biggers@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Mark Biggers) (11/20/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR FAVORITE SOFTWARE ***
I have been doing some checking with software distributors and
companies whose products I would like to see on the Amiga.
The responses so far:
The Programmer's Shop (asked about carrying any Amiga stuff):
"We're waiting to see what will happen. Have had many
inquiries for Amiga software. Can I get your name and
address to contact you?"
Mark of the Unicorn (creators of Final Word, an Emacs/
Scribe subset word processor - rated highly):
"We're waiting to see what will happen. Have had a
few inquiries about FW on the Amiga. We do have FW
for the Atari 520ST (sound of surprise from me)."
(I left them my name and address).
Unipress Software (micro-Emacs distributor):
"We are working on micro-Emacs for the Amiga - no
release date yet."
Well, one out of three ain't bad. But people, if you want software
ported to the Amiga, YOU GOTTA ASK for it! I was kinda surprised to hear
of FW for the Atari ST, considering that I have yet to see any computer
dealers in the area carrying these machines, as compared to several NY
and NJ stores carrying the Amiga. Maybe Atari owners ARE noisier that
Amiga owners - but I will help y'all a bit. Here are the above
shops' phone numbers:
The Programmer's Shop: (617) 826-7531
Mark of the Unicorn: (617) 576- (2760 or 3052)
Unipress Software: (201) 985-8000
If most significant software companies keep sitting on their hands,
"waiting to see what will happen", we will never get the kind of
quality software that the Amiga deserves. I for one would buy FW
right now for the Amiga; even though I am a developer, I also
do lots of word processing in my volunteer activities.
==========================================================================
Mark Biggers
(201) 249-7939
uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!biggers
@work: princeton!siemens!biggers
==========================================================================mckay@pur-ee.UUCP (Dwight D McKay) (11/22/85)
In article <4225@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> biggers@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Mark Biggers) writes: >*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR FAVORITE SOFTWARE *** > >I have been doing some checking with software distributors and >companies whose products I would like to see on the Amiga. ... > Mark of the Unicorn (creators of Final Word, an Emacs/ > Scribe subset word processor - rated highly): > "We're waiting to see what will happen. Have had a > few inquiries about FW on the Amiga. We do have FW > for the Atari 520ST (sound of surprise from me)." ... >ported to the Amiga, YOU GOTTA ASK for it! I was kinda surprised to hear >of FW for the Atari ST, considering that I have yet to see any computer The Atari is just a more sensible choice for a quick see-if-there's-a-market port of a piece of software. Final word has been available at the local Atari dealer (he also carries Amiga) for about three weeks. Yes, here in middle-of-nowhere, Lafayette, Indiana!! It's just part of about a foot and 1/2 of shelf space full of ST software. The reason porting to the ST is easier is two fold. First, and most importantly the operating system is VERY similar to MS-DOS, CP/M, etc. Things software companies are familiar with. Second, the windowing system is a LAYER on top of the OS. You can drop it if you want to. This is what Final Word does. It looks almost exactly like it would on an IBM-PC. And I'll bet that they had very few code changes to make aside from recompiling the program to enable it to run on the ST. It's going to take people time to figure out the Amiga's neato memory map (do I want this is CHIP memory or not?), it's neato OS, etc, etc. By then it may be too late. --Dwight Mckay, ECN Software Support [mckay@purdue-ecn] (a happy Atari 520 ST owner)