carlos@io.UUCP (Carlos Smith) (12/03/87)
This is in response to a request for information about the visit by Max Toy and Irving Gould from Commodore, to the BCS Amiga group. It was some time ago, but I will try to briefly repeat some of the more interesting points. The visit was mostly Q&A, with very little speechifying. Commodore's continuing commitment to the Amiga was emphasized. Some interesting comments included: Advertising - someone complained about the relatively simple nature of the A500 TV ads (always bitching! - a year ago there were no ads). The reply was - this is the Christmas season. Right now exposure is most important for Christmas sales. The advertising emphasis will shift after Christmas, with more A2000 ads (not TV ads) and a different focus for the A500. Also, they mentioned that they expect to have sold over 500K Amigas by the end of the year. Supply - A500's and A2000's are selling as fast as they are shipped. Manufacturing for the A500 is running slightly above target, and more manufacturing may be brought on line. They apologized for shortages of A2000's and the delay in the A2090 disk controller and the '286 bridge boards. Future of A1000 - Mr. Gould said the A1000 is NOT being abandoned. He said that downward compatibility is a high design priority. As is the nature of technology, the A1000 will become obsolete, but that is not to say incompatible. He also said (in front of hundreds of witnesses) that "to the best of his knowledge" the new versions of the custom chips will be adaptable to the A1000, either directly or as a kit. (Note that on a different topic Mr. Gould said "I know just enough technically to be dangerous"). Display quality - Mr. Gould acknowledged that a lack of a stable high-res display was a hinderance for the business market. He said "That problem is being addressed." There WILL be new custom chips (see above) but he would not discuss their nature. Education - Educational sales and SW development are being given a high priority at Commodore. Gee - that's about all that sticks in my mind. It was a very positive, upbeat meeting, and it gave me a great deal of confidence in the future of the Amiga. In particular, I was VERY impressed by Max Toy. He is SHARP. I think he will be very good for the Amiga. For the future, I mentioned to him after the meeting that neither myself, nor any of my Amiga owner friends who are all professional programmers, are upgrading to the A2000 since it doesn't do enough new for us to be worth it, but that we are all waiting for a real 32 bit Amiga. His reply - "I hear you, I hear you". Oh, boy, I can't wait! Imagine, 68020, no 68030, MMU, 12 bitplanes with a blitter for each bitplane, 16 sound channels, 8 meg, yeah, yeah. This is from memory, I am not a professional reporter, so I disclaim any errors, and in particular the fantasy at the end. But Mr. Gould did say that about the A1000, we all heard it! I hope he was right, or will be made right. -- Carlos Smith uucp:...!harvard!umb!ileaf!carlos Bix: carlosmith
page@ulowell.UUCP (12/03/87)
Gould also said they were looking into the 1.6MB floppies as well.
Carlos Smith wrote:
>Imagine [...] 12 bitplanes with a blitter for each bitplane
Yeah, we'll call 'em BLITPLANES, yeah, that's the ticket.
..Bob
--
Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@ulowell.edu ulowell!page
"I've never liked reality all that much, but I haven't found a
better solution." --Dave Haynie, Commodore-Amiga