#our own opinion
12 messages in this thread
I think that the IBM/Clone world has never aroused the passions in its
users like the Mac/Amiga world has. Perhaps it's because the Mac, and
Amigas came later and were underdogs.
Those who bought them at first, saw it as striking a blow against Big
Blue. Apple's famous Super Bowl commercial branded Macs as the tool of
the rebels, so rebels flocked to it, and the establishment, almost
simultaneously decided that it wasn't for the establishment.
Meanwhile the Amiga was going to teach them both a lesson….
So perhaps that is why there are so many more zealots per capita in the
Mac and Amiga camps, than are in the IBM camp.
Then again, had it not been for the crazies, video work would still
require a Quantel Paint Box. There would be no Toaster, no Light Wave…
Had it not been for the Amiga, and the learning that went into developing
an "easier" Toaster, there may well have been no PC Toaster coming out in
the next few months.
So while we may not be able to say Amiga makes it possilbe, it sure looks
like only the Amiga _made_ it possible.
Alex:
But the reality is that video is/was being implemented on all the platforms.
The Amiga was honored by the presence of Tim Jennison and company who attracted
a lot of attention to themselves through their pricing and showmanship in
promotion. And they built a nice sized business for themselves.
But they were by far from being the only player. Right now I suspect that
FAST and d/Vision are bigger players in the video hardware market than NewTek.
I personally find chauvinists of any sort repulsive.
Jerry
Jerry-
It's true that NewTek may (have) fall(en) by the wayside, but it's hard to
argue against the fact that *they* really started the desktop video revolution,
and at the time they did it, no machine could have hosted their efforts other
than the Amiga–except at very substantially higher price points. And that's
basically what Alex said.
Mr. Zombie
I guess. Too bad we can't all live on past laurels. <G>
Jerry
Wasn't suggesting that anyone should live on past laurels. Just said that
people can take pride in the fact that the Amiga technology helped get
desktop video where it is today. Much the same way Mac users can take
pride in the fact that the Mac launched the GUI revolution, or that clone
users can take pride in the way that their platform ushered in a new era
in computers.
I own one of each so I'm proud as hell! <grin>
"I own one of each so I'm proud as hell!"
Well I don't get that excited about these machines any more – especially
since my primary Mac had its regularly schedule fatal System crash last night
while I was on deadline. Typical. If I had my way, there would be at least a
couple of days a year where hardware and software manufacturers would have to
render up some of their engineers for painful torture by end-users. <G>
Jerry
Torturing Engineeers…. I _LIKE_ IT!!!!
Better yet, they should be assigned to come finish my project, on time,
and I will give them the details on the requirements, at the same level of
completeness and useability, as their documentation.
"Better yet, they should be assigned to come finish my project, on time,
and I will give them the details on the requirements, at the same level of
completeness and useability, as their documentation."
And I thought I was ruthless and cruel! <G>
Jerry
Video is definetly being implemented on all platforms. However, Video was
one of the things that the Amiga was designed around when it was first
built.
When the first Toaster surfaced, it was not the first Amiga video product.
It was however, one of the best. The video community at first had a hard
time accepting that the Toaster could do all that it did.
Newtek claimed (whether it was marketing hype or truth, I'll leave to
others), that at the time the Amiga was the only way to accomplish the
task. Legend has it that they were apporached shortly after the release
of the Toaster, by IBM to do a Toaster card for the PC. And they refused
saying they would have to put an Amiga on a card to even start the
project.
Obviously the capabilities of all platforms have increased since the mid
80's. The horsepower of the top of the line today is more than enough to
overcome the early blitters/68000 combo. As Newtek is demonstrating the
Amiga is no longer the only solution. However, Tim Jennison had a good
reason to choose a computer that was on the bottom end of the sales
ladder. Had it been economically feasible to do on a PC, I rather think
he would have chosen that route to glory, and an instantly larger
potential market. Unless he is one of your repulsive chauvinists. <grin>
I realize you do not understand devotion to inanimate objects. However,
if you look around, it is not at all uncommon. Disregarding our
chauvinist IBM/Mac/and both Atari brothers, there are those who spend a
life time collecting this or that, arguing the Ford/Chevy/Dodge debate,
discussing guns, cameras, you name it. Not to mention the folks who will
work wood with only old fashioned hand tools, none of that power junk for
them!
Personally, I less understand those who worry about profession sports
teams/figures. I will _NOT_ worry about what Joe Montana is going to do
with his life, till he starts worrying about how I'm going to survive
mine. <g>
One last chauvinst statement. We got in two new clones today. Novell
personal network software to go with them. We needed three comm ports,
and 3 parallel ports, and a tape drive backup. What a pain. The local
bus hard drive controllers will still not work in the 32 bit mode under
Windows. The tape drive took several tries to find an IRQ/DMA home.
Makes it nice to come home and play with the Amiga.
I do agree that I am repulsed by those who cannot acknowledge the good
points of other computers. (Jumpers and IRQ/DMA assignments aren't one of
them. <grin>)
"The local
bus hard drive controllers will still not work in the 32 bit mode under
Windows. The tape drive took several tries to find an IRQ/DMA home."
Are you using Win95? It makes pretty short work of such problems. I'm on
Build 450 right now and am really impressed. It's ease of use is equal or
superior to the Macintosh and it doesn't break. Or at least I haven't broken it
yet.
In regard to the Amiga/Toaster history, I have no argument. However, I would
remind you that the price point was a marketing decision and that helped sell
the Toaster. There is no doubt of course that it was a brilliant piece of
engineering and marketing.
Jerry
Nope, no Windows 95. Just the Windows that came installed on the machine.
The price point of the Toaster helped sell it, and start the revolution.
(It put desk top video within the reach of the dedicated amatuer as well
as the full blonw production facility.)
Had Newtek chosen another platform, the legend goes that they could not
have produced the Toaster for that price, let alone chose that price, and
turned a profit. The pricing on the IBM/Clone Toaster seems to bear this
out. (Though I haven't seen the specs to see if the new Toaster has
enough new features to account for the price increase.)
"The pricing on the IBM/Clone Toaster seems to bear this
out."
I don't agree. Take a look at NewTek's post-introduction pricing on the
Flyer. I suspect that with Amiga gone for all practical purposes that NewTek is
simply getting competitive with the other PC manufacturers whose prices have
always been higher. I would also suspect that NewTek took one heck of a beating
in revenue over the past year or so and are hoping to resupply their treasury.
Overall, with all the offerings coming into the video market, I wouldn't be
at all surprised to see really significant price erosion in the next several
months which is good for all of us.
Jerry