kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth) (04/14/90)
So, the Amiga is (said to be) obsolete because it doesn't have 24 bit color and 1024 rows of display. Is this true? The A500 sells for (say) $500. What is the cost of a 19 inch color monitor capable of 1024 x 1024 x 42 bits. Isn't it about $5K? Does this seem to anyone else to be a case of the tail wagging the dog? As a price leader, the Amiga must make compromises to decrease the system cost. Many people can do without the fancy monitor, so the Amiga's feature set does not support it. Many people don't need a 68040 running at 50 MHz and a 300Mbyte disk, so these things are not included standard. I am sure there are news readers who wish their faerie god-manufacturer would sell them such a machine for $500, but the fact that the Amiga is not such a machine does not make it obsolete. When the cost of the peripherals drops to about the cost of the mainframe, it will be time to talk about obsolescence. When the cost of comparable capabilities drops to the cost of the Amiga's capabilities, it will be time to talk of obsolescence. This hasn't happened yet (though it is visible over the horizon...)