Classic_-_Concepts@cup.portal.com (12/01/89)
I was in a local printing shop which will take a diskette and produce
laser output on a LaserWriter PostScript printer. Waiting also was a gentle-
man with a Mac diskette. (Some background first, at home I have my Amiga,
a Mac Plus, 3 TRS-80s and an LNW.) The store has a Mac which people can
use for a $12.50/hr charge. This was the conversation:
Him: Do you use Microsoft Word on the Mac? (He assumed I had a Mac.)
Me: Yes, and Pagemaker as well. I also have an Amiga.
Him: Oh. I guess you use the Amiga for games.
Me: Yes, sometimes, but most of the time I use it for Data Bases,
Correspondence, Desktop Publishing, Graphics, Animation (he
looks visibly surprised at this stream of information). I don't
have a lot of time to play games these days.
Him: Do you have a lot of software for the Amiga (dubious)?
Me: Yes, several hundred. I have two things for the Mac, Microsoft
Word and PageMaker.
Him: (Gives me this astonished look--changes the subject). They have
some really neat CAD programs for the Mac, if you like graphics.
Me: I prefer to do graphics on the Amiga.
Him: I guess the IBM is better for CAD, though. (My turn to look
astonished. I've done about 3,000 hours of CAD on IBMs and it
sucks, pardon the expression.)
Me: No, I think the Amiga is vastly superior.
Him: (Shakes his head.) Why?
Me: Multitasking, graphics coprocessors, better resolution and colors.
(and about 3 more minutes of conversation). A lot cheaper too.
Him: My sister's kids have an Amiga. I guess they just use it for
games.
Me: (Sigh--I guess all the talk in the world doesn't make a lot of
difference, sometimes. In this guy's mind, an Amiga is just
another Commodore 64. Oh well. I just shrugged and paid for
my printouts.)
- JP