jer@stbimbo.UUCP (John Ramspott) (08/28/90)
I thought everyone would like to hear about a big presentation that Entre Computers and Commodore did here in Atlanta at the Embassy Suites Hotel. There was an add in the paper for a "MultiMedia Presentation' for the Commodore Amiga, sponsored by Entre. Entre Computers, a chain of computer dealers aimed at businesses, picked up the Amiga line about 2 months ago. As a die-hard Amiga user since October of `85, I was thrilled to see it. The presentation was held in a fancy room at the Embassy Suites Hotel. There was a free wet bar (beer and mixed drinks), along with a food bar (chicken fillets, cantaloupe, etc). Guys from Commodore and Entre running around. On hand were Amiga 3000's and 2500's, with software like Deluxe Paint III, Sculpt Animate 4D, and even a DigiView setup. Entre even brought a pretty girl along to smile at the patrons. The main focus of attention was the giant projection screen television, and huge speakers that would make a Heavy Metal band feel right at home. Driving all this was an Amiga 2500 running AmigaVision, which was hooked up to a nice Pioneer laser disk player. The first few minutes of the presentaion were impressive. They used AmigaVision to put together a presentation, and had it put on a laser disk. What they ran at the show was a second AmigaVision application that played back the laser disk produced with the original AV application. I thought that was pretty slick. The rest of the show was an introduction to the Amiga and the features we all know in our sleep (but these folks read from slides) like 4096 colors, overscan, multi-tasking, etc. At the end was a Q&A with a panel of Entre and Commodore folks. This was the part that went kind of rough. I ended up helping out here. The audience members were mostly business types, in suits and ties. They want to use Multimedia, and the Amiga is an impressive, low-cost system. Some people introduced themselves to me as "Multimedia people", but clearly didn't know very much yet. But they were asking questions and definitely interested in what the Amiga had to offer. This kind of event sure was a long time in coming. After five years, we finally are getting the hyped-up presentations that business hacks adore so much. While low on content, it was high on flash and buzzwords. My impression of the event was that it looked very good and serious. No 500's around running Falcon. ----- Part II. After the alchohol wore off, I went to Entre's store with a few associates who are looking into getting Amigas. When I got there, I saw an Amiga 3000, but it wasn't even plugged in. No one there knew ANYTHING about the machine. The sales dweeb that came out to see us could not even give us the price list, and used the phrase "per se" at least 20 times in 2 minutes. He said that THE Amiga guy would probably be in Wednesday, and he could find the information and mail it to us. While Entre and stores like it have a rep as catering to the professional, I find NOTHING professional about this. I couldn't have bought a system there if I had begged for it. They stock NOTHING. They know NOTHING. They order systems for people. Great, I can do that. For less money. Can they fix Amigas? Of course not, they don't stock parts. Fortunately for me, we have a really good Amiga dealer in Atlanta that stocks hardware, software, parts, magazines, accessories, has a knowledgable staff, and does repairs (Ampex, for those near by). But I feel sorry for those people who first/last/only encounter is with a dealer like Entre. They may have glitter and gloss, but no content. On the other hand, the fact they carry the machine enhances the Amiga image somewhat. Personally, I don't think John Foust was that far off in his .Info article. Anybody else out there attending events like these for Amiga and Amiga only?
sokay@richard.mitre.org (Steve Okay) (08/30/90)
>I thought everyone would like to hear about a big presentation that Entre >Computers and Commodore did here in Atlanta at the Embassy Suites Hotel. >There was an add in the paper for a "MultiMedia Presentation' for the >Commodore Amiga, sponsored by Entre. Entre Computers, a chain of computer >dealers aimed at businesses, picked up the Amiga line about 2 months ago. >As a die-hard Amiga user since October of `85, I was thrilled to see it. [Lots of stuff deleted] >Fortunately for me, we have a really good Amiga dealer in Atlanta that stocks >hardware, software, parts, magazines, accessories, has a knowledgable staff, >and does repairs (Ampex, for those near by). But I feel sorry for those >people who first/last/only encounter is with a dealer like Entre. They may >have glitter and gloss, but no content. On the other hand, the fact they >carry the machine enhances the Amiga image somewhat. > >Personally, I don't think John Foust was that far off in his .Info article. > >Anybody else out there attending events like these for Amiga and Amiga only? I recently went to one over here in Reston, Va. at CBM "Federal Headquarters". The first thing I noticed was every desk had an Amiga on it. There were no Macs, IBMs, etc. in sight. The presentation was to a group of architects by MicroDec computers, a local "solution supplier" that has been True Blue for as long as I can remember and has just recently picked up the Amiga. This in itself had me very excited. Yes!, the tide is starting to shift. Their pitch was to use Sculpt 4D, Turbo Silver, Digiview and some custom software they had written to design architectural models for walk-through animations and then sock the ANIMs to tape for sales demos to prospects. It was pretty slick. The group present was your typical business type who is wowed by blocky GIFs, and still pronounces DOS 'Dose'. One of the guys from CBM who was helping out scanned in a 5x7 picture using the new Sharp handscanner, save it as an IFF, outlined the image with dpaint, then used Interchange to turn the outline into a sculpt object. *Poof* in 5 minutes he had a 3D wireframe of a building front up on the screen. Needless to say, all were suitably impressed and drooling at the mouth. I too dropped by the store afterwards. There was a CBM guy there, still wrapping up details with the staff, and there were a few salesdroids who were pretty knowledgeable about the system in general(as far as salespeople go). The one thing I picked up from them was that they were clearly selling Ami as a bundled system of A3000, software, peripherals , etc. They don't have any plans to stock the Amiga line on a item basis.They would order things like a 2630, genlock, etc. though. This now brings to 5 the number of Amiga dealers we have in the area. I would say things are definitely looking up.
Jeff.Niebergall@f70.n140.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jeff Niebergall) (09/04/90)
I don't think Interchange can convert IFF pics from Dpaint into Sculpt or any other type of object, at least not the version I have. Maybe it was DigiWorks 3D that did the object creation from the Dpaint output? Jeff -- Jeff Niebergall - via FidoNet node 1:140/22 UUCP: ...!alberta!herald!weyr!70!Jeff.Niebergall Domain: Jeff.Niebergall@f70.n140.z1.FIDONET.ORG Standard Disclaimers Apply...