kim@mips.UUCP (Kim DeVaughn) (11/26/85)
[ ... go ahead, eat my bits ... ]
Just passing these along ...
1. An outfit called COMSPEC in Toronto has finished the development of
a 2 Meg board for the Amiga. Expected FCS (1st customer ship) is
early 1Q86; estimated price: $1000 (Canadian). They are working on
"several other products" for the Amiga, but declined to comment on
what they are. Ph: 416-787-0617 ... they'll put you on a list for
the product announcement.
2. A "full-featured" communications package is what Micro-Systems Software,
Inc. is claiming for their "Online!" package. I talked to Bill Phillips
(Marketing Director) and was told that Online! (probably a tm), supported
Modem7/Xmodem, XmodemCRC, and Hayes-Smartcomm file xfer protocols. Also,
Online! supports terminal emulation of vt52's, vt100's, and something
else (I didn't catch the type). It will handle scripts, and perform
unattended operation. Lots of user interfacing bells-and-whistles, menus,
pull-downs, etc. They are "waiting on the printer", and expect FCS in
"a week or two" (strangely enough, I believe him on the timeframe ... must
be wishful thinking, else I'm getting easy :-) ). The price is $99.95,
plus ~$3.50 shipping.
Bill talked some about how they've been in the comm s/w business for
several years, and have worked with several OEM's (check out their
address!). He said they have several other products ... a "hot" BBS
package called RBBS (or some such), and an integrated spreadsheet/comm/
wordprocessor package, among others. These are "all written in C", and
he invited me to speculate on what kind of future products might be
coming from them.
BTW, he said they had been working *very* closely with CBM on this
product. Their address is:
Bill Phillips, Director of Marketing {I'm not sure
Micro-Systems Software, Inc. this is his
4301-18 Oak Circle exact title,
Boca Raton, FL 33431 but it's
close.}
ph: 800-327-8724
Bill also invited me to check out their BBS at 305-737-1590. Said
their R&D people often show up there, and that there was some Amiga
technical stuff on it. Can anyone in Florida check it out and see
what's there?
3. Sybex Computer Books has purportedly published the "Official Amiga
Developer's Manual" (or some such title) with 400+ pages for $28.95.
Sybex is in Berkeley, CA, and their phone is 415-848-8233. I will
check this out soon as I can ... meantime, anyone know anything on
its contents, style, author, etc?
I've also seen mention of Bantam [?!] publishing Amiga documentation;
anybody know for sure?
These tidbits were originally picked up on Compuserve from the two
Commodore SIG's. I don't have any connection with any of the companies
I've mentioned except Compuserve ... them I owe money to (quite alot
after this past weekend!)
Sorry if any of you feel this is too much commercializing, but hopefully
you realize that the Amiga is still so new, that the announcement of (or
even the rumor of) *any* new product related to it is a major event.
This is especially true of s/w and documentation!
My opinions belong to only me, but they're NOT copy-protected!
/kim
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