Conference hydra::amiga_v1

285.0. "Visit to an Atari Store" by LEDS::ACCIARDI () Fri Jan 30 1987 21:39

    I was goofing off this afternoon, and I decided to drop into a local
    Atari-only dealership to check out the competition and see if anything
    great was happening in the ST world.  I will not mention the name
    of the dealer here, since many of our friends in the ST NOTES frequent
    this place, and give good reviews of it.
    
    Anyway, I walked in with an open mind, and told the proprieter that
    I had narrowed my search for the perfect micro to the ST and the
    Amiga.  Of course, I was immediately told that the Amiga was a useless,
    overpriced piece of junk whose days were numbered.  Hey, I expected
    to hear this.  It's only human nature, and after all, these guys
    want to sell Atari products, right?  I expect you'd get the exact
    same response if you walked into an Amiga store and started asking
    questions about the ST.
    
    What I was not prepared for was the barrage of outright blatant
    lies regarding the Amiga.  Some of their comments could be attributed
    to lack of knowledge, but I'm sure they felt that they could tell
    me anything and get away with it.  I did not debate any of their
    comments, but merely sat there nodding my head.  Remember, I was
    acting dumb (some who know me would argue whether or not I was acting).
    
    Outright Lie #1:  CBM has released 33 versions of the Amiga operating
    		      system to the public.   Very little software actually
                      works because of this, and it's getting worse
                      every day.
    
    Outright Lie #2:  Commodore's days are numbered, and they are STILL
                      losing truckloads of money every day.  It's just
                      a matter of a few more months until they fold.
    
    Outright Lie #3:  The STs floppys transfer data at twice the speed
    	              of the Amiga's.  (all known benchmarks show rough
                      equivalence, with a slight edge to Amiga)
    
    Outright Lie #4:  There are no hard drives available for the Amiga.
                      (True, there are no CHEAP hard drives, but there
                      are several available)
    
    Outright Lie #5:  There is no way to expand an Amiga's memory. (At
                      last count, there were about a dozen vendors)
    
    Outright Lie #6:  There is no way for the Amiga to duplicate a Ray-
                      traced animation, like Shiny Bubbles, which is
                      an impressive demo using four entire colors, since
                      the Amiga cannot page-flip. (This could be due
                      to a total lack of understanding of the Amiga,
                      and not an Outright Lie).
    
    Outright Lie #7:  Atari invented the Amiga, which was later stolen
                      by Commodore.
    
    Outright Lie #8:  The REAL reason that CBM did not attend fall COMDEX
                      was that Atari proved that CBM was using Atari
                      proprietary chips, and an injunction was filed
                      preventing CBM from demo'ing the Amiga.
    
    Outright Lie #9:  The Atari BLITTER chip will enhance the ST's set
                      of graphics modes to include a 640 x 400 color,
                      non-interlaced mode, thereby obviating the need
                      to even consider an Amiga for CAD work. (all rumors
                      indicate that the new STs have the same graphics
                      modes as existing models).
    
    Outright Lie #10: There is no software for the Amiga, since no one
                      can program the damn thing.
    
    I could go on, but you get the idea.  It's too bad, 'cause these
    guys WERE nice guys, but is this what they do to every rube who
    walks thru the door?  Sheldon Leemon referred to Atari's
    mis-information campaign several times, and now I know exactly what
    he meant.
    
    The real shame is that the STs are lovely machines, there really
    is a ton of good software, the hard drive seems lightning fast,
    the prices are great, etc etc.  Why not sell the machines for their
    own merits, i.e. great price/performance, speed, graphics, etc..
    I see no need to take down your main competition with untruths.
    
    It would be interesting to try this exercise at an Amiga dealer
    to see if they dump all over the ST.  Well, dumping is one thing,
    we do it all the time, but Outright Lies are another thing altogether.
    
    By the way, while I was there, the 1040ST locked up several times,
    trashed a disk, and had to be dropped from a height of 3 inches
    to jiggle the keyboard control ROM back into it's socket.  Nice
    to know that we aren't the only ones with poltergeists. 
      
                           
    
    
    
    	

    This guy is a pretty good standup comic.  Maybe we could get him
    on Star Search....
    
    
    Randy
    

    i've had similar conversations at the same store.  Remember his
    source of info is Atari, his backup support is Atari, he only sells
    Atari.... basically all his sources of info are pro-Atari.  And
    the press hasn't been too kind to Commodore lately.
    
    Look on the bright side, at least he didn't try to convince you
    to buy a pc clone.  Wonder how he'll sell the new Atari pc clone
    vs the STs.
    
    Has anybody tried "shopping" for an Apple ][GS lately?  Just curious
    if they are shipping yet... :-)
    
    -dave

    My brother in law claims that Apple still can't get the yield up
    to acceptable levels on the sound chip.  I have heard one ][GS that
    was making beautiful sounds, but another one that sounded like it
    had a bone stuck in it's throat.                         
    
    My brother in law, who works for Apple as a Macintosh marketeer,
    really fell for 'Defender of the Crown' like a ton of bricks.  Even
    though he eats, drinks, and sleeps Macintosh, he confessed that
    he was considering buying an Amiga just to get the games!
    
    He also caimed that Apple's 68020 powered workstation would be priced
    at over $5000, depending on configuration.

   re: -1
    
    See, so that confirms it.  The Amiga is nothing more than a great
    game machine!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    ;^)  Randy
    

Re .3:

I am surprised by this claim.  I had heard that the ][GS sound chip
was a standard part that is used in many music synthesizers.

    They are already advertising price cuts now to move the IIGS.  Guess
    it isn't doing to well.  They are throwing in free software and
    add-ons to make the package more appealing.
    
    No thanks.
    

    re: .5
    
    The sound chip was actually designed by Ensonique, by the fellow
    who designed the C'64 SID chip.  I understand that Apple merely
    bought the right to manufacture the chip.  Maybe I'm wrong, I'll
    have to check with my resident Apple guru.
    
    You are right, though, there are lots of Ensonique synthesizers
    out there.

    re: .4
    
    A great game machine is one of my primary requirements for a 
    "home" personal computer. :-)  If it isn't fun to use, why use it?
    
    You can balance your checkbook, write the great American novel,
    etc. on any computer.
    
    -dave