#3 Million Amigas!
36 messages in this thread
RTf 12/02 1022 COMMODORE <CBU.N> SELLS ONE MLN AMIGAS IN YEAR
NEW YORK, Dec 2, Reuter – Commodore International Ltd said it sold one
mln Amiga computers in the last 12 months, bringing total Amiga sales since
the September, 1985 introduction to three mln.
REUTER
And according to today's Wall Street Journal, 7 million copies of Windows
have been sold. <sigh>
Mike
I know, but as the Bible says, "wide is the gate to destruction, and narrow
is the way to righteousness…", or something like that.
Seriously, I first got into personal computing back in '85 when I was in
seminary and needed something to assist in writing papers. Many students
bought Kaypro's with Wordstar. I went with a Sanyo with MS-DOS and
Wordstar and Sanyo Basic and thought I had it all. Pretty soon, however, I
wished for more but couldn't afford a new system every time Intel made an
announcement about a new processor.
I spent the next six years figuring I'd have to wait until I got a bonus or
something to get a computer that would let me be more creative, and I
almost was convinced to get a Mac by a friend here at work. Still, big
money was required.
Then I happened into a B.Dalton and saw the Amiga running a game– I was
blown away by the graphics, sound, and price. I was hooked immediately and
so a few months and only a few hundred bucks later (rather than a few
thousand) I had color, sound, graphics– and feel like I've got forever
until I get bored… I only need more time…
Now my Mac friend is about to convert– so I say let the 7 million have
their Windows!
And at least 100 or so are in use. :^)
<running away>
Ben
Reminds me of the old McDonald's joke: 20 billion served but how many were
eaten? This is particularly approriate to ask of Windows.
Garry
Sure you don't mean White Castle? 🙂
Ron
Ron,
No, that couldn't be. Each White Castle sold is eaten at least twice..or so
it seems because the flavor LASTS!!!!
Bill
Ron,
You've done it now! We all know that your north of the Mason-Dixon (sp?)
line. Down south, we've got Krystal.
Regardless, 3M just isn't enough machines to impress most "real" computer
users.
Garry
"Windows… The greatest solitaire game ever made for the PC…"
7 Million copies of windows have been sold.. But only about 2 copies are
being used…
IBM Invoulentary Bowel Movement!!
Alan:
Agreed!!! One of the 5M here. It makes molasses seem fast even in a Chicago
winter.
Bill
If you sell 7 million copies of Windows in the forest where there's no one
to hear it, does the cash register make a sound? 7 million people shelled
out money for for Windows; only 3 million did so for Amigas (actually,
2,999,999, since I have two. A valid comparison? I doubt it, but so what?
It reminds me of the story of the tourists looking at the Grand Canyon when
one said to the other "I wonder how long this has been here," and the other
replied "3 million years and six months." The first tourist was
astonished. "How do you know that?" "Because when I was here six months
ago, the tour guide said it had been here for 3 million years." Three
million Amigas sold is no more (or less) valid a statistic than any other.
To put it another way, I'm continually amazed at the large sales numbers
rung up by utterly mediocre or inferior products, and although I'm not
fooled by the numbers, they do dictate where the markets go. It's kind of
pathetic, like the chief said in Little Big Man — "There are only a
limited number of Human Beings, but there is an inexhaustible supply of
white men."
Nevertheless, I'd bet Bill Gates is getting 7/3 more enjoyment out of it…
:+)
Mike
Y'know, I hate to say it… but I think that if I were a billionaire like
Bill Gates, I'd not worry a bit about what some people (including me 🙂
say about my products. Geez, what DOES a nerd like him do with his $$$ ??
Sigh. What a waste :^)
Kevin: What does Bill Gates do with his $$$, you ask? Well, for one thing,
he plays with a souped up Amiga. So sayeth the rumor mongers. >> Ron Legro
/ Milwaukee
via WHAP!
Maybe Gates will make Gould an offer he can't refuse.
From Electronic News Insider Trades:
MICROSOFT CORP. – William H. Gates, chairman, sold 750,000 shares of
common between $89.75 and $90 each and now directly holds 56,700,930
common…
Guess he needed cash to pay the mortgage.
– Don
– via Whap!
Let's see, that's about $67,000,000. Since the Mariners are in trouble
here in Seattle, I think he's taking the money out to purchase them. That
would make a reasonable down payment!
Yo Tampa Bay! Say 'Hey' to the Kid for me, ok? 🙂
–jp–seattle–
Sorry John,
I'm not from Tampa Bay and don't know the "Kid". I'm in South Jersey,
suburban Philadelphia, a stone's throw from Commodore as the Compuserve
packets fly.
As for Gates, the jocks probably never let him play football. It would
be fitting for him to buy the Mariners, now they have to let him play 🙂
– Don
– via Whap!
Michael:
Sold or dumped? How many are actually being used? I think a good indication
is sales of Windows applications. Check out PC Magazine's Pipeline chart.
Regards Charles
Lower the price of the Amiga to between $29 and $99 and then give away the
first million machines and Commodore could sell 7 million easily…
Windows has the distinction of being able to take a perfectly usable 20-MHz
80386 based machine and make it seem like a 4.77 MHz 8088.
-Chas
Chas:
I've just been using Wordperfect for Windows on my 386/33. You think
ProPage is slow. It takes me 15-20 seconds to go from one word WP thinks is
mis-spelled to the next such word on the same page.
Regards Charles
Charles,
I would not take Word Perfect for Windows a good example of a Windows based
program. I have the same problem with WPWin on my 486SX20 at work. Take a
good look at Microsoft's WinWord 2.0, it's considerably better than WPWin!
In my honest opinion, WPWin tries too hard to look and act like the
DOS-text based system (sort of like what Word Perfect did to the Amiga
version of Word Perfect – they did non-standard things). The critics have
been harping on Word Perfect for this.
Word Perfect for Windows only supports DDE in one-direction also (acts only
as a server, not client & server) – why go to a Windows environment if you
are not going to tout the advantages of it. (ie: DDE, and OLE).
Joe,
I certainly don't want to appear to be taking up for WP Corp. after their
continuing wonderful support for the Amiga version (NOT!). But maybe the
reason that MS WORD works better under WINDOWS has something to do with the
government's investigation of MS <G>.
Couldn't pass up the chance to bash MS a little.
Garry
WP for Windows also only allows you to use WP's fonts…NO windows or ATM
font can be accessed….SOMEBODY GOOFED!!
Ha ha ha ha haha!
You gotta remember that Microsoft is inflating those numbers by including
the copies of Windows sold to pc manufacturers and bundled with cheap clone
systems! Take Gateway for example, they include windows for free, on their
own label, with every pc purchase! That'll get alot of copies out there in
a hurry!
just bought a Toshiba laptop and it include a copy of windows as
well! i think that I now have 5 or 6 copies, including the one that I got
bundled in with my A3000…
Keith…
he he he he…. 😉
Keith: Oh, so right you are. Let's start pointing out that Amiga Workbench
has "sold" about (I'm guessing here) six or seven million copies. That's
probably close to true if you consider all the upgrades from 1.0 forward to
2.04. >> Ron Legro / Milwaukee
via WHAP!
Keith, you say you got Windows bundled with your A3000? Why?
I had heard that Windows didn't even run under the Bridgeboard, so why
would anyone bundle it? Does yours work?
–jp–seattle–
John, I got windows bundled with my A1000 back in '85. It's amazing that
it only required 256k to run.
-sja
OK, I stepped into that one 🙁
–jp–seattle–
No no no! That was just a joke to point out how ridiculous it is to talk
about millions of copies of windows being sold. My point was that windows
is bundled with just about everything now, my reference to the Amiga was
merely humor. I didn't really get a copy with my A3000 (though I'm sure I
could have!).
it's funny, my company is a Novell Gold reseller and we use to have a
saying about the vast numbers of Novell authorized resellers. Seems that
Novell followed a McDonalds approach to authorization and let just about
anyone get in… use to be you could drive down to any 7-11 and see a
Authorized novell sign in the window…
microsoft has travelled this same route with windows… the cheeseburger of
operating systems!
Hey Commodore! Why not port AmigaDos overr to the pc and mac ???
The PC couldn't run it worth diddly. The Mac, now that would be something.
:^)
Ben
Would you be willing to sell one of those copies so I can see what the
excitment is all about?
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Lemme see which copy I can part with…
there's the copy that came with my new JVC television… the copy that came
with my new toaster (not video toaster!)… I just got married and for
presents i recieved another 4 copies…
yeah I think I've got a few to spare! Gosh if I add it all up I think that
I personally own 3 million of the 7 million in circulation!
-> just bought a Toshiba laptop and it include -> a copy of windows
as well! i think that I now have 5 or 6 copies, -> including the one that I
got bundled in with my A3000… -> ->
Keith… -> -> he he he he…. 😉
I take it that you don't 'do windows' on your Amiga A3000! 😉
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
– via Whap!
You said it! Windows definately isn't in my job description!
Unfortunately I've had to learn an awful lot about windows though… Most
of our networking customers just have to have the "pretty little icons".
Breaks an Amiga lovers heart to have to fight with that bear (windows) day
in and day out…
More bad news… I just purchased a Next… Very nice… C'mon Commodore
get on the ball!
Charles. What you said re Windows. Just got a mail sales piece for Software
Carousel. This is a MS-DOS character-based task switching utility. It
doesn't multitask but it works well (I've got a copy). Anyway, the Carousel
people are shooting big at MS-Windows. Told a story of a big automaker
(Ford, maybe?) that evaluated Windows for its 50,000 PCs and opted for
Carousel instead, because the firm decided Windows was overkill AND
potentially very expensive (hardware upgrades and so forth). The estimated
savings with the non-Windows solution: $9.2 million. Which suggests a
Commodore ad campaign: "Amiga — The affordable, efficient Windows
alternative." >> Ron Legro / Milwaukee
via WHAP!