NETOPRHM@NCSUVM.BITNET (Hal Meeks) (05/05/88)
Thomas W. Sarver writes: >***GET ON KNEES*** If you must....... >I WANT HYPERCARD FOR THE AMIGA! It is sorta nice. And standard. >Here's a scenario: >Get Apple to license a port on a per/copy basis. Charge $X with $(X/Y) going >to Apple. Include some PD stacks, maybe even one or two extra disks of them. Do you really think Apple is going to license one of its best marketing tools to a competitor? If you need an answer to this question, write to Microsoft or Hewlet Packard......... >You'll be making beacoup (that's, boo-koo) bucks and will be heroes for bringin > Apple's genius to the Amiga community. (let's face it, Hypertext is genius, > but Apple was genius to introduce it for $49.95) A little recent history: Bill Atkinson (the author) was steadfast in his belief that hypercard should be free. He saw it as an extension of the Macintosh enviroment. Apple wanted to sell it, but finally gave in. They caught hell from software vendors who felt it would put a damper on the relational database market. The $49.95 is for a "Hypercard Card Kit", for people who had previously bought Macs. It comes free with all Macs now sold. And that is the beauty of it all..... >HyperCard was meant for multi-tasking. Imagine reading uucp using OnLine! as >a terminal to a site. You find something interesting. You copy it to the >clipboard. You click HyperCard to front, and put it on a card. Been following the ongoing conversation about IPC? How about AREXX? Agreed, Hypercard is here now. But to do what you are describing on a Macintosh (under multifinder) would take slightly more than the standard 1 meg in a plus or SE. (like 2 meg) >To hardware vendors: >Everyone knows the Amiga laughs and dances (excuse the anthropocentric metaphor >with a meg of memory or more. But people really have to have the walletto >stomach the price. Developers of mega software are not porting to the Amiga >because 1M is not standard. This is out the hardware manufacturer's hands at the moment. Have you noticed that memory chip prices have risen slightly, as of late? Most companies making expansion products for the Amiga are rather small. Add to this the relatively small user base, and it is hard for them to recoup their startup cost quickly. Notice that prices for hard disks are actually starting to drop into the reasonable range? Give it some time. > We all know the ST is a toy compared to the Amiga, yet >it is receiving the high-end ports. The term "toy" is relative. An amiga is a toy in the hands of a 5 year old. What you are saying has been said too many times already. We both agree the Amiga suits our needs better. Let's leave it at that. And remember, one "major" port does not a viable machine make. >(Stuff deleted) One reason for the way it is is that CBM doens't >support its machines. Apple puts out a free upgrade of their OS every 8 mo. >or so. IBM has such a huge installed base, anyone will put out something. I think CBM is doing a much better job now, than a year ago. I feel better about the survivability of the Amiga than I have ever felt. I would have bought a Mac, otherwise, since it is the machine I have used for the last 5 years. Commodore has (is?) hurting financially. They are just now pulling together the staff to really do support in a reasonable way. I am happy with what I have seen of WB 1.3. And 1.4 sounds wonderful. >I don't need to tell anyone how badly the Amiga is marketed. Only someone who >walks into a Commodore dealership will ever know an Amiga exists. There's no >campaign to get naive users to look at Amiga before giving in to peer pressure >and buying IBM. You certainly don't have to tell me this. I used to sell them in a store that counted on PC's being their money maker. I tried my damnest to convince the owners that Amigas were viable. But the profit margin wasn't there (at least for the A500). Wanna see an Amiga advertisment in a unexpected place? Check out the money section in USA Today, April 27. Things are moving. --hal netoprhm@ncsuvm.bitnet "Maybe I need a slight cranial adjustment" hgm@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu --Zoogz Riff