#Amiga is Dead?
26 messages in this thread
Someone in the Imagine Internet mailing list posted a message about an
article in the Huntsville Times on Sunday, in the Business/ Technology
section that started with the sentence "The Amiga is dead", and it got
worse from there, apparently. Has anyone else seen this article?
John…
I wonder if it's related to the "Is the Amiga doomed?" story in Amiga News?
Marion
I haven't read the Huntsville story, but I have read the Amiga News story.
Both are full of baloney if they claim the Amiga is dying.
1) The local area [Orlando, FL] is a booming business for Amiga. A new
dealer just opened his doors here. That makes (I think) four in the
Orlando metro area (not including the one that sells through the flea
market [you read that right!]) and a couple in Tampa, Daytona, Melbourne,
etc. Of course, with Disney Studios, Universal, Nickelodeon and others
right here, there is a lot of animation projects going on.
Commodore's profits are better than they have been in a long time. Their
numbers, for the last two fiscal years, are better than both Apple and IBM
(who both took huge losses last year and had major layoffs).
Commodore has hired new people and has (I think) finally found a direction
with the A600 and a niche with the Toaster.
A deal with Merisel (the largest publically-owned distributor in the
business. and a rumored deal with DEC mean that CBM is on the right
footing.
I'm going to find the Huntsville article (someone please upload a copy!, or
at least the exact date and byline) and see what I can do to "correct" the
mistakes.
-Chas AM-Report
Charles…
Are any of those Florida dealers knowledgeable about the Bridgeboard? I
always like to add new people to the list of Bridgeboard-friendly dealers.
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for the Bridgeboard, etc.
Amazing Computers in Tampa, Eagle Computers in Melbourne(? maybe Ft. Lauder
dale) and Computer Toolworks in Orlando seem pretty knowledgable. They
aren't sages but are more knowledgable than most.
-Chas
Yes, I saw that message today too. Apparently it was a reprint from an
article that was printed on the West Coast someplace. From what I saw of
the message and it's quotes, it was obviously written by someone with an
axe to grind.
Steve
Stevethe San Jose Mercury News, which is pretty much the official newspaper of
Silicon Valley. It was a pretty horrible article, it pained me to read it,
but if you were to judge the state of the Amiga from what goes on here in
the Bay Area, you'd think it was dead, too!
The fact is that around here, a computer doesn't really exist to the trades
and periodicals unless its either PC or Mac. The Computing section of the
Mercury (appears in every Sunday paper) hasn't had a non PC or Mac article
in a long, long time.
The axe that was being ground seemed to stem from the fact that the writer
of the article had had some pretty bad experiences dealing with Commodore,
with messages never being returned, demo hardware never arriving, etc.
Around here, you really feel like you're in a vacuum if you own an Amiga.
There are a couple of user's groups and a couple of dealers, but compared
to the DOZENS of PC/Mac outlets, its like being on Pluto!
But I really like my machine, I guess I'm a sucker for the underdog! As
boring as they are, business apps are what really drive the computer
market. By not aggressively pursuing business development for the Amiga,
Commodore doomed it to a niche existence. Even though it CAN run true
MS-DOS/Window & Mac software, hardly anyone knows it outside those of us
that already own Amigas!
-Steve-
What I want to know is, did Amiga fans pour out letters to the editor, and
did they get printed?
John,
Is that what you consider someone who owns an Amiga is; a FAN? 😎
So if I own a Sony TV, does that make me a Sony FAN?
Dom Fontana
No, I own lots of computers and other hardware and software that I curse at
regularly; does that make me a fan? There are Amigoids who dash off a
letter at the slightest mention or most egregious non-mention of the Amiga,
I'm sure this has provoked a similar response.
'Even though it can run..Window & Mac software, hardly any one knows it..'
That's unfprtunately very true..I wish that commodore would mention that
in some of their new advertising..I remember seeing an Apple ad in some PC
magazine with the title of "Why your next MS-DOS machine should be a Mac"
or something similar..I wish that commodore would have some ad which
said(standing out from the rest of the type) "Why your next Mac should be
an Amiga" or "Why settle for just one computer when you can have DOS, Mac
and Unix IN one computer" or something. Commodore has definitely not pushed
the Amiga as a multienvironment (picked that up from some mag article),
which should have been a strong selling point.
Alan
It's just so frustrating, as Commodore is in the middle of cleaning up
their act, and doing a darned good job considering how limited the U.S.
operation's resources are now.
I can now call Commodore for information, and get it! They're doing PR in
house, and while I can empathize with the frustration of dealing with them
in the past, that doesn't happen anymore. Look at Commodore Express…
Look at the ad program they have planned for this fall. (It's no media
blitz, but it's intelligent and realistic.) Look at new hardware
developments that we'll hopefully see real soon now…
This article would have been appropriate last year at this time. But
Commodore's got the potential to turn around right now, and BS like that
article is a MAJOR setback.
Denny,
I can tell you that Commodore is plenty ticked over that article. They are
urging dealers to get users groups and for ourselves (the dealers) to do
what we can to turn things around. They even published Robinson's voice
mail number so you could call him directly!
The FAX that was sent was 6-8 pages and it described their feelings and how
they think we as a dealership should handle the situation. This is the
*first* time I have seen Commodore react with strong words. According to
Commodore the author will be publishing a new article on the same subject
shortly.
Needless to say I am impressed that Commodore even noticed. 🙂
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
The problem is and always has been with Commodore "Too little, too late".
They always wait until they are almost mobbed by the press and the users
before they take action and do something to improve their image.
John – K7KB (via Whap!)
Who wrote the article?
Steve
I should have kept the article, but it made me so sick when I read it that
I tossed it out (with the other rubbish). Its easy for me to find out the
name of the article's author, though, he's the regular reviewer for the
Mercury. I'll just pick up Sunday's paper and he'll be there, picture and
all!!
My impression of his position was that it was a darned SHAME that a machine
with such potential was allowed to wallow around with so little support
that the rest of the world caught up to and passed it. I distinctly
remember a passage in the article (referring to the slow death of the
Amiga) stating that those of you out there that already have them can
figure on five or six more years of use before you'll have to join the the
rest of the world..just from 3rd party and shareware developers efforts to
keep the platform alive. He went on to say that if you weren't interested
in the toaster, don't even THINK of wasting your money on a doomed
machine…
I agree with him on one thing..if Commodore doesn't follow through with the
'leaked' enhancements, then the Amiga WILL die out. The rest of the
industry just ignores the Amiga, and unless more 3rd party developers (and
I mean the BIG ones) support it, it just won't be able to make it. Not to
say that the developers that DO support it haven't done a fabulous job,
they HAVE, it's just that they're so badly outnumbered and outgunned by all
the PC and Mac developers.
This is a very critical time!
-Steve
Who was it that said 'Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." ?
Mark Twain said it… and what is funny is that is the last line of the FAX
Commodore sent to us. 🙂
-mark=
– whappity whap whap… whap whap!!
Yeah I saw it on USENET. I have the file if someone wants me to upload it.
Nick
Nick,
Since noone else has spoken up, I'll request that you upload the Usenet
file of Commodore's response to the "Amiga's Dead" article. I must be the
only out in the boonies without Usenet access.
-Homer
Flying on Auto
The article was originally published in the San Jose (CA) Mercury News
and is available here on CompuServe through the newspaper library. The
cost is $6 ($3 for the search and $3 for the full-text reprint) and
can be accessed by typing GO NPL-4, then selecting the San Jose Mercury
News and searching the month of July for the keyword Commodore or Amiga.
.
Here's a nice quote:
.
"If you want to work with digital video, the Toaster is good enough to
warrant buying and Amiga. But don't think of it as your computer; think
(oops, THINK=CONSIDER) it just a power supply for the Toaster."
.
Real nice guy. The summary states that the Amiga died because of a
lack of new programs, malignant neglect and obsolete hardware.
.
Anyone have the mailing address of the San Jose Mercury News? ];-)
.
-Chas
AM-Report
The name of the reviewer at the Mercury News is Phillip Robinson.
Yes, his "review", which wasn't, also p***ed me off. He also whined about
the fact that the local dealer didn't know what was going on with
Commodore. But, if he is a reviewer, couldn't he be the responsible
journalist and review a machine right there at the dealer? His attitude was
more of, if I can't get a free machine to play with, I won't review it.
It is true that Commodore has stumbled along here in the States, but they
really don't need any help from obviously biased reporters. Not one
statement in the so called review compared the Amiga's 2.0 OS with any of
the other platforms, which is what I thought a review was.
Anyway, I think WE Amiga fans/users/whatevers should let this guy know that
the Amiga is NOT dead. Let's start our own grass roots campaign starting
with writing a similar letter to this man. Commodore is not the front
runner, but they are also NOT quitting. WE can help.
< off soapbox now >
Phillip Robinson can be reached at:
P.O. Box 1357 Sausalito, CA 94966
(415) 289-9598
or on MCI Mail as "probinson" at mailbox 327-8909.
– Byrt Martinez
If he simply wanted to get Commodore's attention, his ploy worked. If he
had simply said nice things about CBM, I'm sure they would have ignored
him. 🙂
Point taken, but who knows what his intentions were?
However, I was just going by gut reaction. I've been reading the Mercury
News "Computing" section for some time now. The last article I ever saw
regarding the Amiga was on the Amiga 3000 and I don't recall that it was
even a review, just the announcement.
My gripe is this: Sure we can blame Commodore for faulty, if not
nonexistent, marketing. Shoot, we've been doing that ourselves for years!
What I didn't appreciate was the attitude of the reviewer that he, and
others like him, do not even accept any responsability for ignoring the
Amiga. They usually hide behind an excuse of, "Well, there aren't enough
Amiga users out there, so we can't cover as much Amiga stuff. There are far
more PC and Mac users that we have to address. We have to appease the
audience that we have."
Okay, fine. I can accept that, but put it in perspective. I don't think
Amiga users are so outclassed as to not have any mention for months and
months. They are basically perpetuating the dominance of certain platforms,
instead of reporting all aspects of computing in general. I don't believe
they ever did an article on the Toaster even, and Robinson himself accepts
the significance of the product.
I'm not asking for weekly coverage as that would be unrealistic. But how
about something every couple of months at least? This newspaper is also
just an example. This type of reporting is rampant. It really started with
Matthew Leeds quitting his Amiga column in Microtimes. It seemed as though
after that happened, it was open season for Robinson to write his Amiga
epitaph. The timing seemed more than coincidental.
I know this isn't the most effective place to voice this, but I just wanted
to vent a little here.
P.S. A deal with DEC? Didn't they just post a 2.8 (b)illion dollar loss?
Just something to wonder about.
– Byrt Martinez
Yes, DEC did just post an immense loss. Maybe that's why they're dealing
with CBM, the WSJ also said they're doing everything they can to prevent a
loss next quarter. 🙂 Didn't Robinson's column even mention Leeds'
column? I've know Leeds for years and I still stay in touch; heck, I
thought he "left" the Amiga market a long time ago, I think this "final"
column was nothing more than a public explanation of why he wasn't writing
about the Amiga much any more. I'm less worried about statements from
journalists than about Commodore's announced and unannounced plans.
Flaming Leeds or Robinson is blaming the messenger.
The real reason why the SJ-MN doesn't cover the Amiga? I'm sure it's more
along the lines of no open bars, no shrimp buffets, no power breakfasts, no
perks, no cruises, no shoulder-rubbing with Silicon Valley muckity-mucks.
Commodore is located in West Chester, for heaven's sake. With a location
like that, they can't attract Silicon Valley talent, they can't expect
great coverage in the Mercury News. There's a long shot that user groups
might be able to lead reporters by the nose to Amiga-related stories…
but that's it.
Byrt, We must be neighbors! I, like you have experienced MUCH frustration
at the obvious blind eye the Mercury News Computing section has cast at
ANYTHING that doesn't sport a PC or Macintosh label. But, they are
obviously pandering to the mass market, with no real sense of
responsibility to cover EVERYTHING going on in the computing world.
Its gotten so that I rarely even read the section, any more than I'd read a
'PC-Computing' or other such clone specific mag. Too a large degree its
this self-perpetuating blindness from the mass media that KEEPS any other
system than a PC or Mac on the fringe.
-Steve-