5
1
*

{A                          Escom Announce Workbench Four
{A                          -----------------------------

At  a recent press conference, Escom have, at last, admitted to the existence of
Workbench  4  which  they say is being developed to bring the Amiga up to todays
GUI  standards.  So  far, it has successfully passed the beta testing stage, and
only a few major bugs remain within the code. The final product will be finished
in time to be included with the new Amigas when they hit the streets.

The  standards  of  Graphic User Interfacing have taken an enormous leap forward
recently  with  the  release  of  the  awesome  "Windows  95"  by software giant
MicroSoft. This GUI-driven software has the power and speed that todays computer
users have dreamed about for years.

David  Pleasance  of  Commodore  Inc.  told  us:  "It  [Windows 95] really is an
amazingly powerful piece of software, and the Amiga platform has been crying out
for  something like this for some time now - that's why Escom asked us to design
Workbench  4. Our spec was simple; 'Bring the old Workbench 3.1 up to Windows 95
standards.'  We've  had  three teams working round the clock to push the product
passed  the  beta  stage on time, and I'm glad to say that it will soon be here,
and  every  bit  as  good  as  Windows 95." In effect, Escom are now starting to
target the Amiga on businesses.

By  introducing  a Windows-based GUI, the millions of PC owners can be instantly
at home on a somewhat unfamiliar machine. But to their advantage, they will have
the power of the Amiga's custom chips at their disposal - something which the PC
can never hope to have. Mr. Pleasance's aim was to design a GUI environment that
was  akin  to  Windows  in  every  aspect,  down to the finest detail. "Take the
installer for instance. We have worked very hard to get it to feel just like the
Windows  installer.  For  a  start  it's  written  in AMOS to make it as slow as
possible,  and it's as unhelpful as we could have made it - with all the text in
Mandarin.  The  bit  I'm  proud  of most", he continued, "is the end part of the
installer  -  it  picks  two  numbers  at random, and if they're not the same it
uninstalls Workbench 4!

You can still get that great Windows
'Spent-three-hours-installing-the-thing-and-it-hasn't-worked'-feeling.  It's the
first  time  in  the  history of computing that another machine has been able to
emulate  this - It's a true breakthrough!" he boasted. We asked about the system
requirements  for the new Workbench, would it still work on an A500 with 512k of
memory?  "Goodness,  no!" he exclaimed, "It needs a A4000/060 running at 50 MHz,
with  a  50  MHz  FPU,  and  34 megs of memory even before it will even consider
running.  But  when  you consider what it's doing, you realize that it has taken
true  programming  talent  to  make  such  a  low-spec machine run such powerful
software."   Escom  are  planning  to  start  an  impressive  80  million  pound
advertising  campaign  in  the UK alone. "The campaign will target on everyone",
said  Johnathon Anderson, Escoms chief promoter, "from 12 year old games players
right the way through to the biggest businesses in the UK. We are confident that
people will take to the machines and Workbench 4 like ducks to water."

We  asked Bill Gates, MicroSoft owner and Computer Guru if he felt threatened by
Escom's  moves. "No, not really", he said, "Windows 95 has a feel to it that all
PC owners have grown up with. Your Workbench 4 might *LOOK* like Windows 95, but
it  won't  gel with the serious PC owners. They'll notice the slight differences
and  come back to the software they know and love." We put it to David Pleasance
that  this  might  be  true.  Could  Windows  95  users  ever feel at home using
Workbench  4?  "Well,  if  they don't then they could try installing some of our
special  commodities that give Workbench 4 a more Windows-like feel. There's the
'Mouseflicker' (tm) commodity, which makes your mouse-pointer flicker every time
you  move the mouse, and the 'HardWareCrash' (tm) commodity that will inform you
that  you  can't load your software due to your incompatible hardware every time
you  try  to  load something." Escom hope to produce a GUI environment such that
existing  Windows users can change system without having to learn new skills and
techniques. In doing this they have already received over 14,000 advanced orders
from  current  PC  based companies, hoping to upgrade their existing systems for
the fraction of the price they would pay for a new high-spec PC and Windows 95.

"We're  very  proud  of Workbench 4 so far. We feel that it will breath new life
into the Amiga, and help generate the necessary sales we need to bring the Amiga
back  into  mainstream  computing."  "The  box is as big as a garage, too", they