Re: Dead Amiga?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Didier Godefroy writes ...
> 
> ....
> 
> Personally, I think that if the Amiga was really that dead, Gateway 2000 would
> never have bought its remains.  I even heard of some planned devellopment of an
> Amiga that would've been based on the Digital Alpha chip (of course that was
> never spread as news and just some vague plans before its demise), now Imagine
> what the Amiga would be now, with an 600 or even 800 Mhz Alpha in it??? ....
> 
>

     After so many years of getting bashed by PC, II users do,
sometimes, tend to be a tad negative. Basically, PC came out on top in
the last Computer Wars and "dead" means that all of those neat games and
netwares are not being produced for us-- where "us" can mean IIgs,
Amiga, Atari ST, and, even, Mac.

     PC has many strengths, not the least of which is that 'everyone'
has one. PC's great weakness is that it remains a remarkably
user-unfriendly 'home computer'. The current competition among video
board makers and standards has greatly added to the confusion and
frustration experienced by users and software producers.

     A 600MHz Alpha-based Amiga could be very attractive-- IF the price
is right. Price competition is where Apple's Mac has consistently
bombed. Most shoppers will agree that the best Mac is a better computer
than the best PC. Then, they point to the price tag and say, "No
wonder!"

     To break the PC strangle hold, Amiga (or Apple IIgsx, etc.) must
deliver an integrated, high-performance package at something like the
'typical PC' price-- around $1500.

     Fair? Of course not. A 600MHz (or 500MHz) Alpha/Amiga (with 64MB
RAM, 6GB hard disk, mega-support for 2D and 3D graphics, etc.) is a much
more powerful computer than a $1500 233MHz Pentium II PC. Even so, a
rather gross performance difference at a bargain price and aggressive
marketing is what it will take to convince shoppers that your new Amiga
is really better and that lots of other shoppers will buy one, too.

     One of Amiga's (or Apple's) big advantages is that the maker can
cut costs and enhance performance by putting everything on the
motherboard. A major non-PC maker can also afford an advertising blitz
which no single PC maker could match without giving up price competition
ground to other PC makers. (A problem all PC makers have is that _any_
ad is also, to some extent, an ad for fellow PC makers.) 

     Meanwhile, Intel is talking about a 1GHz 64-bit core for the next
generation of PC's.

     No. Amiga and Apple are not dead. But, a major chunk of the
critical home market is not just going to fall into their laps, either.
They do need to _do_ _something_. The alternative is to wait for the
inevitable PC breakup and hope that it really is inevitable.
 

           
Rubywand