#SPC sells product lines
23 messages in this thread
Software Publishing Corporation, formerly Precision, Inc., has sold the
Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64/128, and Atari ST product lines to Oxxi, Inc.
Oxxi is located at 1339 East 28th St., Long Beach, CA 90806. The phone
number for sales,upgrades, and customers under support contracts is
(213)427-1227. For all other customer and technical questions, call
(900)776-6994.
Darin SPC Technical Support
– via Whap!
A 900 number? Evil.
I hope Oxxi continues to work with SBPro as far as upgrades go. Do you know
if future versions are going to be cross-compatible with the Windows
version?
Loyd
I understand that there is an agreement in place that will allow for future
compatibility to be maintained, although I don't know the exact details or
the time period that it covers.
Tim.
Yes, not only did Oxi get the source code rights, but from what I have
heard from Oxxi, they will be coordinating the upgrades with the Windows
version.
Well, that sounds good! If they maintain compatibility with the Windows
Version then they will HAVE to keep up with the times.
I hope OXXI does! I'll give OXXI my full support, and hope they do
likewise when I need it!
Maybe I don't understand OXXI, but aren't they mainly a software
'publisher', not 'developer'? The contract with outside programmers, and
don't do much in-house development. If that's the case, how will they
maintain SB? Will they bring 'development' in-house, and hire programmers?
Or will the contract with the folks who originally ported SB to the Amiga
(ie. the Precision employees) to do the programming work?
–jp–seattle–
> aren't Oxxi mainly a software 'publisher', not 'developer'?
Who do you suppose was converting Novell source code to the Amiga for the
much-awaited "CBM Network" that SB4 was coded to take advantage of?
Hint: it wasn't Novell. Hint: it wasn't IBM. Hint: it wasn't CBM either.
The other questions you posed are probably best answered by Oxxi (i.e,
programming in-house or otherwise, support, et al).
I just hope OXXI does SOMETING with SB. If they just try to sell it and
don't put a real effort into upgrades it won't last for long. I read
another message that stated there was some sort of agreement between OXXI
and SPC to maintain parallel development. That sounds like a great idea!
….Mark 74335,1677
I've been speaking with John Houston, Oxxi's President, since he is here in
the UK at the moment (after buying SB, he can't afford the plane fare
home… :-), and they have some quite definite development plans, which I'm
not sure that I should divulge. However you can reasonably predict that
adding networking support will be high on the agenda.
I also understand they have some programmers in California just itching to
get started as soon as they receive the source…
Tim
Tim –
Can you give us a clue if Oxxi also has planns to release a RunTime
version of SB? Do you know if Precision ever did any delelopment in that
area?
I my opinion have the ablity to offer RunTime versions of ones
applications should be very high on anyones list of needs for SBPro 4.
Almost as high of a priority as networking support. I would think that
there are more of us out here with the program looking to sell or
distribute applications, then there are those in a network system looking
to add SB to that network.
– Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyomin'
I'd HOPE Tim Arnot has some clue if Precision ever did any development in
the Runtime arena: after all, he works in the Development Group! Who do you
think writes all the README's?
Well, I wrote them and they were subsequently translated into American
(from English) by Bruce…
Tim
Well I didn't ever think about WHO writes the README's, but now that I
am… 😉
I see by Tim's reply that the RT's are practically ready to ship. That's
good news.
Once I get settled again and have some time, I will be working some more
with my development of SB applications (Ya, right – I've been threatening
that for 2 years – 🙂 ) But if/and when I do get back into it, I was
considering paying for the extended support features that were offered at
the time of SB4's release. The question now is will Oxxi be offering some
sort pre-paid support package, or what. I know, I know, we are all going
to just have to wait and see what they will do.
I am assuming that they have received your database of registered owners
of SB. And that they will eventually be contacting us with information
about their future plans for the product.
– Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyomin'
I don't know for sure, but I assume they will be releasing SB2 and SBRTS.
Both of these products were developed to the same state as the 1.01 release
SB4 (same source, different compile flags…), and put into testing. The
manuals were also written, however Precision never took them to final
release.
Tim
Tim –
That is good news. I hope that those become available soon.
– Roy Pahnke – Casper, Wyomin'
Tim,
Let's hope OXXI makes the most of the opportunity. Existing on a
network with other non-Amigas and running a database like SB would a great
"IN" for Amigas in a business environment. Beats the heck out of the
average PC as a workstation on a network due to the multitasking OS.
….Mark 74335,1677
Agreed.
Tim
Hate to throw cold water on this thread, but based on OXXI's track record,
spotty at best, I'm getting closer and closer to freezing any further
development in the Amiga environment and start recommending Messy-DOS and
Windows to my new clients. This has as much to do with CBM's total lack of
support for the business environment as is does for SBase, but I'm going to
have a hell of a time maintaining a clear conscoince(sp?) recommending
Amiga/SuperBase as I have been. Lets hope that OXXI can get it together,
but I'll have to see it first.
Loren! Long time, no see!
You mentioned "freezing any ruther developement on Amiga… recommending
Mess-DOS…." Did you know that MS-DOS was bought from Seattle Computing
Products, who called their (rather basic) DOS "QDOS?" It stood for "Quick
and Dirty Operating System." MS doesn't publicize this much.
CBM is a company in constant transition. Perhaps now, in multimedia, they
have found their niche. It's a pity that mm hasn't found its way into
widespread business use a la spreadsheets, word processors, et al, and
frankly, I doubt it ever will.
I would have to venture that CBM has cut themselves out of the "business"
market in favor of a niche where they have a chance to become a contender.
After all, why compete with IBM, Compaq, Dell, etc, etc, etc?
–Duke
Have you asked him about other versions of SB. SBP2 for instance?
– via Whap!
No, but from their perspective, it would be dumb to pay large amounts of
money for these products and then dump them…
Tim.
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