#Gold Disk DENIES
50 messages in this thread
This message was posted on Internet in the last day or two:
>After calling up Gold Disk (long distance I might add, since this >Canadian
Company only provides toll free customer support to >the USA) for some
technical support re: Pro Page and the >newly announced Pro Draw 4.0, I was
surprized to find out that >they will be dropping all Amiga support and
development by the >end of February. > >Anybody else heard any info? > >Troy >
> >– >Troy Morehouse, CFES Commissioner of Electronic Communicaitons
>cfes@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca or troymore@mailserv.nbnet.nb.ca > The views
expressed above are my own and not the CFES >
Posted by SoftLogic…..
I called Gold Disk this morning and their tech support person confirmed that
they had suspended Amiga development.
CONTRARY TO THIS INFORMATION, GOLD DISK HAS NOT STOPPED SUPPORT OF THEIR AMIGA
PRODUCTS.
GOLD DISK IS SUSPENDING DEVELOPMENT OF NEW VERSIONS OF SOFTWARE PENDING FURTHER
GROWTH IN AMIGA'S MARKET SHARE.
TO REPEAT, WE ARE CONTINUING SUPPORT AND WILL ENDEAVOUR TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
ENCOUNTERED WITH CURRENT VERSIONS.
>>CONTRARY TO THIS INFORMATION, GOLD DISK HAS NOT STOPPED SUPPORT OF THEIR
>>AMIGA PRODUCTS.
>>GOLD DISK IS SUSPENDING DEVELOPMENT OF NEW VERSIONS OF SOFTWARE PENDING
>>FURTHER GROWTH IN AMIGA'S MARKET SHARE.
>>TO REPEAT, WE ARE CONTINUING SUPPORT AND WILL ENDEAVOUR TO SOLVE
>>PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED WITH CURRENT VERSIONS.
Yeah right, thats what Wordperfect said wasn't it ?
Andrew.
>> Yeah right, thats what Wordperfect said wasn't it ?
We are not Wordperfect. While we do not have plans to release new programs
at this time, we are still commited to supporting our users.
So does this mean that I can expect you to release a version of PPage 4.x
that doesn't crash my machine every other time I quit to the WorkBench?
ProPage 4.1 is basically useless as a multi-tasking program. I and many
others have reported _serious_ memory allocation problems with release
4.1. I have heard _NOTHING_ from Gold Disk about this in the last 6
months.
Your protestations to the contrary, I see little benfit from your
continued tech support of a product which is broken and will not be
fixed?
Thanks,
(And I don't blame you guys for going after the more lucrative PC market,
just be honest about it – don't string us along.)
Erik Flom
Which is exactly what WordPerfect did for a year or two…
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com
I didn't say you were Wordperfect.
I should hope you are going to support your users. Your users got Gold
Disk off the ground. I hope you feel justified about dumping us now so
that you can concentrate on the PC market.
How about a statement from Kailash Ambwani telling us the buyers the hard
facts instead of some weak ambiguous press release ?
I sincerely hope that all the hundreds of pounds that I have spent on Gold
Disk products hasn't been wasted and that Pro Page dosn't become another
Wordperfect i.e. a bookend.
Andrew.
Yes, I agree. No development also means no new version. With the serious
bugs in the current products, this means a rip-off to users who have
bought Gold Disk products and especialy to those buying any products now.
Anyway, it's Gold Disk own decission to stop any Amiga activities. And
it's their right! But…
I would – at least german buyers – strongly recommend to return their
package to dealers as long as they have the 1/2 year warranty and ask for
a fix in case of bugs. Don't let your dealer tell there is no warranty on
software! It's a basic customer right! At least I'm tired of users blaming
software for faults that are caused by Gold Disk's faults in their
software. It costs my money.
And the question also remains, if this is the way Gold Disk treats
customers, what leads to the question that PC users are treated
differently?
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Support?
You mean like willing to answer the phone to say there's not much we can
do? Are you really dumping the Amiga because you got trounced by
PageStream with no hope of catching up? Actually, things like Procaclc,
which should have been named AmateurCalc, is the reason WE dumped you.
You're making the right move though, mediocrity can survive in a market
such as PC land, but then again, maybe not.
Good luck, you'll need it.
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
I'd like to defend Gold Disk a bit here.
The support person obviously made a big PR gaff by coming in here and saying
"by the way we're not doing any more Amiga products" but they've been a very
important third party vendor. They had desktop publishing and structured
drawing before ANYONE. Some say Gold Disk is turning their back on the users
that "made them" but that's absurd. The founders of Gold Disk took personal
big risks to go into an unknown market. They worked hard and produced good
products. Certainly their products are less competitive than they once were in
the Amiga area, but their less intense development efforts in the Amiga area
are probably due to their efforts to expand into the PC market, something which
no-one should give them a hard time about. Their just a business trying to get
bigger.
As for their efforts in the PC business, they've been VERY successful. I go
into Microcenter and CompUSA, two local GIGANTIC (non-Amiga) computer stores
and there's lots of PC Gold Disk titles on display. Animation Works (basically
MovieSetter for the PC) and Video Director have done VERY well, I believe, and
they're very well done.
Good post Paul!
I cannot blame Gold Disk for dropping development right now and I'd rather
not antagonize them into not ever picking it back up again.
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
You missed the PR gaff. The PR gaff was having techs on the phone
announcing it rather than putting out a release (possibly posted to the
nets). A release which didn't waffle and provided an explanation of why
they weren't doing new development and of exactly how current customers
would continue to be supported (and for how long), could have gone a long
way to reduce their problem. For example, I suspect that they may release
new bug fix updates, just that they won't add any new features.
Regardless of how important GD was to the Amiga market, I'm kind of
annoyed by the whining that "GD owes me this, owes us that, etc." GD has
a right to develop or not develop whatever they want. Companies and
individuals have to make decisions about the directions they take, and GD
has decided to go elsewhere.
If you bought GD products and aren't satisfied, you probably wouldn't be
any more satisfied by future releases. Their programs have been around
long enough that the general level of bugginess is probably down to the
lowest level GD is going to achive. If you've been using GD for a long
time, it's soon going to be time to move on. Happened with your A1000 and
A500, and it'll happen with your software from time to time, too. If you
just bought into GD and are happy with what you just bought, it should
work for you for a few years. If you aren't happy, it's your fault for
not researching the software well enough before buying, not GD's fault.
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com
Dale,
> GD has a right to develop or not develop whatever they want.
Of course you're absolutely right! Unfortunately, it seems we'll always
have some fanatical Amiga owners, who I also consider to be an
embarassment. Hopefully, said fanatics will be few and far between.
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
Something else to throw out:
Competition is usually a good thing. It is frequently the case that you
don't get good service and a quality product at a reasonable price until
there is competition. This isn't always true.
At some point, the amount of food available for a heard kills off some of
the weak. This actually serves to make the strong stronger, and the herd
healthier as a whole.
I suspect that in this case, the later applies more than the former.
PageStream will get better, not worse, than it would have been with the
continued competition. With more of the available dtp $$$ going to
Soft-Logik, they'll be able to invest more in development and support of
their product, and they'll be around in the Amiga market longer.
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com
Paul,
> As for their efforts in the PC business, they've been VERY
successful.
Of course they have. They make good products. If they stop making Amiga
products, then it's our loss. Amiga owners didn't dump Gold Disk, but they
abandoned the Amiga market because they can get a greater return on their
investment with PC sales. They probably felt it wasn't profitable for them
to continue to support the Amiga anymore and that's too bad. And the
reason it may not have been profitable wasn't because their products
aren't good, but because the Amiga is a very small market.
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
This is just what the Amiga market needs to grow. Another desertion. I
suppose you're motivated by irresistable financial considerations –
everyone is, all the time, and that's that. But I, fool that I am, just
ordered ProCalc. Maybe there's still time to cancel the order and go with
a product with a future, though I've been given to understand that ProCalc
is the only spreadsheet on the Amiga platform worth a damn, so there I am,
wallowing in the muck. Maybe Khalid will reach down from his platform in
the sky and save me, but probably not before I'm dead.
Paul
Paul,
I bought ProCalc 2 yrs ago and, whilst it does all the usual jobs, it has
a weird way or working. F'rinstance to enter something in a cell press the
reurn key, not the cursoe keys like evrey other spreadsheet. It had other
idiosyncrasies as well but since I sold the thing I forget what they are.
I wasn't that impressed so bought excel 4.0a. What a difference.
Also because of the steady drip away from the Amiga by various publishers
of 'regular business' software I'm selling my Amiga and buying a dos box.
At least I can get and choose from ahuge raft of software and if something
goes bang it won't cost an arm and leg to replace. way it goes.
Pete
From Dorset in Englands westcountry
I am starting to feel the same way, unfortunately. Its a great machine but
a lack of support even from C= for their own product (its been that way
ever since the Amiga was bought by C= in the 80's) really spells the end
sooner or later
Rob
Oh c'mon, you can't give Commodore any faults for bad support. The PC
business is much more worse, though, nobody get's angry… only Amiga
users do…
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf,
Yes that's true…Amiga users seem to be emotional, even passionate, about
the machine unlike no other. And outside of the USA (Europe,the UK,
Australia, etc) the machine is well supported and held in high regard…it
could have been that way here too but for incredible ineptitude (not the
third party vendors who have triumphed in spit of C=. Its too late now:
the kinetic energy of the other platforms places them too far in front.
Rob in DC via AP (who bought one when all his friends said he was crazy)
Rob, I think the `kinetic energy' part is a transient thing. In all the
platforms and programs that I've used, various ones have gone broke,
leaped ahead, fallen behind and so on. There still seems to be an
incredible energy among a lot of developers.
There only two main things that annoy me, one is the insistence that
something is perfect and if it isn't, I've done something wrong. The
other is having the same people who slagged off at things like sound &
WYSIWYG systems now come with glistening eyes and hushed tones saying "I
can get …"
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder
> the kinetic energy of the other platforms places them too far in front
I would like to offer an opinion. Several years ago, the PC and Mac
marketplaces topped 3 million units strong. The software developers said
"Incredible" and jumped in with both feet. Many have prospered, many have
failed and one has monopolized.
The Amiga market should not be looked at as a minor market. The market is
there, but the attitude is not. I would love to have a quarter for every
Amiga out there. If anyone expects each Amiga owner to hand over a quarter
just because… well, it isn't going to happen.
NewTek proved it. ASDG proved it. Others can too.
Maybe we are just a little piece of the pie, but that doesn't mean the
piece is too small to enjoy or prosper in. What's wrong with being the
best instead of the biggest? Eventually, we may even catch up…
David Czaya …via AutoPilot
73445,407
Wolf,
well, I wouldn't go that far. I see a lot of extremely angry messages
in the various IBM Fora about lack of support, or support that does not
solve the problem that the user has. What I don't see is that much
resolution except when one user helps another. There are exceptions.
On the other hand, I do see C= sometimes, just sometimes, actually
attempting to solve a problem, usually self-inflicted by C=. What you
need to do is compare each OEM pair-wise. C= comes out fairly low, but
head and shoulders above many a manufacturer, which is definitely a sad
state of affairs.
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
You think PC land is better? You're in for a world of shit. There IS NO
SUPPORT! You buy then that's it. You better join a good user group and
learn to fight with them on Win.ini, bat.ini, This.ini, that.ini,
AutoExec.bats in the belfry, IRQ insaninty, DMA demolition. Conflicts are
everywhere and there is no such thing as peaceful cohabitation in slot
fillers.
Drivers are needed even to pick your nose, and they are never ready or
don't work with what you have. Go look at a few PC forums, 500-800
messages a day from poor lost souls who don't have a clue because there
aren't any.
It's nasty out there, don't let anyone tell you different. It will make
the Amiga look oh so sweet when you come back and clear your desk of the
gateway to hell.
The only reason so many people live in PC land is because they just don't
know better and all the software is for free.
Other than that, it's an OK platform.
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
Hmmmm. I am going to PC land because of software, pure and simple. I have
been running a 386sx board in my A3000 for about 8 months and with no
trouble with IRQs, or anything else. Autoexec.bat and config.sys are no
different in essence to startup-sequence or any other file in S: I use
Quicken every day, Excel most days and am getting on quite well with
Wperfect. I don't have anything like the bother so often seen in the
various forums and also wonder what all, the fuss is about.
I agree the Amiga is a fine machine but by itself it ain't much good, it
needs software and if it isn't there? Well….
Pete
From Dorset in Englands westcountry
Pete,
> I am going to PC land because of software, pure and simple.
Good luck with the new machine. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If you get a
chance, let us know how you like. I've checked out a few PCs lately and
they're very impressive. The hardware seems excellent now and of course
the software and support are unbeatable. There's nothing wrong with
getting a PC and don't let anyone tell you differently. What happened is
that the Amiga hasn't had that many improvements since 1985, but the PC
has improved tremendously in virtually every respect. I also hear that
Windows 4.0 will be excellent and will no longer require DOS.
The Amiga has never really sold that well, but the real problem has
been the kind of people that bought it. The main reason the Amiga is still
around is because of European sales. It probably would have been dropped
long ago, just based on U.S. sales. Now even with European sales, it still
isn't a big seller, but at least it has allowed the Amiga to continue. The
problem is that the large majority of European sales, and hence the
majority of all Amiga sales were to people who really weren't that
computer-savvy. That's not meant as a knock. Most of the Europeans
originally bought the Amiga because it was cheap and they wanted to play
games. Witness the decline of the American-made games. Software game
manufacturers know who's buying their games and they cater to that market.
Most of the Amigas used to be A500s with one floppy, 512K, and a 68000
CPU. That's why games were made that would run on that configuration. I
think U.S. users were more likely to expand their machines, but the
software often didn't take advantage of that expansion, because it was
designed to run on the machines owned by the majority of Amiga owners.
That's changing a bit with the A1200, but there are still many Amiga
owners with unexpanded A500s.
The point is that someone with a computer with only one floppy, no hard
drive, only 1-2 meg of RAM, and a 68000 CPU is not a power user. So I
think the majority of Amiga users (the ones that are responsible for the
machine still being supported) are not power users at all, but are people
who use the Amiga as a game machine. Again, I think the average U.S. Amiga
user is different, but based on U.S. sales alone, the Amiga would have
been a flop. So the U.S. Amiga user is atypical of the average Amiga user.
And the average Amiga user is not a high tech person who bought the Amiga
because of its advanced OS or custom chips. They bought it (A500) because
it was cheap, it used to have a lot of games, and with the RF box it could
be hooked up to their TV. The average Amiga user wasn't a pioneer who knew
or appreciated the advanced (for its time) capabilities of the machine.
They bought it because, at the time, it was the best game machine, and it
was cheaper than other computers in Europe. So I don't buy the argument
that the average Amiga user is so sophisticated that he bought it because
of its superiority. I think the exact opposite is true. The average Amiga
user is probably the least sophisticated computer user. Remember, I'm
considering the average user to be a European with an unexpanded A500. But
even a first-time PC buyer will undoubtedly have a machine with expanded
RAM, a hard drive, and a 386 or 486.
Anyway, that's my take on the situation. I only brought it up because
you said you were getting a PC and I can understand your choice.
Good luck with it.
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
An Amiga with 1-2 megs RAM, one floppy, no hard drive and no accelerator
isn't exactly the overwhelming mode anymore even in Europe, where most
folks own A500s. One of the British Amiga mags (which sell extremely well
over there) surveyed its users over a year ago and found that 40% of them
had hard drives. The numbers no doubt have improved since then. That's a
low percentage compared to the PC world, certainly, but it reflects the
ability of a floppy-only Amiga to run some pretty impressive software.
Point is, if developers just started writing AGA-only and hard-drive-only
applications, the user base would evolve along, just as happened on the
PC. When I bought my first PC, after all, a one floppy, no hard drive
system with 256K was considered a power user's platform.
The Amiga hasn't had many improvements since '85? Come, come, Dom!
Workbench 2.x was a major improvement (outline fonts, CrossDOS built in,
etc.), nor would I sniff about AGA or '020 through '040 support. And
software quality generally has improved, too, even if we've peaked at the
number of available commercial packages.
Sure PCs have improved a great deal in the past eight years, but when
you're starting out as bad as circa-'85 PCs were (compared to the first
Amigas), it'd be hard not to make greater strides. Most PCs in the field
then couldn't even handle color, much less graphics, and were saddled with
an 8-bit bus (actually, many functioning PCs still are!). Point is, once
you've attained 24-bit color capability and speedy processing times — in
other words, reached parity — where do you go?
Now for the PC it's just a question of market base and a huge, esoteric
selection of software and hardware. If you want to do your taxes on
computer, buy a PC. If you want to do desktop video, buy either a PC or
Amiga. But don't unduly knock the Amiga. The Toaster far and away is the
best selling, best supported DTV card in existence. After all, what video
board for the PC or Mac has its own friggin' magazine? Amazing, when you
think about it.
Ironically, too, Amiga software generally remains cheaper despite
widespread pricing wars over in the land of Intel. I almost think that if
the Amiga market had swiped a hint from Apple and started pricing its
productivity stuff ten times higher, it would have attained a greater
patina of respectability.
I told a PC guy the other day (mind you, I'm a "PC guy" too what with my
two 386 boxes) that the Amiga was the first desktop system:
* to do process color for DTP
* to import video and to process/switch video on-line
* to offer 2-D, then 3-D modeling and animation
* to provide image processing utilities (Pixmate, Butcher and Deluxe
Photolab)
* to morph
* to multitask competing operating systems
He wouldn't hear of it. Of course you can do all that stuff today on PCs,
more or less. But the point is that you can do it on today's Amigas, too,
in some cases still cheaper if not better and in other cases still better.
Unfortunately, computer history already is well along in the process of
politically correct revisionism.
"I suppose you're motivated by irresistable financial considerations –
everyone is, all the time, and that's that."
Ah, it's precisely that kind of thing that makes the business go around.
Developers support the machines with market share.
Last year, for instance, Commodore sold 937,000 machines of all types. To a
software publisher looking for a return on investment, that is not a big
number.
You have to consider that a tremendous amount of money goes into the
development of a product. As a publisher, you want a payback on that investment
within a reasonable period of time. The smaller the market, the less likely the
possibility of that happening.
Marketing is the next major consideration. Develop for Windows and you have
approximately 14,000 places that might sell your product. But if it's a
specialty product, the number drops dramatically. Macintosh developers face
somewhat slimmer pickings.
And Amiga publishers have virtually no place to sell their products. The mail
order houses are nice, but if you look at their circulation figures, you can't
exist on people who read the Amiga magazines. Amiga retail distribution is
practically non-existent, a situation Commordore itself created.
Right now, it's the specialty producers like NewTek, ASDG, Innovision and
others, who can still make a buck in the Amiga market. But general-purpose
applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets, are goners. The
economics just don't work and it isn't worth the effort to develop and sell for
the Amiga market.
Commodore, of course, does nothing to help things. They don't evangelicize
developers, they do nothing to bolster their distribution and seemingly treat
the US market as an afterthought.
I enjoy using my Amiga solely for video products like the VideoToaster, AdPro
and so on. But I don't expect I'll be getting another one because I don't think
there's going to be another Amiga and by the time Mac and Windows based
publishers really get moving, the VideoToaster will be facing serious
competition. I wouldn't be at all surprised, in fact, if you see a machine from
NewTek itself with chipsets licensed from Commodore.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the Amiga. It's a fine machine. But you
can't expect publishers to support a platform that has so clearly lost in the
marketplace – and there's no one to blame but Commodore for that situation.
Jerry
We to have to consider the PC market as well. We are currently developing a
version of the Scala MultiMedia product on the MS-DOS platform. Unfortunately,
I have to agree with Mr. Saperstein's views. We too have investors to
consider and obligations must be met. However, as evident with Scala
MultiMedia MM300, the Scala Echo EE100 and our InfoChannel product, we continue
to believe that the Amiga is still the best multimedia delivery platform
available. We even continue to explore possibilities with the CD-32 product as
a multimedia delivery platform.
Indeed, we will continue to support our Scala sans Amiga users as we continue
with MS-DOS development. IMHO, the MS-DOS platform is going to be a real pain
to support due to the number of manufacturers of PCs and peripherals! Lucky
Amiga owners don't have to diagnose IRQs, Interrupts, RAM addressing, etc.
Sincerely,
John Chang
Technical/Sales Support Manager
Scala, Inc.
Paul, paul ,paul….
Cancel that procalc order. IT SUCKS BIG TIME! It is nearly impossible to
get a meaningful printout from it. Gold disk's "trech support" answer to
the problem is to buy ProPage, import the spread into ProPage and format
it there – Like I 've got all day to do a DTP job on a spreadsheet to make
up for what the spread sheet should offer built in!
Cancel that order and buy mine. $50 with all the original packagind,
manuals and upgrades. It's just collecting dust in my closet.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Already cancelled, Wayne. I'm either getting MaxiPlan real cheap, or even
Excel or QPro or something to run at work (thought that would SUCK!).
Paul
Get Quattro Pro – it most assuredly does NOT "suck", and in fact is an
amzaingly powerful, comprehensive, and reliable product. It's also quite
fast. It puts every Amiga spreadshhet currently released to utter shame.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
This is just what the Amiga market needs to grow. Another desertion. I
suppose you're motivated by irresistable financial considerations –
everyone is, all the time, and that's that. But I, fool that I am, just
ordered ProCalc
We have many users who are happy with Professional Calc and will continue to
support existing and new users of our software.
>>I called Gold Disk this morning and their tech support person confirmed
>>that they had suspended Amiga development.
>CONTRARY TO THIS INFORMATION, GOLD DISK HAS NOT STOPPED SUPPORT OF THEIR
>AMIGA PRODUCTS.
No need to shout. Or to be so argumentative. I don't see anything at all
in your post which is "CONTRARY TO THIS INFORMATION…." Your
clarification that you will continue to support existing products does not
contradict the statement that you have suspended development.
Development, by definition, *means* new versions.
If I were inclined to be argumentative, I might point out that "PENDING
FURTHER GROWTH IN AMIGA'S MARKET SHARE" is a pretty lame modifier. Your
apparent intent is "we're out," but "we might be in later" if someone hits
us over the head with a stick.
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com
No need to shout. Or to be so argumentative. I don't see anything at all
in your post which is "CONTRARY TO THIS INFORMATION…." Your
clarification that you will continue to support existing products does not
contradict the statement that you have suspended development.
Development, by definition, *means* new versions.
Suspending Developement does not mean we will not support our users. We
are commited to supporting all Gold Disk users.
Hi. You should make sure you indent text from the originator when you reply.
It looks like the originator's text is what you're saying in your replies.
Most confusing…
If I were inclined to be argumentative, I might point out that "PENDING
FURTHER GROWTH IN AMIGA'S MARKET SHARE" is a pretty lame modifier. Your
apparent intent is "we're out," but "we might be in later" if someone hits
us over the head with a stick.
At this time Gold Disk has stopped development on new products. If the Amiga
market continues to grow we will re-evaluate our decision.
But since it is nearly impossible to get through to tech support, and when
you do, you get very little in the way of meaningful support, its the same
as being gone anyhow.
Don't matter. I de-installed all your stuff from my HD about 8 months
ago. SL stuff is better, easier to get different formats in AND OUT and
the tech support is FAR SUPERIOR (which was the main reason for the
switch).
Sad to say, but in my shop (and a few others I know of on the East Coast)
Gold Disk will not be missed)
"If it's from Gold disk and it says 'Professional', it isn't!"
Have fun in the PC world, and give our regards to WordPerfect, will ya?
wmc – via Autopilot!
But since it is nearly impossible to get through to tech support, and when
you do, you get very little in the way of meaningful support, its the same
as being gone anyhow.
We receive many calls on our Amiga Tech. Support line. If you find it hard
to reach an Amiga tech support person by phone, you can fax us at Amiga
Tech. Support at 905-602-0393. You can also leave a message here on
Compuserve
Don't matter. I de-installed all your stuff from my HD about 8 months
ago. SL stuff is better, easier to get different formats in AND OUT and
the tech support is FAR SUPERIOR (which was the main reason for the
switch).
I'm sorry you feel that way. We have had users who have stated the opposite.
>>>I'm sorry you feel that way. We have had users who have stated the
opposite.<<<
Oooooooooh Boy… Here it comes…..
!!!{}{}}}{ FLAME ON {}{}{}{}{!!!
Yeah? Well I'm not one of 'em… As a matter of fact let me just
offer a hardy "Bite-Me" and good riddence. I've had more problems (and
lost more customer confidence in my and my systems abilities) trying to
get Pro-Page and Pro-Draw to work correctly on my Amigas (2000 & 4000)
than any of the goofy-fruity-beta-PD stuff downloaded from the Net.
I gave up about 2 months ago and bought a wonderful little PC 486/66mhz
tower to do my "professional" Page Design & Structured Drawing.
And Guess what…? If P-Page & P-Draw are indicitave of the quality of
product and service you intend to bring to "Other Formats" you're wasting
your time and money. There are just far too many time-tested (and widely
supported) offerings for anyone to put up with Gold-Disk schlock.
By the way, I gave up on Gold Disk, not the Amiga. I own two of em'
and still think C= will come around (someday… sigh), and I'm a
shareholder who bought at 7 1/4. :-^
OK… {}{}{}{}{ FLAME OFF {}{}{}{}{
Whew…! Must have been all that coffee, maybe I'll have another slice…
Neil R. Thompson – SOUTHLIGHT POST ASSOCIATES
We all need to sit back and watch at this point. If GD tech support bites like
everyone says, do you really think they'll last in the PC market against
heavy-hitters with REAL tech support?
No, but one the reasons they may have been rotton in the tech support area
for Amiga was that for a while, they had the only products of their type
on the Amiga and users couldn't demand better or go elsewhere.
Soft-Logik also started out with miserable tech support not to mention out
right lying management. (Remember Publishing Partner…:^} But they
worked hard, made some changes and startd treating customers like
customers. Look what happened!! My hats off to 'em! Gold Disk… Well,
I saw it coming early enough that it is no skin of my nose, and they way
they treated Amiga people, I think we are better off without them.
wmc – via Autopilot!
I'm a bit fuzzy on the outcome…. but didn't Aegis also turn it's back on the
Amiga earlier in the game, only to go guts-up?
Aegis folded. Their products were picked up by OXXI I believe.
I don't know. Didn't have any of their products. However, there seem to
be two indicators: products are not upgraded and/or tech support stinks.
For some od reason, business problems seem to follow those indicators'
appearance and the company either corrects the problem or goes under.
The fun thing to watch is how long Gold Disk survives in PC land if the
try treating PC customers to a dose of their Amiga style tech support.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Refering to the Aegis analogy… time to stop wasting our breath gripeing(SP)
and sit back to watch the eventual fold….
Even if they prosper, it won't matter to us anyway…. plus it sounds like they
released a bunch of "Better off withouts" anyway….
Out of this, someone moves onward and upward…. and I really don't think it
will be them!
Later,
Chris
Chris,
Aegis was bought by Oxxi about 3 years ago. We still carry the entire
Aegis line, from Draw2000 to Visionary to VideoTitler 3D. Aegis didn't
turn it's back on anyone, it ran out of money.
Thanks for the info…. I could have sworn at one point they dropped Ami for
MAC development… I MIGHT have been mistaken! <g!>
I see from your address you are "Gold Disk Support" and that you say
that Gold Disk has not stopped support of its Amiga products. I assume
from this combination that Gold Disk provides support for its products on
CIS. But I can't find your in any of the Amiga Forums. How does a
neophyte to CIS find Gold Disk support for Amiga products if you don't
make yourselves visible.
As an aside, I find it offensive that a Canadian company provides
toll-free support if a person phones from the US but refuses to provide
toll-free support within Canada.
Usenet: Ernie_Gorrie@mindlink.bc.ca
FAX: (604) 944-1912, Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada
Gold Disk had a section in AmigaVendor Forum several years ago. They were
dropped from that forum for lack of support … they'd log on every 4-6
weeks, read messages to them, and never respond. A couple of years later
they decided to come back online … but in a PC vendor forum.
-sja
Steve Ahlstrom writes:
"Gold Disk had a section in AmigaVendor Forum several years ago. They
were dropped from that forum for lack of support … they'd log on every
4-6 weeks, read messages to them, and never respond."
Hmm. I wonder if that kind of support is what Gold Disk means when they
say that they will continue to support existing Amiga products?
Usenet: Ernie_Gorrie@mindlink.bc.ca
FAX: (604) 944-1912, Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada