[net.micro.amiga] Amiga Development Kit

jdickson@jpl-milvax (12/08/85)

From: DICKSON, JEFF S. <jdickson@jpl-milvax>


	hello,

	It is my general feeling, from reading some of the mail on the net,
that a few of the Amigians out there who placed orders for Amiga's Dedelopment
Kit are disgruntled over Commodore's apparent lack of expediency in the matter.
Just exactly what is the situation here? [ an impatient person likes to know
these things before he plunges head first :-) ] Any of you disgruntled Amigians
"laying in wait" care to reply ? How about any of you Amigians who already got
theirs ? Please send responses directly to me if possible (I'll get them 
faster).


						thanks,

						Jeff S. Dickson
						JDICKSON@JPL-MILVAX.ARPA

---a picture is worth a thousand words----
------

farmer@ISM780.UUCP (12/10/85)

>        It is my general feeling, from reading some of the mail on the net,
>that a few of the Amigians out there who placed orders for Amiga's Dedelopment
>Kit are disgruntled over Commodore's apparent lack of expediency in the matter.
I ordered my developers kit, and gave them my visa number to pay for federal
express.  Two weeks later, a big box came via UPS.  Oh well, I was afraid
they were waiting for my check to clear.

Two weeks is not bad.  My only complaint is that I was hoping to get the
1.1 releases of the software.  The 1.0 releases that I got seem to be the same
as the "beta" release that my dealer had.

Also I did get the ROM kernel manual.  It seems very impressive, not to
mention large.

The usual disclaimers apply.
David Farmer

steve@wlbr.UUCP (Steve Childress) (12/18/85)

In article <38600002@ISM780.UUCP>, farmer@ISM780.UUCP writes:
> 
> >        It is my general feeling, from reading some of the mail on the net,
> >that a few of the Amigians out there who placed orders for Amiga's Dedelopment
> >Kit are disgruntled over Commodore's apparent lack of expediency in the matter.
> 
> David Farmer


I'm livid, Dave. I sent a chashier's check to expedite things.

Two weeks later, I received the CPU, RAM expansion, and external Drive.
  And not one manual or diskette. Not one. Nada. Zilch. No monitor either.
Worse, there's no note of explanation or a promise date. Just BO's all down
the shipper's QTY column.

Twelve days after that, I received the v1.0 Retail software package. No
monitor, no C, no manuals, except for AbasiC.

So, here I am, December 18, after mailing the order on Nov 16, with AbasiC.

And the receptionist at Commodore, in answer to my query for a projected
ship date, advises "call back in a week if you've received nothing." She's
been instructed by an air-head.

Well, Commodore-amiga, this is a certain formula for failure. 

To say that this is a lousy first impression of Commodore-Amiga's
regard for the developers is a great understatement.

			Steve Childress
			(818) 706-5000

ec150fcy@sdcc13.UUCP (Joseph McCaughey{|stu) (12/22/85)

> 
> 
> I'm livid, Dave. I sent a chashier's check to expedite things.
> 
> Two weeks later, I received the CPU, RAM expansion, and external Drive.
>   And not one manual or diskette. Not one. Nada. Zilch. No monitor either.
> Worse, there's no note of explanation or a promise date. Just BO's all down
> the shipper's QTY column.
> 
> Twelve days after that, I received the v1.0 Retail software package. No
> monitor, no C, no manuals, except for AbasiC.
> 
> So, here I am, December 18, after mailing the order on Nov 16, with AbasiC.
> 
> And the receptionist at Commodore, in answer to my query for a projected
> ship date, advises "call back in a week if you've received nothing." She's
> been instructed by an air-head.
> 
> Well, Commodore-amiga, this is a certain formula for failure. 
> 
> To say that this is a lousy first impression of Commodore-Amiga's
> regard for the developers is a great understatement.
> 
> 			Steve Childress
> 			(818) 706-5000

FLAME ON

You know, I am getting sick of this sort of mail on the net.
You mail-order something, you take your chances.  I have a
friend who is also a registered developer that had to wait over
a month to get his development station and he never complained
once.  Just patiently would smile and say "It's coming soon 
Larry" (You see, I never believed he would really get one, he
once said he was going to order a Mac and he never did).

He meanwhile did all his development on the VAX at his work
with only the device dependent stuff unwritten.  The reason 
I am flaming is because it seems like a lot of people got
development systems who are not going to develop one piece
of marketable software at all for the Amiga.  They only applied
to get their Amiga at a discount.
They cry about not having their Amiga to play with, but heck -- 
the Amiga is only needed for the implementation portion of your 
software package.  A good software package takes a great deal
of time to design.  Certainly four weeks could be spent
designing the overall structure of your package instead of
on useless anxiety.

Larry Joe MacCaughey

"Soon to buy his Amiga from a DEALER -- and proud of it!!!"

knnngt@ukma.UUCP (Alan Kennington) (12/27/85)

You're lucky! I've been waiting 7 weeks for BASIC for my ST. Looks like slow
delivery is inevitable when the product is new. You should just hope that
your basic will read the first byte of a disk file. The ST basic doesn't.
Incidentally, I'm envious of the constructive nature of discussion in this
newsgroup. If I were rich I'd buy an Amiga and be constructive too!!

steve@wlbr.UUCP (Steve Childress) (01/03/86)

My gripe with Commodore/Amiga is that they lack the courtesy to enclose a
form letter in the backordered shipments explaining the problem and
estimating a ship date. This is only common consideration for a presumably
valued customer and/or developer.