#Lets Play 20 Questions!
120 messages in this thread
Greetings all,
So you wanted to talk to Commodore US? Here is your chance!
I have arranged with the VP of Commodore Marketing in the US, John Dilulu,
to answer 20 questions from us–the AmigaUser Forum here on CompuServe. I
contacted Mr. Dilulu after reading the threads here and I found him to be
quite pleasant and very interested in the Amiga, and in its users. He did
talk to me about the meeting at CES with the dealer and he feels that he
was taken out of context completely. He doesn't find all Amiga owners an
embarrassment, but rather just the radical few. The other comment he made
is that he feels the Amiga user community has decided that there is
nothing Commodore has done right–from day one. The armchair
quarterbacking without knowledge of the facts has done a lot to damage
relations between Commodore Amiga customers and Commodore personnel.
Since I am an Amiga reseller, I can relate to his concerns. After talking
with him awhile, I decided to ask him to answer some questions for the
user community here on CompuServe. He readily agreed.
It is my hope that the current anti-Dilulu thread will now die and that we
can use our connections as a group to help Commodore make decisions that
we think would be good for the company. John agreed to allow me to be his
gateway to the Amiga community here on CIS. He felt that it would be
helpful to have another perspective from the 'field'.
So, Mr. Dilulu has agreed to carry to Medhi Ali and other Commodore
executives twenty questions from this group which I will fax him in two
weeks. These twenty questions should be questions with real merit–not
questions like "Where is my software?" or "Is Commodore going to still be
in business in 6 months?"
A good question might be: "How do you intend to market the CD32 in the
United States?"
The Amiga Forum sysops will collect these questions from the users here at
CompuServe and decide which 20 we will send to Commodore. This way all of
you have a shot at asking Commodore a question.
I am hoping that many are starting to notice some fundamental improvement
here on CIS and will spread the word. We are working our connections with
Commodore and third-party developers to make your online experience more
interesting.
Pass the word–The AmigaForum here on CIS is connected. 🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
GOOD! don't have a question thats not obvious to anyone here But 'm glad we get
to hear his side and/or that C= is alive and mostly well!
-Tom-
Mark,
First, I have to give you a big hand of applause. What you did was a coup
d'etat of the first order. Kudos!!
Now, for a big question (multi-part):
Where does CBM-USA think its market is now, and in the future? How will CBM
maintain and expand this market, and possibly, others? Is the Commodore home
computer in the USA dead?
Thanks,
Jonathan
Thanks guy..
We're all working hard here these days. 🙂
I put your question in the list.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Dilulu? I thought it was spelled Dilullo? Anyway, go find out Mark! ;-}
As I understand it, John D. is now acting president of Commodore Business
Machines. I can now confidently say that there is John D. really knows and
cares about the Amiga product. I've met him on several occasions and he has
got to be the hardest working executive at CBM. AT World of Commodore shows,
you can see John putting his back into setting up the booths and putting up
equipment. He has great respect at Scala.
OK. Here is my question:
How will the entire Commodore organization help multimedia hardware and
software developers promote the Amiga technology in the so called "Information
Super Highway"?
Cheers!
Sincerely,
John Chang
Technical/Sales Support Manager
Scala, Inc.
John, I hate guys that like to correct spelling (grin).
He told me his position was VP of Marketing for Commodore US. Medhi Ali
is the acting president of Commodore Business Machines.
I added your question to the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Aww, come on Mark! You must like me just a little bit! No, Mark! Don't do
it! Don't press that red button! Noooooooooo36309=26262kjgokha[bhagqg
giagu…. click
Grin!
Hey, I think you and the guys at SCALA are the greatest. If I didn't I
wouldn't bother to ever call you. 🙂
Maybe you would like to like you a little less?
(grin)
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Thanks for the encouragement Mark!
Warmest Regards,
John Chang
Technical/Sales Support Manager
Scala, Inc.
Mark,
OK, I'd like to add another one:
* Why is WOC NY being cancelled at this late date? I can understand finances
being tight, but this sends a *terrible* message!
Jonathan
Jonathan,
I heard that Commodore was not going to be able to attend.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
OK, CBM can't attend…then why can't they? I still think that this is a great
case of reverse marketing.
Jonathan
Ok Mark, you aren't just an excellent moderator, you're a GOD! Or at
least a god. I will get back to you on this soon with my question(s) and
perhaps those of Bill Chadwick and Sean Hannon, two great guys from Conn.
Paul
Thanks Mark! It sure is nice to know that Mr. Dilulo is still interested
adn responsive to the pulic!
No questions right now, but I'll do some thinking…
But I will second John Chang of Scala's question! 🙂
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Excellent job!
>>The armchair quarterbacking without knowledge of the facts has
done a lot to damage relations between Commodore Amiga customers
and Commodore personnel.<<
'scuse me? If Amiga customers made judgement about CBM's actions
without knowledge of the facts, just who'e responsibility does he
think it is to inform CBM customers?
Michael,
I was just expressing how he felt–not defending it.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
And I was just posting a question for you to pass on to him regarding his
views. <g>
Great Job…..
Let me thinks. Hmmmmmmmmmm
….John
Thanks for your involvement!
I'll be watching the development of this '20 questions' thread with
_GREAT_ interest.
Good Luck!
Erik Flom
Don't just watch–participate!
🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
"Don't just watch–participate!"
I will, I will!
I just have as yet to come up with a question that wouldn't insult them,
like: "Why do they pay you so much for doing do little?, etc." :^)
Keep up the good work,
Erik Flom
Erik,
Yep.. that was suggested to me privately several times as a question. I
don't think that question get me continued access. 🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Good Job!
~~~~~~~~~
This is what I like to see here. :^)
Q: Commodore has expressed an interest in "outside" developers taking
on products (such as networking, the multiserial card, and so on)
that CBM no longer feels, for whatever reason, that it can reasonably
devote resources to. Would Commodore be interested in _general terms_
in "exporting" some of the software tasks as well? I believe that we,
and certain other developers, have the skills that would allow CBM to
enhance the machine considerably. Cases in point would be our own
ApAssist documentation product; Gigamem or something similar; etc.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Ben,
That's a marketing question?
Certainly it is.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Well, I'm not sure how earth-shaking this question is, but rather a
burning question at the moment is when Commodore expects to have monitors
for sale again. It rather inhibits sales of new systems, don't you
think?
As for marketing specifically, please ask why CBM is not present IN
FORCE (and that means including the developers) at every single video
and multimedia-related event in the country. I can't imagine
anything which would give more bang for the marketing buck than
showing the professionals what you can do with an Amiga, and how cost
effective it is compared to other solutions. Since these are
virtually the only markets where the Amiga has a presence and an
advantage, that's where the effort should go.
Karl,
I can answer that one–as I asked this question to Dilullu already.
The 1084S is not currently scheduled for production and will not be for
the foreseeable future. The 1942 will be available again in about 4
weeks.
I'll add your marketing question to the consideration list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
The non-production of the 1084 is, I think, good news. Since C= only
makes AGA machines, it's about time they sold people an AGA-capable
monitor along with it. It's also good to hear that they are going to get
1942s sometime before 1995. <G> Thanks!
-Karl Speaking from the Rubble.
Here's my question:
Many of us agree that Commodore should be aggressively promoting the
Amiga in the multimedia and desktop video arenas. Other platforms
offer equal or superior solutions, but what the buying public doesn't
get to read in those gee-whiz magazine articles are the pitfalls
associated with doing multimedia on a Mac or PC: the compatibility
conflicts, the poor real-life performance (Quicktime @ 30fps is often
mentioned; the postage stamp size is often omitted), or the obscenely
high prices charged for solutions that do work. How about an ad
campaign in video and multimedia magazines exposing the real-life
problems found on other platforms, as opposed by the low-price,
high-performance solutions offered on the Amiga? You could easily
compare AmigaVision, at $150, with PC authoring software costing much
more than that. Or take on the mighty Matrox video board and show
that the snazzy 3-D DVEs shown in their latest ads require an
additional processor board, at a total cost of several thousand more
than a Toaster. Show what Montage24/AGA can do, and how little it
costs. For heaven's sake, trumpet Imagemaster, the $99
image-processing, format-translating, morphing Eigth Wonder of the
Modern World!
I really feel that cold hard facts, rather than vague sweeping concepts, can
jostle people into taking a new look at Amigas. Do you?
Blaq!
I put your question on the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Great going Mark!! Nice show of initiative and mediation. Let us hope
this trend continues and allow various Amiga users on the forum the
opportunity to find out the inside reasons behind C= management.
Trent
Flying near the Pole in the Great White North
Mark,
Thanks for setting up the 20 questions for Dilulu and for giving us the
correct spelling of his name. 😎 Here's my question(s):
Does CBM expect that CD32 will be as successful in the U.S. as they
hope it will be in Europe or do they have lower sales expectations for the
U.S.? Also, what machine do they consider to be the main competition for
CD32 in the U.S.; the Atari Jaguar, 3DO, or something else, and what does
CD32 offer that the Atari Jaguar (with CD-ROM drive) doesn't?
Thanks.
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
Dom,
Your question is added to the list. 🙂 I don't think I have spelled
Dilullu's name twice the same way… sorta like Eggenbrectchehr. 🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark:
Here's mine… Is there still an active developer program for the
Amiga and CD32 here in the US?
Clint <VRLI><Chaocity>
Ok, added to the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Clapping hands for your proposition!
I just wanted you to add this to the previous question, I think it could
included :
Q:"The subsidiary C= companies outside US, apart from UK, have a
near-zero developer support, concerning the CD32 platform. From
France, we developers have to log on UK or US boards such as CIX or
BIX to access vital informations. We couldn't develop without that.
So does C= have plans to increase their development support service
so that each country could have the service paying developers are
waiting for ?"
This question is very important and I'm seconding here many French
and German developers. Please forgive my bad English!
Yours,
Fred.
Frederic Botton from Paris, France
fbotton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Ok.. it has been added to the list. 🙂
With so many good questions it is going to be real hard to pick which to
send!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
It's probably no consolation, but even companies like Microsoft have terrible
developer support outside of the US.
Also, I doubt John Dilullo can comment on this as he is part of the US Sales
company.
The support I have from 3DO is really good!
BTW, I'm strongly convinced that developer support for the CD32 is the key
to its success! You will see in a few months some people complaining about
the lack of FMV-based games… The reason is simple : _no_ developers have
been able to put their hands on the slightest beta card before its public
release… Are C= waiting for CD-i Digital Video titles to make CD32 FMV
card a success? So I think that Mr Dilullo is able to do something for
developers… At least, he could talk about that to the right person…
Fred.
Frederic Botton from Paris, France
fbotton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Mark:
Actually, you can remove it. CATS saw the message and has already
responded, so save the space for other unanswered questions. <grin>
Clint <Chaocity>
Clint,
So what was their answer?
-sja
Steve:
The answer was yes, there is a developer program and that I need
to contact Emma Jean Mungin, who I finally got some email off to last
night. I'll let you know what I find out from her, but just being
able to contact someone online is quite encouraging! (Also to know
that CATS is reading messages here. <grin>)
Clint <Chaocity>
Clint,
I think I can answer your question…sort of.
I sent some E-mail to CATS, asking for a CD32 developer application. I got back
some badly photocopied sheets, which didn't mention CD32. I got a license that
discussed currency in pounds sterling. I got a slick for the CD32, the 1200,
the 4000, and some monitors.
Jonathan
Jonathan:
You might want to try again, I think they are waking back up. I got
email from John Campbell and a person over on Internet to contact, so I am
starting the process of getting re-developered. <grin>
Clint <Chaocity>
Clint,
I tried just last week. I'd love to hear about what you get in the mail – my
packet was discouraging.
Jonathan
Jonathan:
Hopefully I'll hear from Emma Jean next week. I didn't get my email
off to her until last night, so she probably won't see it before monday.
It sounds like there are at least 2 people in CATS now. <grin>
Clint <Chaocity>
Hey,
I know that Carolyn Scheppner is still there. I talk to her weekly.
>> Mike Uman
>> Oxxi Tech Support
Mike:
That's good to hear. I've conversed with John Campbell via email, and
emailed Emma Jean, but haven't heard back from her yet. Probably for the
better as I've been totally swamped this week. <grin>
Clint <Chaocity>
What do plan to do for an encore? Medhi Ali on a conference? Well done!
My question:
While advertising plans for the CD32 has been mentioned in a number of
places. Are there plans to use the same type of advertising for the rest
of the Amiga line?
Richard -> Using AutoPilot on the 2.1/030 A1000
Richard,
Got a few more ideas that I am working on.. We shall see. 🙂
Your question is added to the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
> What do plan to do for an encore? Medhi Ali on a conference? Well done!
How about the CBM shareholders movement in response? 🙂
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder
My question to the CBM is this:
Do they plan on developing an Amiga computer based on the PowerPC processor?
Thanks
Scott
Douglas / Scott,
You ought to download the file HAYNIE.LHA in the AmigaUser Forum. It
contains the edited transcript of the CO between Dave Haynie & Randell
Jesup of Commodore Engineering. You might like what you find there.
I'll add your question to the list though!
Long live Mark,
Using (later on called) Personal Computers for more than ten years
regulary at business & at home AFAIK the fatal errors in the past were Sir
Sinclair's 'faith' in microdrives instead using floppies as well as CBM
flickering PAL/NTSC display, though both were useless at normal business
(excl. video productions) BUT – thank goodness – there was Sidecar and
afterwards Bridgeboard in the market.
With this thought in mind my question to the CBM is the following:
What's about the Bridgeboard development, stopped forever and ever?
TFTT
:-)' Bruno
I have added this one to the message list.. it is growing larger and
larger. I will try to post a summary of questions on Sunday.
It looks like the message on the '20 Questions' has now reached the
internet. I want you folks to know that unless something really strikes
me in a response I might get from the internet, that our 20 questions from
our forum members will be considered first.
It is too bad CIS doesn't have any kind of voting mechanism built in.
Perhaps we could have a special Sunday night CO one night and do a vote on
the questions there. I'll think about how that might work and get back to
you guys.
If you have any ideas on how it might work–post away.
We did the 20 questions thing for you–the Amiga forum members. 🙂
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
quite right
😉 Bruno
Mark,
I'm horrible with names, so my apologies to whomever did this
(Wayne?).
Over in AmigaVendor, a poll was collected on what the seperation of
bold, italic, etc. styles into seperate fonts meant to the users of
the FinalCopy and Final Writer. The results of the poll were posted
to Softwood.
What you could do is to post the accumulated questions in an area
here on AmigaUser. Have the list in some kind of order with letters
attached to each question. Each user would send you EMail to
indicate the 20, or less, questions that they are most interested in
seeing a response to. I suggest EMail to keep the clutter level down
here on the forum, although your mailbox might overflow. That's a
question for Steve and the other CIS experts.
I suggest letters to indicate each question so that the list of
questions that the user was interested in would be very short, just a
comma seperated list. Tabulating the data could be accomplished
easily by just putting tally marks counting the hits. The top 20,
subject to paring to eliminate repeats/overlaps, and your
adjudication since this was your (!!!) idea, would be the list
submitted.
This is a very simple survey. If you want one that would account for
preference, I could design that too <BG>. Gee, I knew majoring in
statistics could come in handy some day.
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
Brian,
That is a good idea.. and one that I think might work.
I am keeping your message for later reference.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
if you want to keep track of preference order, have the respondents
list the letter responses in order of preference, highest to lowest, and
then note a numerical score for each letter in the respondents reply. In
other words, if I list as my responses: f, g, e, a, c, d, b. Then assign
a score of one to f, two to g, three to e, etc. Add all the scores from
each respondent for each letter. The lowest score is the most favored
question, the next the second, etc.
Again, filter out duplicates, overlaps and such. That's the other
technique, which is a bit more fine in distinguishing group preferences.
Not the best, but quite workable. (It took me a while to figure out an
easy way to describe it ;-).
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
Brian,
Not a bad idea either.. however, considering the number of questions it
might take me forever to compile the list the democratic way. 🙂
I'll talk this over with Steve and see what he thinks.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
that is why I suggested the first approach. Far simpler to collect and
collate than the second, which is why you seldom see the second approach
is many surveys.
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
Mark…
I have one very fundimental question. Why isn't C= selling/stocking
some hardware items that are in great demand? The High Density disk
drive for the A3000 immediately comes to mind. I personally need one
for each of my A3000s. It seems to me they could be making some fair
money off items like this that they don't have to design and
manufacture.
..Carl
Carl,
I think return on the dollar is the answer here. If it takes X dollars to
build new CD32s and X dollars to build high density drives. Which do you
think would be the higher return on the dollar? Certainly in the case of
the A3000 where it requires special manufacturer due to the A3000 chasis.
Why not get one of the external high density drives that seem to be
available?
Regardless, I have added your question to the list.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
I thought they just bought them from Chinon under some type of
agreement. And no, the external drive doesn't do a bit of good for some
of us, such as myself. I need one that I can put internal so I can use
Flipper. Otherwise, I think I'd have to buy two, one for the BB and one
for the Amiga. Silly.
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
Brian,
I just spoke to Devine computer here in Delaware and they have the C= HiD
floppy drive.
I'm going over to buy one today if they're open on Saturday. I was going
yesterday but the snow storm here was a bit much and I decided to give the
plows more time to clear the roads. Although I was plowing through most of
it with my 2-wheel drive alright, some of the housing developments were
pretty well clogged, and Devine works out of one of these.
Christopher
Christopher,
that makes me wonder where the heck mine is if it's available. I've
only been waiting since September.
Brian
bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu
Mark…
I would agree with you if C= manufactured the drives. However I believe they
have an outside company manufacture them. In that case they pay X$ for the
drives and sell them for X$+. Yes, they need the original X$ to purchase and
stock the drive but I think if they were looking at the market they would see
that there is a demand for these drives and other hardware that they are the
only provider of.
The third party drives are a case in point. An A4000 HiD drive costs me $99
mail order. A third party drive (that might work with my computer????) costs
$179 mail order. The main difference between the A4000 drive and an A3000
drive, I am told, is the face plate. I have not been assured that the nearly
twice as expensive third party drive will function in two of the three modes I
need it 9 (Emplant and CrossDOS). Plus – as a stock holder in C= I would
prefer to purchase and support that company.
Hope I have made my reasoning clear. I do want to thank you for your activism
in regards to contacting C= and the other confabs you have apparently
scheduled. I only wish I had time to sit in on the conferences but alas TIME
is the one thing I have way too little of and am incapable of making more of.
Again thanks for your proactive stance.
..Carl
Carl,
I just picked up a C= HiD floppy drive today. Just pulled the cables off
the internal A2000 df0: pushed 'em on the new drive and powered up the
Amiga. Popped in a 1.44 meg IBM formatted disk and it appeared on the WB
without a single hitch!
FYI, I bought it from Devine Computers here in Delaware. They're a
mailorder shop but being local I called and was told, "yeah we have 'em,
$125, come on over and get it. Well I would have preferred paying $99 but
I've waited too long and needed one now. It works just fine, has a white
faceplate but the eject button is in the same spot as my old A2000's
internal drive, although it is not as tall.
DeVine Computer Sales
18 Wellington Drive
Newark, DE 19702
302-836-4138
FAX 302-836-8829
Oh yeah, he's got CD32s too, and still waiting for 1942 monitors!
Christopher
Actually Carl, the High-Density drives (typically manufactured by
Chinon or Mitsumi) for the A3000 and A4000 systems are modified for
the Amiga. Additional circuitry was added to enable the high-density
functions for AmigaDOS. Sincerely,
Mark,
Excellent work. My hat is off to you and Mr D for providing the Amiga
community this opportunity. Here goes…
Many major computer, communications, and cable companies are forming
strategic alliances and investing heavily into interactive television
technologies. It appears that an entirely new industry is evolving. Does
Commodore intend to infuse Amiga technology into this market? If so, will
Commodore have any corporate partners in this endeavor?
Randy Taylor
Rendering is my life! …Oh, that explains it.
Ah, a good question indeed.
It is added to the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
>>Does Commodore intend to infuse Amiga technology into
this market?<<
Commodore has already signed agrements with Hewlett Packard to
provide chip technology for TV TOP CABLE BOXES.
Of course in the trade press HP is reported as having personally (well,
alright, but you get the gist) developed _ITS OWN_ Motorola based chipset.
Paul
>>Of course in the trade press HP is reported..<<
I don't know about that… the article that cited the CBM/HP agreement
was a 'trade publication'. We posted the announcement here in User.
Michael,
According to the Haynie conference (the non-edited version, I just looked
it up) — the report in the EETimes was not correct. Commodore and HP
are talking–but nothing is signed. Randell Jesup said this.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
I have been getting mixed signals the last couple of weeks about C=
involvement in the interactive TV (or whatever the market really will be)
market. That is why I propose this question to Mr Dilullo. Let him have
the opportunity to clear up the confusion.
Randy
Rendering is my life! …Oh, that explains it.
Added your question to the list!
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
I just read in last weeks EETimes also that a bunch of companies is
now working together on a 250MIPS very low cost chip set with MPEG2
etc., capabilities for set top boxes and is planning for availability
early in '95. This could be a serious threat to Commodore's chances
of getting into this market. It's also unclear to me what chances HP
has in this market at all no matter what they do since it seems a bit
out of their area.
Yeah.. you wondered what I did about HP.
It is a bit different from some of the things that HP has
traditionally done–yet, they do some interesting things. HP
contacted me a couple of weeks ago about InfoChannel. They seem not
to be afraid to use products that they didn't develop.
I think that unless someone from Commodore is actively pursuing the
licensing of the Amiga chipsets to HP–nothing will happen.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
<<It's also unclear to me what chances HP has in this market at all no
matter what they do since it seems a bit out of their area.>>
HP has just restructured a profitable microwave division into guess
what????—VIDEO. Set top boxes are not out of their area at all. In
fact, they aren't out of anybody's area. It's a field in development
and major players are forming consortiums and making deals right and
left. Who gets what slice of the pie still remains to be seen.
On the surface, to an Amigaphile, it would seem C= is well situated
to cash in on the boom with a platform that dovetails in rather
nicely and is in many ways ahead of the game. How many years was C=
definitely ahead in the Computer game and what's their share of that
pie now? How often do you hear C= or Amiga mentioned in regard to
this new technology in non Amiga specific publications? With the
resources of the phone companies, the computer giants etc. how
difficult is it going to be to be a serious threat to C= prospects?
C= should get on the stick, join some consortium and start signing
some licensing agreements pronto if they're eyeing this market.
-Richard
MPEG2 certainly has a higher resolution and less "artifacting",
however, it is going to require nearly four times more storage
space. On a video server, like the Oracle, it makes sense where you
have terrabytes of storage available. However, on an ordinary
CD-ROM, you can store approximately only 16 minutes of CDVideo. Not
very practical in my opinion. I believe that MPEG1 will continue to
improve as newer MPEG hardware and software encoders are developed.
But MPEG2 and this chip set I talked about is good for cable transmission, not
CD applications and Hollywood is in love with it.
John,
I happened to see an issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine recently. They were
saying that new blue laser diodes would let CD-ROM players quadruple in
capacity. The pits would be half the size and the tracks half as wide.
Just the thing for MPEG video CD-ROMS. Of course, there aren't any drives
using that technology yet…..
-Jim
FYI: It's Dilullo.
Thanks.. I have spelled it at least once in one of my messages that
way–just to cover my bases. (grin)
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Although I don't have a question at this time, I would like to
congratulate you on your efforts.
Excellent!!!! I think the fact the Mr. Dilullo is trying to clear up
the ever so rise in the Amiga community disgust with C-> if
fantastic… I have several questions: Q. We have seen in the market
the proliferation of O/Ses that can run on several platforms (ie.
Windows NT, NextStep, UNIX). While C=> is licensing chip technology
to HP, shouldn't it also consider marketing the AmigaOS the way Apple
has the System 7? How about the possibility of making the AmigaOS
open (ala Unix) while setting some standards (sort of like the X/OPEN
consortium)?
Q. If the faith of the Amiga is to become a hybrid platform (running
several O/S at the same time … like IBM/Mac) as some mention of the
possibility of running NT on top of AmigaOS (or the other way
around), shouldn't C=> put some focus back into Bridgeboard/Amiga
interoperability back again? How about the possibility of
transparent access to IBM ports and devices from the Amiga side and
viceversa. As it stands, the Mac nows performs this function better
with some recent IBM on card introductions?
Sorry for the long questions, but you get my drift… I hope!!! ;-^)>
Clarence,
While those sound more like engineering questions to me rather than
marketing.. I will add them to the list. Perhaps I am wrong, but I have
been of the impression that engineering presents ideas to management as
far as new hardware/softwar4e is concerned and not the other way around.
Dale? Is this so?
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark, an obvious question to ask:
q: Why hasn't Commodore funded efforts to put a Windows API on the
platform? This would go a long way to encouraging/aiding movement of
applications to the Amiga platform.
One reason, John: it would be damn difficult if not virtually
impossible.
Look how hard it was for IBM to do it on OS/2, and that on INTEL machines!
And the way they did it was essentially to include a copy of windoze
in each copy of OS/2, for which they had to pay MSoft $22 a pop. And
don't you think Apple would have done it if it was a simple thing?
Also, the Windoze API would not be very useful on an Amiga. It wouldn't
particularly relate to the hardware, it wouldn't perform particularly
well….
Paul
Actually, not true. The API has been put on the SUN and a couple of other
Unix boxes for just the purpose of moving applications. Much of the
magic/difficulty with Windows programming has to do with dealing with
memory models and other restrictions/limitations on resources. On the
Amiga, there would be no need to emulate those restrictions resulting in a
more robust environment.
Apple has no desire to do it and in fact would have a nearly impossible
time doing it because of the memory management schemes that they have
chosen. It is for this reason that there are few good ports of anything
to the Mac (most people end up doing a major rewrite for any project of
any size).
This has been discussed several times with Commodore management/technical
people over the years and is not as undo-able as it might seem. As for
performance, given that Windows is limited mostly by the graphics hardware
(note the number of accellerators on the PC today) it should scream on the
Amiga.
I didn't know that it had gone so far as being discussed with C=. And I
didn't know it wouldn't be as hard as I thought, of course. But come to
think of it, WABI could probably be liscensed – and then much of the work
would be done.
Paul
WABI is DOA. It doesn't work well, and new Windows technologies such as OLE 2
don't exist under it, making some major apps fail to work.
Oh. Alright. Well, so much for that. But what other options _DO_ exist
for easily implementing the Win API – preferably the full Win32 API, I
guess – on the Amiga?
Paul
Insignia, the folks that do SoftPC for Macintosh, now has a working
relationship with Microsoft and access to all the Windows source. They're the
ones now working on the Windows API capabilities for other OS's and are the
ones that Commodore ought to talk to if they're interesting in allowing Windows
apps to run under AmigaDOS. I'm sure it would actually be fairly simple given
their extensive experience on the Mac, i.e., another Motorola based platform.
Added to the list John.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Thanks for the opportunity here Mark! Here's my question…
How does C= expect entering the cable box industry to effect future
earnings? How, specifically, does this relate to the information
superhighway? And, finally, if entering the cable box industry combined
with CD32 helps C= get back on its feet financially, will the Amiga still
be supported, and if so, will marketing efforts be intensified at all?
I realize that is more than one question, but there's a lot I wanna know!
🙂
Added your message to the list.
Thanks for the compliments.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
Good work! Love to hear it! I don't have a well phrased question in mind
now, but, I'm pondering…
Robb
I am chairman of computer sciences at a private high school in NYC.
We all know the education market has been seized by the Apple
Macintosh, which is an abundant platform in our school. Yet when my
students are exposed to our two 16 MHz Amiga 3000's they are inspired
to do creative work well beyond the scope of what is offered by the
Macs. My question is twofold: 1) How did Commodore let the education
market slip away? 2) Is Commodore interested in the education market,
and if so, what steps will it take to try to gain a larger slice of
the pie. As every parent knows, 'what kids like, kids want'. Exposing
thousands of school children to Amiga computers by granting them or
selling them at EXCEPTIONALLY low cost to schools would be the most
effective advertising/sales campaign imaginable. Nick Didkovsky
Chairman of Computer Science, Dwight School, Manhattan
Selling them at cost would probably be the very best C= could possibly
manage, but I have no notion of what prices that would result in. And if
their production runs are too limited for that to be practical, it might
not be possible. The important thing, though, would be to get software
companies in on the act. I don't know whether this is a feasible idea,
but if software companies were to provide their software for free to
schools, it could even conceivably pay off in future sales, and certainly
would lower the real cost of the machine.
What we really need of course is some lunatic corporate sponsor to
donate A4000s left and right, fully decked out with networking, AdPro
or IM R/t, Toasters, and the like. Not to mention FiW and PgS and
other productivity-like applications to fill things out. Likely
story.
But hopefully this question _will_ go into the 20 in some form or
other.
Were such an objective pursued by CBM, Black Belt Systems would be
willing to provide the software at our expense to the end-user
educational institution. That's about as lunitic as we can get, I
think. :^)
This is a good thing. Perhaps by the time these questions are
forwarded to DiLuted and Ali several vendors who frequent these
forums could sign on and present C= with a partly completed package,
as it were. But that would be up to Mark and the other sysops to put
together, since it's his/their show.
Paul
I put your question on the list!
I attended quite a number of conferences of the New York Association for
Educational Data Systems (formerly AEDS, renamed to CATE).
There were quite a few Commodore enthusiasts in the group. But Apple sold
agressively, and Commodore seemed not to care. I was told that there were
Apple representatives visiting school districts on a frequent basis; and many
educators bought the whole Apple story, worm and all.
I was quite amazed at how many of them got burned on the Apple III and later
the Apple IIGS. But few seemed to lose their loyalty, and they always felt
that Apple was on call just around the corner. Commodore wasn't.
–Jim
When I was working with the computer specialist in our school system, he
told me that Apple's success was at least partly due to the fact that
Apple provided people who would do almost all the work required to get
federal grants to pay for the computers. They would write the proposals
that had to be presented to the school boards, etc., and all the computer
specialist had to do was edit them a little to fit local conditions – and
they'd even do that if necessary. They did more to make it easy on the
school personnel than anyone else. We had Commodore computers at that
time, could not get any support at all, could not even find a place to
repair the machines, and certainly had no help getting more. So the
system replaced the Commodores with Apples.
—Betty
Thanks a lot for an enlightening view of Apple and education. I guess the sales
pitch worked. Nick
Our school didn't get burned on our IIGS's. Apple gave us twenty of them.
Needles to say, the school purchased quite a bit of Apple stuff after
that. A lot of our students have the school thinking that Macs are the
only the machines there are. Staff mailboxes were constantly stuffed with
attractive educators discounts. Most of the faculty still don't know what
an Amiga is and most of them that own computers own Macs.
-Richard
Mark, congratulations! If nothing else you have achieved giving people
the feeling that somebody up there is listening.
OK My question is
What are Commmodores intentions in relation to hardware and operating
system upgrade paths? Will they be maintained?
It's probably unfair to just play 20 questions, why not play 20 possible
answers too?
IMHO and RYHIFFM – Background: In Australia by the end of this year,
Interactive TV are claiming that they will be trialling these units by
the end of this year. The units are to consist of a box containing a
computer/modem/printer and a console allegedly for about A$400.
This got me thinking that a totally modular system in the sense that
you don't have to open things up, you just plug together and play. So
as a kid you may get a CD32 games box and as your needs increase, you
just plug in anything extra you need – faster CPU, RAM, drives etc
all without having to open a box and play with pcb's. You should be
able to get any system from the start by picking the right modules.
Second hand trade (and consumer confidence) would allow the poor
amongst us to upgrade slowly and the choosing of Christmas and
birthday presents could be easy :-).
As a comment, John Dilullo might find that it's Commodore
representatives people are reacting to. I contacted the local C=
people here because I knew a local university would embarking on a
large scale multimedia build-up starting from scratch. What's a good
multimedia machine I thought to myself? I let the local C= people
know. The university in question didn't receive even a brochure. On
the other hand another brand beginning with M gave them a full system
with printer for students to play with for 6 months. Nobody has to
follow advice but listening is cheap.
The unfair question I really wanted to ask was `Why on earth do C=
think a clock is good and standard but a battery backed RT clock
isn't?'
regards, Lu on AutoPilot downunder
Lo,
I am not sure, other than the clock question, what you want me to ask
Commodore. Your question is a comment in my mind. Their likely response
would be "We thank you for your comment." 🙂
I think we need to be a bit cagey with our questions.
Can you re-phrase your comment into a question?
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
OK Mark, I have a few questions for Mr. Dilulu.
"What is the status of the 4000 Tower and why hasn't it been released
yet?"
"When is CBM's main push for CD32 here in the states."
"It always seems to me that CBM misses great advertising opprotunities
considering how much the Amiga is being used for animations in such shows
as Babylon 5, SeaQuest, Viper, etc. Why don't we see any advertising for
the Amiga during those shows?"
"How can CBM ever hope to compete in the computer market with full blown
486 systems and Mac's selling for much less than a Amiga 4000?"
Well that's all I can think of right off hand. I'm sure I'll think up some
more later.
// John – (Flying via AutoPilot)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
Just so you know — here are the answers according to my distributors and
some of the folks at Commodore.
1. A4000T is in production. Street price may be around $2700 or so.
2. March.
3. Lack of cash.
4. Need Cash. 🙂
I've added your questions to the list.
(grin)
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
This really isn't a question, more like a statement. I get to play with 10
million dollars worth on Data General and IBM main frames everyday at my
work(Westec Security), I work along side fifteen other people, most of whom
never heard of an AMIGA. I love my 1200, I talk about it so much at work that
people are now ticked at me and tell me to shut up about this little power
house. I must say that they are amazed at its power, both the operating system
and the hardware itself, they were even more amazed to see me run at 50 mhz and
emulate dos 6 and windows 3.1 at a pretty good speed with a software emulator
through a null modem. I know this seems like i'm rambling on so I'll get to the
point. Most of packard bell, compaq, IBM, and all of the other companies out
there sell systems in the department stores, ie: circuit city, Good Guys, Silo,
Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc. These stores are where most people buy computers,
usually because they see an awesome graphic on the screen, or there is a good
sale on systemsso they buy. You can buy a 1200 for around 300 dollars now days,
why not put some of these systems and the cd-32 in the big department stores,
in a interactive display. People can play with the system, and be thoughroly
impressed by it, word of mouth only sales nintendos and big products, and most
people would rather buy a computer through sars or a bigger store, rather than
a small dealer, a dealer who doesn't offer any return policy if you don't like
it, and is very small, and can't offer really good prices. Well this is the
opinion from someone who has been with commodore from my pet,c-64,500,1200,soon
to be cd-32, and hopefully even more awesome products, we are better than a
clone, we are Commodore amiga users, the only people who can boast AMIGA:
Motorola and Intel inside !!!!! [C [C
Jeremy,
Intersting.
Let me respond to a few things here.
In order to get these boxes into the department stores Commodore has to
agree to co-operative advertising dollars. They have to agree to provide
product on credit and usually with a good return policy. This is a
tremendous outlay of dollars that would surely raise the price of the
Amiga instead of lowering it further.
The second thing that has to be there is demand. Sears and Montgomery
Wards (who used to have the Amiga by the way) want a good margin and want
a product will move without a great deal of promotion from them–other
than to advertise they have it. Amigas require people who understand the
machine and understand its virtue over the machines.
Simply put–no Amiga computer will ever sell well in department
stores–even if Commodore had the money to fund it. This was aptly
demonstrated with the Amiga 500 and Montgomery Wards.
CD32 may be another matter. We shall see.
By the way, the days of the $300 Amiga 1200 is over. 😉
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Why are the 300 dollar amigas gone, I have an ad here for $299.99 from mail
order, O.K. it has no hard drive but some people don"t want that feature now,
my 500 and 1200 lived without one for some time before I decided to spend money
on it(before I knew what the advantages were).
I used to be a product merchandiser at Toys R Us, I have a strong belief that
people DO nOT buy a product that they are not aware of, thats where advertising
and merchandisers come in. Yeah I agree that 6 digits is a large figure for a
struggling company but how do you think Budweiser, Sony, Intel, Mitsubishi,
Toyota, etc, etc get to be so big. They make an awesome product which gets good
advertisement, good use, and subsequently good word of mouth. Maybe a deal with
some of the software developers to make some really good and competetive
software(to supplesome productivity already out ie: final writer, pro calc)for
the amiga would do good, just tell any developer that a massive advertising
plan is to ensue in the future and he"ll make something, something to compete
with Lotus, and word perfect, something which doesn't require upteen hours and
dollars to even learn the basics, and something which doesn't cost $600.00(word
for windows-equivalent to Final Writer in every way I might add). I don't know
about this world I have elected to enroll to, I love my amiga, I can do
anything with it for my work needs, I love to talk about my machine, and I love
to talk to and help other amiga users, but if we don't get our s**t together
there will be no more amigas, or commodorein this world and things will be
bleak indeed, a world of emotionless clones, all made by Intel. I've said my
peace for now, Maybe, just maybe we'll be freed from this software-less world
somedayand you'll walk into a computer store, say the word Amiga and be pointed
to a section devoted to this awesome machine, instead of getting a blank stare
by some salesman, or being pointed to a single magazine on the rack!!!!!!!!!!
**** on line at 4 dollars a hour *****
The reason the $300 Amiga (actually it is closer to $400) may be over has
to do with the fact that the A1200 will probably cease production for the
US market after the next production run–which is already late.
I got this from Dilullo and though not necesarily in stone Commodore
International wants Commodore US to commit for about 10,000 A1200 systems.
Commodore can only find demand for about 2,500 systems nationwide. There
is a production run that should be underway now and after that A1200s are
going to get real scarce (like they are now).
Of course with the advent of the CD32 expansion technology that Micro
R&D have the A1200 may well be moot.
Hi Mark.
My biggest and warmest congratulations. That's definitely the way to go,
get the best from the Amiga community and direct the effort to the place
that can make the most for us, proud-confused-bold-idealistic-naive Amiga
users/owners.
Here are my questions.
The AmigaOS IS the jewel of the crown. Do CBM realize it? Is it going to
be ported to the PowerPC?
What about UNIX-Amiga strategy? Networking strategy?
Will Mr Dilullo/CBM continue having this kind of incredible behavior (they
are asking us!) in a scheduled/opportunistic basis or is it just a night
winter dream?
Thanks for you time, patience, kindness and attention. Please, please,
please, follow this way.
Again, kindest and warmest regards. Well done!
Rafa <Motorola Inside>
…via AutoPilot 1.061 now from M|nchen
Thanks.. I added your questions to the list. I do think though the
chances that the question about Dilullo having this incrediable
behavior etc., probably won't make it. 🙂