CompuServe Thread

#CBM and the A2000

7 messages in this thread
#110750From: Andy FinkelFeb 24, 1988 4:45 PM
We all know how well the transformer works. (no comments please) You want to throw $200 at it to bring it to *almost* as fast as a plain IBM PC ? Excuse me, I heard that correctly ? Amiga owners will see 1.3 when its ready. Can't wait ? Oh well. I can't see making them pay download charges for 47 versions of a program either (grin) on a daily basis. I don't speak of the transformer. I thought it was an impossible think when I heard about the claims of the developer, and I think the same now. The clock speed differetial just wasn't there, as a few simple calculations will show. The 2000 was not intended to be the ultimate upgrade to the A1000…however, the ease of expandability is *extremely* important to the user. Yes, the form factor change hurt some developers. But that's, what 2 years ago ? Isn't it time to stop complaining about it, and fine (find) new things to complain about ? Same for the transformer. Also, I'm sorry they showed you a prototype A2000 early. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again. (grin)
#110874From: Ben BlishFeb 25, 1988 2:17 AM
Andy – I'm not complaing that transformer is slow – I would expect an emulation to be slow. I'm complaing that I ALREADY spent over 200$ for the damn thing, and all I want it to do is WORK SLOW! it doesn't work at ALL! And you guys (can't duck the corporate responsibility, y'know) HAVE A WORKING VERSION and you won't release it! Irresponsible, rude, anasty, and 100% in character for the CBM we have all come to know. If expandability is so darn important, then maybe you people should have thought a little harder about condemning the a1000 owners to NO EXPANDABILITY by making the 2000 and the 500 incompatible with the world. It wasn't enough to go off in a new direction for you guys – no, you hadda go in THREE directions. <shaking head> As for time to stop complaining about transformer – sure. refund my money – I'll shutup. Of course, you'll have to refund the $$$ of all the OTHER people CBM ripped off, too. Can't see making them pay dld charges for 47 versions? You must be referring to CoComm…. muddy thinking, andy muuudy thinking. I don't make ANYBODY pay dld charges – once or multiple times – I simply made certain that the BEST that I had to offer was available for those who felt it was worth their time to get. You, on the other hand, seen to feel that you can make that decision for them – that it's not worth their time, or you need to control their wallets/purses – what a cruddy attitude! If I NEED a new ramdisk handler, I can't get it because you're protecting my wallet? That's stupid, plain and simple. As for CoComm, although I get kidded about the uploads, no one is mad that it's there to take – plenty of people opt not to, and that's their business. –Ben–
#110908From: Andy FinkelFeb 25, 1988 2:38 PM
Fine. But as a programmer I would suggest that so many versions in so short a time is not the way I'd want to support a software product. But, you're right. Its their money; no one forces them to get the latest & greatest, and its not costing you for the uploads.
#110976From: Ben BlishFeb 25, 1988 11:29 PM
I know, andy – You wouldn't do that. It's not your style. Your style is to fix it, then hold on to it for 6 months because it's not "time" for a release yet, while the users suffer with the broken stuff. I admire that, I really do. <shaking head> –Ben–
#111072From: Andy FinkelFeb 26, 1988 12:31 PM
Well, if you replace the "hold on to it" with the words "test it and make sure its right" I think you have the idea. andy
#111066From: greg gossFeb 26, 1988 12:00 PM
Andy: I hope that 1.3 doesn't go through the interminable polishing that 1.2B4 sat through. For most of a year there, I sat through discussions of: whoever: "Well then, use the PATH command." me: "I don't *HAVE* PATH yet. It's not legal!" him: "You mean you're still sitting through 1.1 directory searches?" me: "Will *YOU* give me a copy of 1.2B4?" him: "Um, er, no…." I ended up having to go and cultivate pirate sources to obtain the software. I would rather not be feeding these people's egos, but I *NEEDED* that software and CBM showed no inclination of releasing it. (1.2B4 in march? Eventual release of 1.2 in late Dec?) A transformer that ran at 20% speed and could share the machine would satisfy ALL my MSDOS needs. I could live with it even if it couldn't share the machine. I don't need an AT bridgecard. Transformer was abandoned two years ago. I want a $100 IBM for the occasions I need it. Note that I don't claim that this was a problem in 1.2. (thus this paragraph is not contradicting the one above it.) Transformer, at least the patch that has circulated to ALLOW it to run on KS 1.2 should have been released by CBM. ../greg
#111083From: Andy FinkelFeb 26, 1988 1:20 PM
It shouldn't be anything that long. For V1.3 I kept the beta group to a small one, just so everyone wouldn't hear about it constantly, and feel the lack. Some things, though, had to (by their nature) have a wider distribution, like ffs and printer drivers. Guess which ones people are frustrated over ? I wish Transformer had followed the rules, too. But I expect it to break every new OS release, because it likes direct rom calls and the like. I don't have source, unfortunately, so if it breaks again, I hope it can be patched. Because this time, we don't even have a 'slightly less buggy, but not significantly improved' version sitting in QA. andy