#CEI/CBM Status
15 messages in this thread
Well, your arguments all sound good. I can only speak for myself, but if
whoever gets the Amiga pushed the euromarket and ignores the US market at the
start, I'll move over to PCs and forget the Amiga altogether. I can't imagine
I'm the only one. So, if enough others feel the same way, your course means the
death of the Amiga in N. America, in any event.
Jim,
Commodore spent way too much time 'milking' the European cow. The milk
spoiled I figure… or how can you explain a company going out of business
when 80% of the market is in Europe? 🙂
The market for the Amiga is here and there. The US has driven the
personal computer market to where it is today. I don't see that changing.
Doing what the UK wants and creating a computer company that specializes
in low-end products for the Chinese (rumor there) is not what I have in
mind for Amiga.
Instead a re-focusing of marketing energy and good engineering on the
things the Amiga is good at today is the best way to preserve the
technology and step it forward to create new high end and low-end products
for the world marketplace.
The UK doesn't seem to understand that based on the conferences I have
read with Pleasance.
Give me 8MB of chip memory–or give me a Pentium. 🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
The only thing that killed Commodore was the management. They had a decent
income outside of the US. For the last two years, Commodore UK *completely*
funded the US division. Commodore UK, Commodore Canada, and Commodore Germany
all pulled their share to stay afloat (Commodore UK made enough profit to keep
the US division floating).
If you go through the corporate records you would be shocked… I almost
thought the US government was running Commodore. Who the hell would pay $225
for a case and power supply… well, Commodore would… that is what they paid
(in quantity) for the A4000's case and P/S. The price paid for parts is
rediculous… maybe even scandalous…
Looking at the figures, the A4000 costs 2 1/2 times as much as it should
have… there is where the money went… not to mention Gould and Ali…
>$225 for a case and power supply… well, Commodore would… that is what
>they paid (in quantity) for the A4000's case and P/S. The price paid for
>parts is rediculous… maybe even scandalous…
Let me guess, Mehdi was buying these parts from one of his other children
or friends…unbelievable…
Marlet acceptance for the Amiga was at its highest since it was first
introduced. Before I went to work for Amblin, I worked as a free-lance
animator and digital/video consultant and the Amiga had finally gained
acceptance at Nickelodeon, Fox, Amblin, Warner Brothers, Disney, etc, etc.
The CD32 was whooping Sega, etc., in Europe and the A1200 was the the
home computer of choice in England and Germany.
Despite the poorly designed A4000 (slow 040, no slots, IDE foolishness)
and the A1200 problems (no fast ram, outdated 020) and the ultimately
idiotic release of the A600, the Toaster market was booming and Europe was
solidly Amiga.
They used to hang men who could run a billion dollar corporation into the
ground in 3 years, with sales and market acceptance up. Or, at least, the
losers had the self respect to jump from a building when they had lost all
honor.
Oh yeah, I forgot, there is no honor among thieves.
Said my peace…love my amiga…rendering on an Alpha-based PC on the
sorriest excuse for multi-tasking I have ever seen.
Grant Boucher – Amblin Imaging
"It's hard to believe grown-ups do this for a living."
Excellent views, Grant. There's little doubt the 'video' market in North
America is the vanguard, with European 'games machines' equally important.
Of course, I'm speaking in generalities. but…
For the Amiga to continue (start?) to really move the major aspect must be
price. There's not a real possibility of major technical advances in
Amiga hardware right away, so those who finally take over have to make an
afforable machine that highlights the current tech. Then, if and when the
sales firm up, new tech can be researched.
As one quick example, CEI (or whoever) could start marketing bare bones
4000's (add your own Warp, for example) for comparable prices to that of
IBM systems. The goal would be to make a machine that, fully equipped,
would price out similar to 486 systems, thereby making affordable
"Flyer-ready" boxes. (And change the damn case so you can actually fit
some decent components in there)
Of course this is just one possible scenario…
Trent/ReAnimators
>> As one quick example, CEI (or whoever) could start marketing bare
>> bones 4000's (add your own Warp, for example) for comparable prices to
>> that of IBM systems.
I hope they'll go ahead and do that, except for two things. First, it
should be priced _lower_ than a comparable PC (a 4000/040/25 with monitor
should be priced less than a DX2-50 non-multimedia system; a 4000/030/25
with monitor should be $900-$1000 or so).
Second, forget the Warp — it's too darn expensive. Leave that for those
serious enough about speed to need one. CEI (or whoever) should produce
the 3640 boards with '030's (25/28, 40, 50MHz), '040's (25/28, 33, 40MHz),
and even '060's (when available), like Commodore was supposedly going to
do. That would be considerably less expensive. Heck, maybe they could
even drop the 1200 if they brought the 4000/030 price down enough ($399
sounds good ;).
– Jim, on AutoPilot!
I'd certainly agree with that, too. Whether it's a 3640 '040-40 or a Warp
'040-40, the performance would be the same.
When all is said and done, I hope the new owners do whatever it takes to
keep the Amiga viable. If it makes pricing sense, so much the better.
Trent/ReAnimators
Karim Miteff who produces Nick Arcade was high on the Amiga even before he went
to work for Nickelodeon but it is too bad most of the industry has not really
shown the fact that they use Amigas… It seems as though they rather not let
it be known… I have seen many behind the scene shows that shows someone
working on an Amiga but they never mention it by name..
Jim,
"…there is where the money went…not to mention Gould and Ali…"
I _think_ I know where Gould came from, didn't he buy Commodore from
Tramiel? But I don't recall ever hearing where Ali came from. Out of the
clear blue sky, he was in there screwing up everything he touched and
making big bucks for it. How and when?
Thanks.
Tab Trepagnier
Cruising on AutoPilot from Beaumont, Texas
Gould was ALWAYS the major stockholder in CBM .. or rather, the Gould Family
Trust. I looked up their financial statements back in the days when they were
still making calculators.
–Jim
Jim,
I would not want the US market ignored… that is happening right now. 80% of
Commodore's sales come from outside of the US market place. I am concerned
that if the US market is the ONLY market sought after it will mean no long term
plans to keep the Amiga around.
The US needs high-end machines, everywhere else needs low-end machines. The
solution looks pretty simple really. If we don't have production of something,
we'll all be in a race for the lifeboats… and PC's don't make good
lifeboats… more like boat anchors. 🙂
I have to say I agree. As an American user I've pretty much had my fill of
being ignored. This waiting game has already gone on far too long IMHO. If
at the end of it I hear "Sorry folks, we've gotta cater to the Euro Donkey
Kong market first then maybe we'll see what we can do for you." I would be
inclined to say "Don't bother, Intel land here I come".
Greg
I am so sick and tired of showing people how good my CD-32 looks and
sounds, and then having to explain why I only have 2 games for it. Am I
right in assuming that the Akiko chip was the Amiga's answer to DOOM
compatibility and it that was almost three years ago now…
Grant Boucher – Amblin Imaging
"It's hard to believe grown-ups do this for a living."
Only 2 games for your CD32? You should check out the EURO magazines, even
AmigaWorld. There are at least 50, I have 5 games myself so far and
several CD's from EURO mags. Also good are a couple of UK mags that come
with CD's full of demos of the EURO games. You can get the mags with their
CD's for $9. each from Ben A. Lott, he is available through internet mail.
If you want his internet address, let me know. He usually lets me know
when new stuff comes in.
Jim R. Ollick
Using AP from Bergenfield, NJ
>> I am so sick and tired of showing people how good my CD-32 looks and
>> sounds, and then having to explain why I only have 2 games for it.
Only 2 games? If you want, I can E-mail or post you a list of Amiga Game
Zone's catalog (great mag); or, you can call them at 800-32-AMIGA or
E-mail them at gamezone@prairienet.org. They've got dozens of CD^32 <g>
titles listed and a section in the mag of soon-to-be-released titles (as
of September).
>> Am I right in assuming that the Akiko chip was the Amiga's answer to
>> DOOM compatibility and it that was almost three years ago now…
Possibly. Too bad they didn't stick scaling and rotation chips in too,
though. Of course, even without Akiko, Amigas still easily have the edge
on PC's in sprite games. 😉
– Jim, on AutoPilot!