paul
Oh yes indeed they are pulling out of the US. They are doing it THEIR
way. Buisiness as usual, no big changes. They are least concerned
with market share, they would be happy to still be poking out C64's
by the case lot. Life is a luxury when you don't have to answer to
shareholders.
Hi Paul,
You are a very cynical person, Paul – trouble is, I and every other
Amiga user is in exactly the same state. And to think, before we met up with
CBM, we were all optomistic, free spirits.
Paul
NT? Good god no! NT will run 15% slower than OT Windows on the same
Clone. And what's wrong with the Amiga OS? A few enhancements, a
little of this, a little of that…
But a _real_ C= person at the WOCA show mentioned just that as a
possibility – NT running on future Amigas. The thought makes me
sick.
I wonder if this will be a new line or the new Amigas with the Alpha.
Could you please tell us more about the Alpha 21066 chip? I don't
know much about it.
I don't know much, but here goes. It's a RISC chip that comes in two
flavours at this point (if the 21066 is the first generation, which
is what I'm talking about) being 150MHz and 200MHz. It's a
super-scalar chip, effectively performing 2 instructions per clock
cycle, resulting in ratings of 300MIPS and 400MIPS respectively. In
a recent PC-Mag feature on the Pentium, only HP's PA-RISC chip was
rated faster than the Alpha at floating point math.
DEC planned the Alpha as an entirely new design/family of chips,
planned to last into the next century. The first generation of chips
requires very expensive, complicated, difficult-to-design
motherboards. However, that apparently isn't built in to the design
of the chip, and DEC plans future low-cost derivatives of the 21066
which will be much cheaper to use – and some of which will include,
_on-chip_, and interface to Intel's PCI local bus.
So I doubt that C= will be coming out with Alpha-based Amigas tomorrow
– the OS has to be ported first. On the other hand, there is that
strategic something-or-other deal btw C= and DEC, so maybe we have
something to look forward to.
Thanks for the chip explanation. I appreciate it.
Yep-
The DEC and C= deal are suppose to show their efforts in less than 3
years. Lew or Lou Eggcher sumpthin' said at Pasedena that it would be
worth the wait but certainly not cheap. He used the term "Home User
with big discretionary budget". Neat stuff…
I've heard from a downsized Commodore engineer that downsized
ex-service techs have no idea what in the world they are talking
about.
What's a downsized ex-service tech? Not that I wouldn't mind seeing
an Alpha-based Amiga, but soon sounds unlikely, and for now, anyway,
the Alpha chip(s) available are anything but affordable and require
fantastically complicated, expensive mother-board designs.