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%% Philosophical Wax                                    By Jason Compton %%
%%                                                  (jcompton@tcity.com) %%
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Since I do so much philosophical waxing in my Emulation Rambler
column, I thought I'd try to take a little of that out in favor for a
more formal editorial-style column.  Here's my attempt.

Any Amiga owner worth at least what he/she paid for their system
can't help but be at least a LITTLE perturbed at John Dilullo,
Commodore US Head of Marketing.  Anyone with half a clue
as to how Nintendo and Sega have gotten where they have
realizes that to promote a game machine for the mass market
requires a mass-market approach, and in that respect I agree
that the CD^32 should not be primarily for Amiga dealers: in fact,
I know of a local Amiga dealer who is entirely lukewarm on the
idea of selling the machines.  But to go ahead and essentially say
that Amiga dealers have no RIGHT to sell the machines is what
amounts to saying that Ford Escorts should now be sold exclusively at
K-Mart and Target stores rather than dealerships.  (I mean no insult
to either the Ford Escort or the Amiga CD^32 by that comparison).
Then, to go ahead and say that Amiga fanatics embarrass Commodore...
it's reason to pause and wonder just what he defines a fanatic.
Is a fanatic someone who buys his company's product and shows it
off?  If so, let millions of computer users worldwide (and I'm not just
talking Amiga here) be guilty and hanged for being proud to 
showcase their machines ability.  Close down rendering farms.
No more special effects credited to computers.  Can't be fanatical
anymore.  Sorry.

Now that I've got that out, I'll move on.  The Bandito.  Who IS
this guy, anyway?  He's obviously well connected and obviously
keeps an eye on comp.sys.amiga.* groups since I've seen some
near-direct quotes pop up in his columns.  It's not me, so that
narrows things down a little...aside from that, I have no idea, but
I'd like to know...it almost seems to be a committee approach, as
the Bandito's mood and attitude seem to change at least monthly.
So much for solving that enigma right now.

Amiga Report...there's something to think about.  Rob Glover leaves
and Rob Niles comes in with what amounts to a stern warning for
the future:  support Amiga Report or watch it wither.  Ick.  It seems
ironic to me that a magazine whose readership is obviously increasing
by the week, reaching more and more people through more and more
means, has had a gradually declining pool of submissions.  There's
not a shortage of things to talk about: look at me!  I've turned a bizarre
hobby with emulators into a  (pretty close to) weekly column and I think
am actually occasionally recognized as "that emulator guy" or similar.
That's not bad for someone who sat down in July and rambled about
IBeM, PC-Task and the C-64 Package.  It's not very hard, the writer's
guidelines seem to be 1. Have a pulse and 2.  Have SOME method of
getting your article to an editor (for the first month and a half or so that
I wrote, my net address would bounce all mail back to the sender).  I
believe Rob Niles has even provided his US Mail address, there's not
much excuse now for anyone.

That's enough wax for this week.  See you again here next time there's
something just too sappy or off-topic to put in the Rambler.