page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (09/14/88)
Why do Amiga owners want the whole world to own an Amiga? Ego massage? Purchase justification? Religious zealotism? I don't care if Commodore advertises or not. Let's talk about stuff we can do with an Amiga. ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@swan.ulowell.edu ulowell!page "What a wonder is USENET; such wholesale production of conjecture from such a trifling investment in fact." -- Carl S. Gutekunst
bakken@ripvan.ccit.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken) (09/14/88)
In article <9080@swan.ulowell.edu>, page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes: > Why do Amiga owners want the whole world to own an Amiga? > Ego massage? Purchase justification? Religious zealotism? Do you personally buy anything for your Amiga, Bob, or does Lowell? Probably Amigans see how cheap hard disks and sophisticated software (relative to the primitive system) are for the IBM PC family and realize that this is available only with a large installed base. It also may be an act of great mercy. They see what a neandrathal state of computing and productivity owners of most other PCs live in and they grieve. I've long held that Intel's segmented architecture, Q-DOS (aka MS-DOS), and IBM's lack of preparation for their PC have cost Western Civilization literally millions of man-hours. Also, the reasons you mentioned probably are a factor. > > I don't care if Commodore advertises or not. Let's talk about > stuff we can do with an Amiga. > I care, for the above reasons. I agree, though, that we should press ahead. -- Dave Bakken UUCP: arizona!bakken Internet:bakken@arizona.edu
Dan-Hankins@cup.portal.com (09/15/88)
Bob Page writes: >Why do Amiga owners want the whole world to own an Amiga? >Ego massage? Purchase justification? Religious zealotism? None of these. The reasons for wanting the world to own Amigas are very practical, self-serving, and beneficial to the entire Amiga community. More Amigas means: 1. A broader customer base. 2. More money for Commodore to put into further Amiga development and support. 3. That the big software houses can make enough money selling to Amigoids to justify writing software for the Amiga (and at lower prices due to the sales volume). 4. That hardware manufacturers can justify building Amiga add-ons (again at lower prices due to the sales volume). 5. More PD programmers and more Amiga-supporting BBSs. 6. More technical experts (like Peter Norton) digging into the guts and then giving technical advice. 7. More universal happiness. It is well known (among Amiga users) that computer users are happier when using an Amiga than when using anything else in its price range. Therefore by getting more Amigas out there one is furthering progress and benefitting Mankind. Less Amigas means: 1. A shrinking set of customers. 2. Less money for Commodore to put into the Amiga, possibly with the ultimate result of loss of support or even Commodore's bankruptcy. 3. Less software developed (software companies can't make as much money as on other machines). 4. Less hardware add ons (same argument as 3). 5. Less PD stuff and BBSs. 6. Fewer technical experts. 7. More universal unhappiness. Dan Hankins
dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) (09/16/88)
In article <9080@swan.ulowell.edu> page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes: >Why do Amiga owners want the whole world to own an Amiga? >Ego massage? Purchase justification? Religious zealotism? Simple: size of the market available to software developers. Some of us would like to prostitute ourselves and actually make some money doing software for the machine. The more people own one, the better the chance that it would be worth our while. Even those of us who don't have such aspirations are at least partially dependent upon those who do for the software we use (Yeah, I know, you can get PD software for most things, or write our own, but really now, all of us use some commercial software, right?) >..Bob -- Dave Hanna, Daltech MicroSystems | "Do or do not -- There is no try" P.O. Box 584, Bedford, TX 76095 | - Yoda (214) 358-4534 (817) 540-1524 | UUCP: ...!killer!gtmvax!dave |
page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (09/17/88)
I think I get it now. The answer comes down to "We want more hardware and software from third party vendors", the obvious implication being many people are not using their Amigas for the reasons they originally bought it for, thus their purchase is not 'legitimate' yet. Sounds good to me. I guess I have all the Amiga hw and sw I want/need, so I'm happy with the current state of affairs. I still think Amigaoids are looking at other PC markets and judging the Amiga by the size of the other markets, saying "we should try to become as big as they are, so we can legitimize our Amiga purchases." Regardless of which, I wish there were a separate place for lamenting the small Amiga market (wrt the larger Apple and IBM markets) so those of us happy with our systems could concentrate on positive pursuits. ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@swan.ulowell.edu ulowell!page