Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Has anyone seen the stock prospectus with their own eyes to verify the
date?  The claim I have seen is that the date was given for 1985 not
1986.  It would be nice if someone actually could verify the date.

(I find the 1985 claim a little bit unbelievable given the shortness
of the period of sales of the ST that it would cover as well as the
gross $ sales figures given for Atari in another note in this conference.)

Since the bogus estimates of ST sales have been laid to rest, except for
the date controversy, it would be nice to know the number of Amiga sales.
The estimates there could be just as bogus as the Compute! estimates for
the ST sales.

    I still have not actually seen the Atari Prospectus, but it was
    clearly noted that the figures were for 1986, not 1985.  The
    interesting thing on the Atari SIG was that the sysop seemed to
    be the only reasonable voice in the crowd!  His attitude was, 'Who
    cares how many STs have been sold? Just enjoy yours!'  But the troops
    wouldn't accept the fact that less than half-million machines had
    been sold.
    
    For my part, over the past year, when people would tell me that
    the ST was outselling the Amiga by 999,999,999 to 1, I'd just
    grin  and say "Yup.  And once again, Volkswagon Rabbit has outsold
    Porsche 911 Turbos, also."
                                               
    Incidentally, the story of the lawsuit goes something like this:
    
    Jay Miner, no longer employed by Atari, had approached Atari for
    financing the development of the Amiga chipset.  The design had
    been completed without any outside help, but the chips only existed
    as a VAX simulation.  Miner & Amiga needed funding to turn the design
    into silicon.
    
    Atari forwarded .5 million, but later decided that the chips would
    not fit into Atari's future plans.  Remember, this was at a time
    when Atari was losing truckloads of money.
    
    Here's where it gets tricky...Tramiel left(?) CBM, and bought Atari
    form Warner.  Tramiel THOUGHT that the Amiga design came with the
    deal.  But, while Tramiel was writing the check for Atari, CBM swooped
    in and bought Amiga for 25 million.  Warner had already been refunded
    the .5 million by Miner.  Tramiel, not about to sue Warner, turned
    to CBM instead.
    
    Like I say, I don't care who designed the Amiga or ST.  I am just
    trying to imagine what would happen if Tramiel should win.  Would
    he be able to put CBM out of business?  Or halt Amiga production?
     
    Disclaimer:  I have pieced this story together from fragments. 
    If anyone knows of any other versions, please reply.  This case
    is of interest to both camps.

    well... it did have one effect:
    the auditor's report on commodore's fiscal health mentioned the
    potential for trouble caused by a $50 million dollar lawsuit.
    
    Sort of keeps the rumors of commodore decline alive for a while
    longer, even though they posted a profit.
    
    Would you want to buy a computer from a company that is going out
    of business?  (That was the main problem Tramiel faced when he bought
    Atari from Warner, he must have wanted to share that feeling with
    his former employees at commodore).
    
    -Dave
    

    I guess that if we can't get a copy of the contract that Miner and
    Tramiel signed we will have to wait and see where the poop falls.
    And realisticly speaking, the case may not be decided for many years
    (that is if in fact a case exists).
    
      Mikie?

Actually, Atari will have to win the case fairly quickly if they
plan to ship "their" blitter by February 1987.  They haven't been
able to develop one: they have put all their eggs into the basket
of "We'll get the rights to the Amiga blitter and sound chips and
sell them to ST owners."

That explains why no one has seen an ST with a blitter except under
tightly controlled conditions.  If Atari put a few of the modified STs
on loan, someone would pry open the cover and see Commodore= stamped
on the chips...

Yes, this is a joke!  Hope no ST owners fainted or that no one dumped
Atari stock (available for public trade Real Soon Now!).

    Randy, are you serious?  Atari would never stoop so low as to use
    an Amiga blitter into prototype STs...would they???
     

I was only joking.  I thought I made that clear in the text that followed
the formfeed in my note.  On the other hand, I can see how you might have
got excited and typed reply before typing enter to get the last three
lines of my message.

I have no idea what was put into STs with blitters.  I assume that
it is something designed my Atari.

However, if you like the story well enough, you have my permission
to spread this lie around, just like the ST owners spread around
the falsehood that the ST has much more software than the Amiga.

Just *don't* name me as the source of this canard.

    Whew!  I guess I didn't see your disclaimer, 'tho it would make
    a swell rumor...On the other hand, if Atari wins the lawsuit, we
    very likely WILL see Amiga scrawled all over the insides of the
    ST.  :^)