craig@unicus.UUCP (10/28/87)
One request, to both BADGE and Commodore, about the "Killer Demos":
When you distribute the disk to dealers, you *must* ensure that there
is a simple, brain-dead, insert-disk-and-it-goes, click-icon-and-it-
starts-and-stops, control program that Commodore dealers are capable
of using.
This is not necessarily an insult to Commodore dealers, though I've
seen a few dumb ones: simply an observation that demos of any other
nature are *never* used in the continuous-loop, wow-amazing-sit-in-
the-window sense that is going to sell A500s.
I've seen, at least a dozen times, people *stopped on the street* by
the silly Atari rotating-reflecting-balls display, that happens also
to be able to display the dealer's name and address and an ST plug.
Right beside it was an Amiga, running a colour-shifting "headline" type
program that called the store "The Ultimate ST Store" (!), but also
mentioned Amigas. In other words, they likely had nothing better.
Of course, everyone who stopped talked about STs. Somebody pointed at
an Amiga and said `remember those'? I cringed.
Whether or not they would use a better demo if they had one,
anything that requires ANY intervention by storepeople while
the demo runs will simply never be used. Any mistake in this
regard, any system-bombing fault, any displayed requestor,
and the Amiga's only impact will be with an error message.
The *entire*, and I do mean ENTIRE, effort of the contest will be wasted.
I guarantee you, in all the store windows I know of, the error message
will be displayed for at least the entire day.
If some of the demos are unreliable, then there should be an option to
exclude them. Likewise for those that require intervention to set up.
By the way, the concept is excellent and it really shows some innovation
on the part of Amiga people. If only this last link in the chain can be
done properly, we might see it really boost the new Amigas. But, as always,
the last link is the most important. As of right now, no one but the
converted has seen these demos. And without a demo disk (or set of disks,
for various memory and disk configuration, perhaps) that even those people
who work in stores named "Electronic Playworld" can use, it goes nowhere.
This must be done, done right, tested, deliberately foiled (press keys
during the demo, click mice, etc.), fixed, tested again, sent to a few
people to test in practice (running 24 hours+, etc), fixed again, and
*then* sent to the dreaded dealers in "Playland". If it takes an extra
month, so be it. If it's running in Toronto by World of Commodore in
December, I'll be happy. And that beats an error message, anyday.
If I see an error message displayed in a Commodore-distributed demo disk,
I will be very upset. I will probably go buy a Mac.
This is not an opinion. This is a diatribe. This is no joke.
Craig Hubley, Unicus Corporation, Toronto, Ont.
craig@Unicus.COM (Internet)
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