#Biz Grafix
57 messages in this thread
Hi!….it's me again <grin>
I am _still_ searching for a decent business graphics package that will
output TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE DEVICE. It needs to be a vector-graphic
package, able to output Postscript to printer or slide-makers such as
Autographix (color postscript will do nicely). BGraphics is _not_ what we
need at all; HAM has WAY too many problems with aliasing, etc., to be of
any use. Currently we are using IBM DOS machines running Lotus Freelance,
but it is not Postscript and, as such, I have major problems with output.
Harvard Graphics (old version) really stank, and the new version has left
out Bubble Charts, etc. and I find it too "consumer" a package for us
(have you ever REALLY tried to do an organization chart for a large
company?).
Pagestream and AREXX, or any other vector-graphic based package and AREXX
might prove to be the best way to go, but I do not have the time (and my
boss does not want to hear about "development") to write one myself.
Automatic charting options such as pie, bar, line, bubble are all that is
REALLY needed, as well as the ability to be able to "draw" all over the
chart. Lotus Graphwriter or Freelance make the best charts on the DOS
side, but bug out when you try to manipulate them and again, they are not
Postscript (and Graphwriter does not have drawing tools) and run under DOS.
I am amazed at this singular hole in Amiga software. With all of the
graphics products out there I think (or am hoping) that somehow, somewhere,
someway, there is a package out there in development ot readily available
that can do basic biz graphics…..
any word??
-Scott Matalon Information Systems Manager Boston Biomedical Consultants,
Inc. SMatalon@BBC.Prospect.Com CIS:76505,2615
AGREED! Professional quality business graphics are a gaping hole in amiga
business software (as is a *real good* spreadsheet, imho).
I've used Pagestream, as you mentioned…. unfortunately no ARexx in
Pagestream, so it's always a roll your own.
Never found anything else that I'd use…. Impact!??? BGraphics??? Not
even close to IBM/MACer products…. a glaring need. [but let us ask, how
many would be sold? – I'm not sure 🙂 ]
–jp–seattle–
No doubt, I'd buy a decent business gfx program for the Amiga, and I'd pay
real world prices… $400 or thereabouts… as long as it had extremely
good import, export facilities, preferably in a module format like AdPro.
I think an awful LOT would be sold. How many copies of DeluxePaint have
been sold? The Amiga is a GRAFIX machine. How could there be such an
Achille's heel is beyond me……
The biggest prob with the IBM stuff is SCREEN resolution and MEMORY
limitations; two non-existant problems on Amiga!
(did you know that a 5-user LAN pack for Lotus Freelance is over $1500!!)
Well, for on-screen resolution the IBMers certainly are up with the Amigas
[actually better, since they get their 480 vertical res with no interlace
flicker 🙂 ] And most all 'serious' IBMers doing any sort of graphing
have VGA, which is at least 640x480x16 colors…. so on-screen performance
is ok on IBMs (IMHO)….
if you mean outputting to the limits of the display device (which I think
you mean), then you are right on. No reason a program should not be able
to give you a 'pretty darn good' graph on screen, and a GREAT one on paper.
As far as I'm concerned, you should be able to design both at the same time
(since you may well want both available), but specifying which elements to
print on the screen/paper. (ie. you might want more detail on the printed
graph, which you should be able to ignore when designing the screen
graphic.)
So, the problem is in 'device-independent' output (is that the right
term?). And I don't know that the amiga has any great leap over other
platforms there; the Mac and IBM certainly have drawing/graphic/DTP
programs that are good at allowing 'to the resolution of the display
device' output….
JP, It is not the machine, but the software that allows
'device-independant' printing and such. BGraphics is a nice package, but
it is in HAM, which is basically a lo-res mode and does not print any
better. The first time I ever printed to my laserjet from my Amiga I was
SO disappointed with the results (way before I knew of such things as
vector-graphics…)
It's not so much as deciding what should be printed, but more of
consistency. i.e.; Autographix offers slide services, but their fonts and
the fonts that you can get to work with Freelance are DIFFERENT. So, you
make a (lot of) charts for a slide presentation and send them out; no
problem with that, but…. you also need a hardcopy as a "handout" or for
the convention report and you now have to redo or heavily edit ALL of your
charts so that they can be printed on your laserprinter….pretty silly,
huh?
One of the problems is Postscript vs All else (namely HP laserjet, a
de-facto standard of business computing…) and the other is compatibility
between software, and the third is;
Why aren't there ANY packages for the Amiga?
I think we agree. We should be able to get good looking on-screen images,
and device-resolution output to printers.
And it would be nice to have a great biz graphing program for the amiga.
–jp–seattle–
No kidding, huh? I use Freelance as a pure vector-gfx drawing program on
IBM an awful lot, and not use the charting functions. An Arexx port and
conversion to Amiga and that DOSoftware would be a nice addition to the
Amiga grafix arsenal (sad to say, huh?)
-Scott
I was under the impression that ProDraw had color PostScript output, but it
is not linked to any business apps. I hate to say this, but maybe you are
really after ProShow (Borland linked to Paradox and Qpro) or PowerPoint
for Excel under Windows… just need a few weeks to set them up :^}
Graphics in Paradox and Quattro are WAY too limited. Freelance would be
perfect if there were better page controls (snapping to grids, rulers,
alignment and text spacing/editing features) and PS output. I would not
consider using Windows if……I cant even think of a horrible enough
analogy; Windows runs under DOS; why limit your memory even further than it
already is just so you can have a lessthan-mediocre GUI, a nasty and
vengeful print spooler, and pay twice for all of your new software?
I hate to say it, but Harvard Graphics might be the way to go (the old
version was SO bad it was pathetic; objects moved between views, your
output NEVER matched your screen "representation" and you had very little
control over the angles of your charts, virtually NO import or export
facilities, to name but a few of it's grosser shortcomings)
I am starting to consider either writing my own or commissioning someone
else to do it. You know, the game companies like Psygnosis who REALLY know
Amiga graphics, are the most obvious choice, along with the folks who make
progs like Pagestream; it has more vectordrawing tools than most
vector-drawing packages! Too bad there is no ARexx port…….
…Superbase is an amazing DBase manager, but they can't make a decent
spreadsheet….
..and Amiga fans actually WONDER why no one takes them seriously (except
the video world <sigh>)
-Scott
Scott,
I'm stuck at work with the old HG – YECCHHH! It doesn't allow any freedom
at all!
SInce you are considering writing some business packages :^} how about a
good amiga based project managment tool – like Timeline only better!
wmc
wmc, get rid of that dog of a program (HG v1)!! How can you stand it? Go
get Freelance; you will be MUCH happier and better off (at least things
won't move on you!)
..or get the new one…it LOOKs great!
I got Timeline here; never used it though; it was way more complicated than
we needed, and looked like a bear to deal with. Do you use it? What do
you think?
I am considering _commissioning_ some software, rather than writing it from
scratch meself…..maybe should just start a company……
:^}
-Scott
Scott,
I'd love to dump HG but its what the department handed me and cannot be
replaced w/o sanction, purchase recs etc. And budget is used up for this
model year (car company calenders – yecch).
Timeline 3 with the graphics print package wasn't bad. Rev 4 got a little
messy due to attempted mouse interface overlay. So I'd have to give it a
B.
wmc
Too bad about timeline; it is a nice idea…..and mouse interface layers
really get my goat! I must say that I HATE having to reach for my mouse
one moment, keypress the next, mouse again…..
See if you can get the new HG…and upgrade might be easier to finagle than
a new package……
"Virtual reality just ain't what it used to be!" – Zippy the Pinhead
-Scott
Scott,
-> having to reach for my mouse one moment, keypress the next, mouse ->
again
That's what I hate about Freelance! That, and the stupid menus.
Malcolm
The only solution I know of right now is to use Gold Disk's "Advantage"
Spreadsheet to create the graphs, and then save the graphs in Professional
Draw format and use PDraw to draw in the graph and output it as PostScript.
I don't think it does "Bubble" graphs though. (What's a Bubble graph? 🙂
I am sorry, but that is a rather unacceptable solution for us. Advantage
is a (dis)-advantage and lacks the graphing power to do more than line, pie
and bar charts of the most simple measure.
A bubble graph is a 2-dimensional representation of 3-dimensional data; X,
Y and Size-of-Bubble; they are great for showing product lines and market
share, etc.
It amazes me; even on the DOS side there is some real garbage out there and
NO real decent "pro"-quality software for biz graphics. It is almost
unfair, in a way. Here we have an AMAZING graohics machine, and all these
people are screaming "buy an Amiga; it can be a biz machine too!" but there
are no decent biz graphics, no decent spreadsheets, a couple of decent
database managers, very few really good, inexpensive, simple word
processors, and a TON of communications software! 1 out of 5 ain't good!
Yeah, I didn't think Advantage would be good enough… It was the only
solution I could think of.
When I was selling Amigas in 1985, people would look at the bouncing balls
and swirling polygons and say "wow, I can't wait to get a graphing package
for this thing!" Here we are almost 6 years later and there still hasn't
been one released. Somebody missed a big marketing opportunity. I thought
someone should have created a nice business presentation package for the
Amiga years ago, back when you got a Hercules card if you wanted your
Harvard Graphics output to look good…
Actually, I just remembered something… Oxxi was showing a really nice
graphing package at AmiExpo in NYC earlier this year. Anyone know anything
about that?
I was told by Moonlighter software "AMI-Back" that they are coming out with
the program that will blow everything away.
The target is 60 days..lets see.
That's good new, Bob. Ami-Back is very well done. I'm anxious to see what
they can do in the Biz grafx arena.
what do you consider 'inexpensive' and 'good' with respect to 'word
processors'? I can recognize the names of IBM software, so examples would
be adequate answer
Jumping in…. I'd consider 'AmiPro' (@ $300) to be a pretty decent WP on
the IBM side; Borland's 'Sprint' (@ $200) as well. Shoot, it would just be
nice to have something like WordPerfect 5.x, but completely amigatized….
I mainly use WordPerfect as my wp on amiga. Haven't seen anything yet to
change my mind, but I wish I did. Suggestions?
–jp–seattle–
John,
Not really. I use my normal editor for both programming and letters.
If I feel the need for _fancy_ stuff I import it into PageStream (I sure
wish they had a _better_ ASCII import), and play with it there.
PFS Write is a great example; it is so EASY to use. It doesn't have all
the features you might need in a law office, but for the average
letter/invoice/memo type wp needs it is very good. You can store
descriptions along with your file, which you can see when searching a
directory, etc., has recordable macros, all of the basic functions and can
mailmerge with PFS File databases, has it's own internal address book and
spell checker with custom dictionary. Granted, it's not something you
write code in, but all of the menu choices are on-screen ALL the time and
if you cannot figure out how to use it then you cannot read either.
There are a bunch of decent word processors on the Amiga, don't get me
wrong; WP and communications software abound; it's the database,
spreadsheet and biz graphics, along with networking/import&export functions
that are in need. Spreadsheets and databases in particular need to be able
to read/write all of the most popular DOS software file formats like 123,
DBase, Paradox, DCA (wp), etc. so they can be used on a Novell (or similar)
network with mostly DOS machines. That way adding an Amiga to your net is
not only justified because of the Amiga's benefits, but it is not an island
unto itself where other apps are concerned. In the case of databases,
there are things that data entry folks do that can be done fine on DOS
machines, but there are data manipulation and representation that an Amiga
might be better suited to, and rather than have to export/convert the
database it would be _nice_ to just have a different front end on an Ami
that could do what you want. I know, DBase file format _is_ supported by
most progs including Can-Do and Amigavision, but Paradox is a VERY popular
relational database manager (for very good reason, too), Quattro is a very
nice spreadsheet (with it's own file format) and as fer graphics…
..there are so many darn file formats it's hard to keep em all straight!
-Scott
Scott,
I agree with your assesment of the software you use. I personally have
two spreadsheets for the Amiga (and am beta testing a 3rd). I think your
concerns about spreadsheets will be alleviated substantially when this
latest is released. As to database(s), I suggest that you take a look at
SuperBase IV. While I've never had a _strong_ personal need for a database
(other than to catalog my CDs (the music kind)), I have, over the years,
played with quite a few, including DBase, Reflex, and Paradox. In my
opinion (remember I haven't had to USE one of these things on a daily
basis), SuperBase IV matches any I've used thusfar. As to networking, we
have 3 Amigas in the office hooked up on a network (actually two right now,
I have one of them with me on vacation <grin>) and I concur that it is a
_requirement_ for any serious usage. Oh, just remembered, an acquaintance
of mine is using "dbman" on the Amiga to do some database stuff. He's not
a programmer and therefore is running into all the normal problems a
'newbie' has with that class of program, but it appears to work.
Superbase is an excellent program; and the only one of it's kind: a 4th GL
programmable relational database manager (on the Amiga anyway) that I have
seen. It also has an MS-DOS counterpart, which is quite amazing. However,
it has some shortcomings (I write databases full-time and it is my primary
job function) with it's interface and lacks a link-able spreadsheet
(QuattroPro and Paradox do have some interoperability, which, if fully
exploited on an Amiga, would be AMAZING, but are, so far, only a "neet"
feature that has it's limitations in a programming environment)
Yes, Amiga networking products are finally out (rather, I should say,
NOVELL networking products). What type of net are your Amigas on? Is it
an Amiga-only net? Or do you have DOS, MAC and Amigas? Networking is the
only reasonable way to get a lot of work done, and to run an office, but
Novell has 90% (or some such ridiculous number) of the business networking
market and THAT is the name of the game. 3COM and Banyan are moving right
along, but so far I have only seen Amiga ETHERNET adapters, no Token Ring
or anything else. It's nice to PAR-NET some Amigas together, but my
company, and millions like it, have a SERIOUS investment in DOS-based
systems and they are not going to just toss these aside. They probably
would consider adding Amigas to their systems IF there were some nice
simple and powerful solutions. I have a cranking Ami 2000/030/882 w 11MB
RAM and over 300MB of disk space, but even if I hooked it up to my Novell
net, I could not access all of my Paradox databases, quattro spreadsheets,
PFS Write documents or even my email system. I cannot switch from Pdox to
Dbase or to Superbase without a ridiculous expenditure of man-hours so I
would hope that Superbase would be able to read and write Paradox files.
This way I don't have to convert all my applications, or keep two copies of
everything (one for pdox and one for superbase), but I could ADD the power
of the Amiga to my system where it is needed; graphics, databasing and
spreadsheet publishing (which, if you've ever tried it on a continued>
Scott,
Our Amigas are on a Novell network. It is NOT only Amigas (there is no
Amiga Novell server software yet).
Agreed on the switching from Quattro, but DBMan _is_ an option on the
Amiga, and you _should_ be able to share those files. Why wouldn't you be
able to access your email system?
<continued DOS platform, is ridiculously time consuming).
It seems to me that the only way into the biz market is through the
INTEGRATION of existing standards and protocols, not parallel development
of incompatible software. As I remember, though, this thread began as a
discussion of biz grfix software, of which I have seen none and heard
plenty of promises….
Thanx much for the feedback!!
:^}
-Scott
Hmmm….I hate to inundate you with messages, but i have been mulling over
some of what you said, and I must tell you that Superbase doesn't come
close to Paradox (much as I hate to admit it) for ease-of-use, interface
design, programming power or network support (remember, more than one
person using the same database is a programming nightmare, but not with
paradox, which has built-in networking control features). For some reason,
the forms editor is a separate program in Superbase, but it IS nice the way
that the report specs are actually a program that can be run within
superbase, and it is very nice to be able to store pics and sounds within
the database and it does multitask (smile)….
One of the most ANNOYING things I run into in Superbase is when I am adding
records to a table…I press A(miga)-N and get a new record…I add my info
and press A(miga)-N and then I have to REACH FOR THE MOUSE because I get a
requester asking if it's OK to save….of COURSE it's OK to save!…..a
MUCH better way would be, like Paradox, would be to be in EDIT mode or VIEW
mode; you can edit all you like in EDIT mode, add, delete, change, and when
you are ready you press the SAVE key (F2 in this case).
I have been trying to maintain a silly mailing list for my band, complete
with a "type" field (press, friends, radio, clubs, etc.) and it has been a
hassle. What I think I am going to have to do is to program my own
environment, complete with a couple of hot-keys to allow me to
add-a-recordand save-the-previous-addition all in one keystroke, etc.
:^]
-Scott
Scott, if I recall, you can get around the 'OK TO SAVE' requestor in
SB(Pro) by using the function keys, and the STORE command. Can also get
the NEXT, PREVIOUS, and DELETE records commands. I too hate having to use
the mouse to control these things.
I think you can do that, anyway.
I too, really like Paradox. But I always think…. if they'd just port
this sucker over to the amiga it would REALLY shine!
–jp–seattle–
Scott,
When the requestor comes up in Superbase (4.0) all you have to do is hit
the return key, it will then ask if you need another blank file, just hit
return again. There is also a command that will turn all or just some
requestors off that you can add in your start file.
Steve
Whap!ping from beautiful coastal South Carolina
You don't have to reach for the mouse. The ENTER key will access the
highlighted option (in this case, SAVE) and the ESC key will do the other
option.
You shouldn't even have to touch your mouse.
– via Whap!
Scott,
I use an Amiga & SBPro4 in business and I will tell you that you do
NOT have to reach for the mouse to save. We put hundreds of files in daily
and believe me we could not accomplish this if we had to reach for the
mouse. All you need do is press return at the requestor and that saves.
———————————————-Don- via Whap!
Vic,
Could you describe your network configuration? I am about to network a 486
and four 286s via Lantastic. I am not committed to Lantastic yet. I will be
using the net mainly for my business management program (the basic five,
plus inventory, scheduling, job estimating) which is written in dBase III
Plus. Lantastic accesses the net via Ethernet boards at 10 Mbit/sec. I sure
would like to hook my Amigas into the circuit.
Could you give some, um, details about the spreadsheet you are testing?
Like degree of 123 compatibility?
Wish you had more experience with Superbase IV. It would be nice to compare
it to dBMan as far as speed is concerned. My major problem with it was the
dongle requirement. I never did send away for the dongleless (what a word)
version. Now an additional problem is that the manufacturer is apparantly
not going to support Amiga.
You go your way . . . I'll go Maui
Rich 😉
>Now an additional problem is that the manufacturer is apparently not going
to >support Amiga.
Where did you hear this? This is not true. No plans have been made to do
away with Superbase Pro 4 for the Amiga.
– via Whap!
Precision Tech Support,
I'm glad to hear that. The reports that I heard were that no additional
development was going to take place for the Amiga.
I am knee deep in a dBase III Plus application right now, but would like to
see the eventual package run on Superbase. It's going to be a little while
before I have the time to learn a new language, though. There's nothing
exotic in my code. Shouldn't be too hard to make the port after I have
finalized the design.
Can I still upgrade to the version minus the dreaded DONGLE? I didn't know
the program had a dongle when I bought it.
Thanks,
You go your way . . . I'll go Maui
Rich 😉
Where did you hear reports of no more development?
To get information on upgrades/updates, call 1(800)562-9909 and ask for
Customer Support. They'll tell you anything you want to know about them.
– via Whap!
Precision Tech Support,
I must admit that I can't remember where I heard of the decision re lack of
Amiga support. And I apologize if I just perpetuated something that was
nothing more than a rumor in the first place. The information was that with
the sale to Precision, a developer with experience mostly in the MS DOS
world, Amiga development would be secondary at best, and perhaps a thing of
the past.
Again, I did not start the rumor, and I don't wish it to continue. We Amiga
owners tend to be very sensitive about things like this. We have precious
few first rate applications for this machine, and when it seems that a
developer has been potentially lost to us, we may over-react with a, "Oh,
no. More bad news," kind of feeling. Can you clarify the situation? And by
the way, what's your name?
Thanks,
You go your way . . . I'll go Maui
Rich 😉
Richard, when you get SB4.0 you get NO DONGLE. and a really wonderful
database program as well.
Just thought that I'd mention that.
–jp–seattle–
You also get a nice big box (which is useful for storing books etc in the
attic), another box inside that, which I haven't yet found a use for, a
do-it-yourself manual kit (really good for the cold winder evenings…) and
some blue square doodars which can be used for beer mats, or as frizbees,
or as badges (although you'll need to fix a pin to the back with sellotape
or sommat)… 🙂
Do I get the salesman job?
Tim. (Ahem! I'll recover… honest)
Richard,
If your major problem was with the dongle, and we removed it (now several
years ago), I don't see that you still have a problem. Of course, if you
just never got around to sending for the appropriate update…
I'd like to know on what you base your assertion that SPC is not going to
support the Amiga – you certainly seem to know more than I do!
Tim
Tim, It appeared in a thread here and I believe on usenet that someone
called the "New Owners" and asked them about Amiga support. They said,
"Whats an Amiga? We just needed something to get into the WIndows
environement…" or some such… That was about 2-3 months back right
after the sale and now Precision types contradicted it then so many took
the report as a confirmation that the Amiga version would be dropped after
this rev, or live in maintenance limbo like WordPerfect.
wmc
Wayne,
You have to bear in mind that SPC is a fairly traditional DOS / OS/2
company, and until Precision came along, they'd never heard of an Amiga
(Says something about Commodore's penetration into the business community
IMHO). It takes a while for these things to sort out…
I wouldn't interpret ingorance as confirmation of anything other than lack
of information.
Tim.
Richard,
Well, right now (because I've got the 3000 with me on vacation) it's
down to one 25MHz '386 Novell server, one AST Premium '286, one Amiga
2000HD, and one Amiga 2500/30. The software for the Amiga is in very late
'beta' stage, and we've only had the network for 2 weeks thusfar. We
haven't had a chance to switch files much between the AST and Amigas as of
yet…we're still trying to organize 400+meg of Amiga files…and reduce
the duplicates we have on the 3 machines
As to the spreadsheet, I wish I could. I'll have to talk with the author
and see if he wants to 'leak' an announcement at this time. It does load
.wk1 files, I don't have a version of 123 which produces .wks files, so I
cannot check compatability there.
Re Superbase IV…no dongle. And the assumption that Amiga support is
being dropped because the company was bought, is just that…and
assumption.
Vic,
If the program you are discussing is the one I think it is, does it not
have AREXX support? And superBASE4 has AREXX as well, so would they not
work together through the AREXX ports?
Betty
I'm sure a few of us would be curious to hear more about the spreadsheet
you're testing, if the author agrees. I'd be encouraged just to know if
the product will be stable, have a state-of-the-art interface, and exploit
at least a few of Ami's features.
But then, the sound of a single-developer product kind of worries me,
working in the software development business myself (not Amiga) I know
plenty of s/w developers who suffer from tunnel vision during the design
(both from a technical and user perspective)…
*** jd
John,
I'm less afraid of the 'single developer' issue in this case than I
would otherwise be. Suggestions which have been submitted have been
incorporated where they made sense and summarily dismissed when they were
nonsense. Since I'm on vacation, it may take a few days to get the request
to release more information 'through channels'
Vic, could you at least tell us whether the product you are beta testing
is a high end product (like the late Maxiplan Plus 3.6) or an entry level
product (such as HaiCalc)? Or have you said too much already?
Over the flight pattern… – via Whap!
John,
In this case, I don't think the "single-developer product" should be of
much concern. This particular developer (unnamed for now, until he wishes
to be known and/or release a "teaser" demo of the product) really knows
what he's doing and is _very_ responsive to his beta testers.
-sja
John, the spreadsheet in question is designed to compete head-on with the
top players on other platforms. I can't talk much about it for now, but I
can tell you that it is about 4 months away from completion and that I'm
the author.
If you have any specific questions, comments, or features you think…
should be in there, tell me about them now while it's still in 'feature
adding' mode. (grin)
Tunnel vision? Hmm.. I like to look through square boxes, actually. 🙂
Khalid.
Khalid:
(first, I must say that writing a note to you, for me, is analagous to
climbing a tibetan mountain to pose a question of the Dali Lama (sp?)…
thanks for all of your great work on the Amiga!)
As you may have gathered from another recent thread here on AmigaUser, we
are in great need of a business graphics package for the Amiga… your new
spreadsheet would fill a deep void if its graphing capabilities were to
break new ground for the Amiga and rival those of Quattro Pro & Lotus.
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Uh… I guess it was THIS thread that was talking about biz graphics. Sorry
about that!.
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Great to hear something along the lines you mention is underway. Take a
close look at Scala if you have a chance and imagine what good a
spreadsheet which can pump out Harvard type graphics into this baby
woulwould do for presentation graphics!
Andrew Farrell, Editor Professional Amiga User AUST
Khalid,
If I had known *you* were the author I would have never hurled potential
insults! I guess my big-project bias is showing through, since that's my
background.
If the product is going to compete head-on with other platforms, I can't
wait to see it! I haven't worked with Wingz, but the configurability and
graphing features I've read about might be something to model. These days,
the competition w/123 and Excel has come up with plenty of innovative
ideas. I'd be interested just to know which ones you were going to borrow
in broad terms.
As a home user I don't have the same high-powered needs as a professional
package (and don't personally want to pay a high business price), but I
think it would really be great to have a product Amigans could point to as
competitive, if not the envy of other systems. The lack of a great
spreadsheet is the last holdout in applications that would "legitimize" the
machine as a "serious" computer (or is that just a myth?).
I doubt you want to get caught up in question/answer mode about this
feature or that, so I won't labor you with any. It's obvious the market
needs a solid, stable, product in this area and many of us would be pleased
if you can deliver one. So if you don't want to discuss it, I know I'll
just have to wait!
*** jd
Oops,
Forgot to add…I agree a _NICE_ business graphics program would be VERY
nice to have on the Amiga. I'm sure we'll buy one as soon as one show up.
I needed one three years ago when I had to make a decision about our office
computing environment; I had to conclude that the Amiga was not ready (yet)
to be considered as a viable choice for business computing power. Too bad,
huh?
:^}
"What this world DOESN'T need is a good, cheap plasma weapon…"
-Scott
I doesn't???? gee, and I was just getting ready to 'release' one.