@Character Analysis: Jim Drew@


    Jim Drew, President and CEO of Utilities Unlimited International gets a
 mixed review of criticisms from the Amiga community, from the Internet in
 particular.  Jim, as you may know is father of EMPLANT board.  He has
 used online services as a means of "spreading the word" about his upcoming
 products before they are released.

    One of the questions that enter the minds of Amiga owners is whether
 or not he can deliver the products he has promised.  He has created the
 first multitasking Mac emulation on ANY computer, by using the Amiga's
 high tech chipset and OS design.  However, many people still find him to
 be untrustworthy, as he has often announced products without ever
 finishing them.
 
    I will attempt to compare the good items that Jim Drew has brought to
 life with his failed attempts. 

 Jim *DID* do the following:
 ===========================
 Released Emplant, the world's first multitasking Mac emulator (&
 supporting software) 
 Released SYBIL (Mac disk support hardware)
 Released AMIA ( Replacement for SYBIL that could be used with Emplant) 
 Released a free Multi-OS filesystem
 ..and just recently released the e586dx emulation module
 (P*ntium instruction emulation)


 Jim promised people a lot of things at one time or another that have never
 left the UU labs:
 ==========================================================================
 PCMCIA Emplant (for A1200's)
 3DO emulation for CD^32's.
 Atari 400/800 emulator
 Atari ST emulator
 Apple IIe/II+ emulator
 Commodore 64/128 emulators
 SNES emulator
 Genesis emulator
 Free Virtual Memory program that will work with his emulations.

    Which leaves a lot of unreleased products, and a lot of questions to be
 answered about Jim's integrity.   Some people think his outrageous claims
 are comparable to the boy who cried "Wolf!"   It may be that he is
 too enthusiastic for a disgruntled and disbelieving Amiga community to
 accept him in these dark hours of the Commodore buyout.  Some people have
 engaged in name calling, but this does not really hurt Jim's products, and
 is not to the general good of the Amiga community. 

    Jim recently has stopped responding to email on the internet because of
 the criticisms and angst of some disgruntled Amiga owners.  I sincerely
 hope it does not affect his efforts or his development of new products,
 and that the Amiga  doesn't lose yet another developer supporting it.
 As it is, GVP's departure from the Amiga market has left him as one of the
 biggest developers for the Amiga.
 
    I personally believe that Amiga owners should take a WYSIWYG (What You
 See Is What You Get -Josh) to his products.  If you are ambitious, you may
 wish to buy his products and "ride out the storm."  If you are not, it is
 safer to view his products with interest, but to wait until they have been
 tested first.
 
     Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware.