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- Path: sparky!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!pk-asdg
- From: pk-asdg@cup.portal.com (Perry S Kivolowitz)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
- Subject: Open Letter
- Message-ID: <69310@cup.portal.com>
- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 14:04:10 PST
- Organization: The Portal System (TM)
- Distribution: world
- Lines: 76
-
- In this, the week that Art Department Professional was overwhelmingly voted
- the 1992 Reader's Choice for Best Imaging Processing Program and MorphPlus
- was used to create one of TV'S most highly rated shows (Quantum Leap), we
- have been viciously savaged by what must be considered: sour grapes.
-
- Mr. Williams (of Black Belt Systems) said we are liars. He said that our
- company (which earned the only Amiga Community Service Award ever given)
- actually hates the Amiga community and strives like a dark force to deceive
- it at every turn. He says we have contempt for Amiga users and that his
- company is, but the victim.
-
- We hope that any thinking person will see through this less than artful
- play for sympathy. We think that most people will recognize the structure
- of negative campaigning at its worst: if you are guilty of something,
- accuse your opponent of that charge so that if he responds, it will look
- like name calling.
-
- We offer only the following response to this latest episode of sour grapes:
-
- 1. Mr. Williams says we have lied about the capabilities of his product.
-
- Before composing this response, we consulted the ``addendum'' file which
- Black Belt just posted (together with this week's version of their
- product.)
-
- Their own documentation shows that the features we claimed they didn't have
- (which he claimed they did - ergo we lied) were in fact added after our
- comparison was drawn and published.
-
- 2. He says that ASDG is riding Black Belt's coattails.
-
- Again, consulting Black Belt's own documentation shows that 27 out of the
- last 47 features or changes to their product have either been features
- already present in ASDG products or have been bug fixes to features (added
- to their product which were previously found in ASDG products).
-
- 3. He says that MorphPlus is too difficult to use.
-
- If that were the case, why would Black Belt try so hard to include the very
- same features which they say make our product difficult to use? (see (2)
- above)
-
- 4. Mr. Woodall, representing GVP'S morphing product, dismissed much of
- our comparison as saying that MorphPlus has many features which they
- consider ``unnecessary or irrelevant''.
-
- Our strong ties with the special effects community (who suggested many of
- our ``unnecessary'' and ``irrelevant'' features in the first place) would
- argue that it is exactly these ``unnecessary'' and ``irrelevant'' features
- which makes their work easier, faster, more precise, and more
- sophisticated.
-
- 5. The very Amiga community (which we are alleged to despise) will do all
- of the bottom line deciding that is necessary.
-
- In a very real sense, it already has: voting Art Department Professional
- the Best Image Processing Product of 1992 and making ADPRO the best selling
- image processing product available for the Amiga.
-
- 6. The professional television and motion picture industry will likewise
- separate the claims from the hype.
-
- In a very real sense, *they* already have: Within a month of release,
- MorphPlus has been used to create principal effects for Quantum Leap (one
- of the most highly rated shows on television), Babylon 5 (a technological
- marvel which does all Amiga owners proud), two major motion pictures whose
- names I cannot pass on at this time, several other television shows
- including Mysteries From Beyond The Other Dominion from the Science Fiction
- channel, several commercials, and other projects now in development.
-
-
- In closing, we have faith in our ability to produce a superior product, and
- we are confident that the Amiga community will always respond to a superior
- product. We happily submit ourselves to the only test which matters.
-
- Yours.
-