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1992-07-29
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Commodore and the Amiga
An Overview of Commodore International Marketing Strategies
by David Tiberio
6 Lodge Lane
East Setauket, New York 11733
(516) 473-5156
usenet: dtiberio%libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu@sunysb.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spread me around the world.
July 27th, 1992
Table of Contents
0001 What is the Amiga?
0002 How does CBM stack up compared to CBM?
0003 What has already been lost?
0004 What should Commodore do in the US?
0005 Videography Magazine spotlights the Amiga.
0006 The Vice President of Engineering speaks out.
0007 The Amiga clone project.
0008 For Christ's sake Commodore! What is wrong with you?
0009 Public buyout of CBM stock.
0010 A False New Amiga Report.
0011 How should CBM promote the Amiga at low cost?
0012 What can we do to help out CBM?
0013 What hardware should CBM develop to better itself?
0014 Private Message to CBM Marketing Department.
0015 Private Message to CBM Finance Department.
0016 Private Message to Irving Gould and Mehdi Ali.
0017 Private Message to All CBM Companies in Each Respective Country.
0018 Private Message to Non-Amiga Enthusiasts.
0019 Private Message to Someone Who Cares.
0020 Private Message to Amiga Advocates and Commodore Writing Staff (?)
0021 The Amiga Petition.
0022 The Amiga Obituary.
0023 An Advocate's Reply to the Amiga Obituary.
0024 Commodore Reply to the Amiga Obituary.
Feel free to do a search for the topic number in the first column.
For example, to read Commodore's plea for help concerning a negative
Amiga article, do a search for 0024 with your word processor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0001 What is the Amiga?
The Commodore Amiga, or shall I say, the Amiga by Commodore,
is seen worldwide as the leading system for graphics, sound, and
productivity, as well as cost effectiveness. The Amiga is marketed
heavily as the ultimate multimedia computer, and is well ahead in
both the multimedia market as well as home and professional video
markets. For sound, nothing beats Soundtracker modules. And for
animation, Deluxe Paint IV rivals many other paint packages. Of
course, this also includes 3D animation packages such as Imagine,
Lightwave, and Caligari, all of whom have lifted eyebrows across
the industry. Imagine is a big hit for the average 3D user, soon to
release version 3.0 for the Amiga and the IBM PC. Lightwave has
received acknowledgement as the best rendering software, with NewTek's
slick packaging as well as user friendliness. And Caligari makes the
grade with the best designed interface.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0002 How does CBM stack up compared to CBM?
Okay, we all know what the Amiga is and how great it is. Or do we?
In Germany, the Amiga is the computer of choice. It is even considered
a business computer by many Germans. Remember Commodore BUSINESS
Machines - CBM? In England (UK), the Amiga is also a hit, with
excellent sales figures for the A500 and now a stronghold for the CDTV
with the new CDTV PowerUp program. In Australia (Oz?), once again the
Amiga is a big winner. Numerous high end packages are from Australia,
such as OpalVision (ColorBurst) and Directory Opus. And Canada has
large sales of Amigas also...even more in some respects than in the
United States from figures I have seen posted on USENET. Isn't it odd
that the US has a poor image of the Amiga while the rest of the world
enjoys it so much?
There were once rumors that CBM would move headquarters from
North America to Europe. Many Amiga models are designed in the United
States, and I would assume that they are done in West Chester,
Pennsylvania. I have heard that the new Amiga 600 may have been
designed in Europe, but am not sure. But it is clear that the Amiga 600
does not yet exist in the US due to the stock of Amiga 500's. Why would
CBM want to move to Europe? Simply stated, they are a much stronger
company as far as European sales go. CBM is the 11th largest computer
manufacturer. And in the United States, dominated by PC clones and
some Macintoshes, they have a very small market share of about 6%,
compared to 13% to 21% in Europe. CBM is tied for first with IBM in
Europe. With all this data, it might seem obvious that CBM should move
to Europe. I think not.
With a lack of sales in the US, and the shear fact that the US is
such a large market, it would make more sense for CBM to actually
invest more in the US market! They have already taken lead in Europe;
all they have to do is hang on to that lead. But ignoring the US will
lead to a decline in developers, since 80% of the Amiga developers are
in fact in the US. It is a very good marketing strategy to focus
resources on markets where the Amiga does not have a strong share.
It would be stupid for CBM to ignore the US market and let it die,
since the loss of developers would also lead to a worldwide loss of
sales.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0003 What has already been lost?
CBM used to have a good share of the educational market. They
had about 800,000 units in US schools. Recently it has declined to
about 600,000. Apple had about 1,200,000 units, although recently it
has been updated to about 1,400,000 units or more. Why did this happen?
Because while CBM ignored the educational market, Apple focused
resources on that market. Hence sales rose. In my schools, I see
posters and advertisements in the school papers for IBM clones,
Macintoshes, and even UNIX machines. But I have yet to see CBM put
an ad in the school paper or even hang posters on the wall, like
Apple and IBM do. I have not seen a university computer store with
anything other than Macintoshes and IBM's. I have met very few
people who even know what the Amiga is.
CBM recently released UNIX 2.1 in the US. But not in Australia,
or in parts of Europe, where it would be most welcome, since UNIX
has not yet caught on in those markets. And CBM is a respected company
who could surely do something right in those markets. In fact people
often praise Commodore in those parts of the world for service. But
not in the US, although Gold Service is a great asset that we all
welcome. CBM lost many UNIX programmers last fall. And they are
having trouble getting some UNIX applications ported to Amiga UNIX
simply because they have not proven that CBM is serious about UNIX.
And CBM blundered by sending a beta SVR4 release to a popular UNIX
magazine, which hence received bad reviews. But that can all be changed.
CBM makes IBM clones, which sell very well in Europe. They make
486 towers, laptops, and other clone products. They do have a very wide
range of IBM machines, unlike they do with the Amiga line. They do
however sell IBM Bridgeboards in three versions; an XT, a 286, and a
recently released 386. Note that I said recently released 386. Why
not a 486? Isn't it logical that a 486 should have been released
since it is the next big processor in the Intel family? Do we have
to rely on Vortex to release a 386 Bridgeboard and hopefully a 486
Bridgeboard? 386 and even 486 machines have been out for years now.
CDTV is a new generation of computer consoles. It is directly
competing with CD-I, and is showing healthy sales, although not to
the expectations of earlier projections. But it is currently
outselling CD-I, although that may change. CD-I has a larger
consortium of supporters; there are lots of companies hoping to
release CD-I products such as Phillips, Nintendo, Panasonic, Tandy,
etc. There is only one CDTV manufacturer and only one model. CD-I
also has better screen resolution at 24 bits, while CDTV has only
4-6 bits with HAM mode in limited 12 bits. Other than that, CDTV is
in every way better. It has thousands of programs that work with
it since it is Amiga compatible. It can emulate IBM and Macintosh
software, just as the Amiga can. It can potentially even run UNIX.
It can be expanded with a keyboard, mouse, modem, and hard drives.
It can receive video upgrades and uses PCMIA flash-ram cards, although
this needs to be improved with the new PCMIA standards. It has CDXL
on the way for partial video. It can potentially read Photo CD, which
CD-I will soon also read. What does CDTV need to be the clear winner
ahead of CD-I? It needs 24 bit graphics, Photo CD licensing from
Kodak, and more manufacturers to build CDTV machines. But the last
would mean licensing out the custom chip set, which is a no-no
according to CBM, although it has been done before for Arcade games
and flight simulators. But not for Amiga third party laptops or for
Pheonix motherboards to upgrade an A1000 to an A3000.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0004 What should Commodore do in the US?
CBM should start marketing the Amiga. Begin with magazine ads.
In the past year, I would occasionally see a CBM ad. In the last month
I have seen about 10 ads in Compute, the late Info, InfoWorld, Computer
Graphics World, Computer Pictures, Videomaker, another PC magazine
(PC Week? PC Magazine?), along with some CDTV ads. But the current
issues do not have these ads. In order for an ad campaign to be
effective, there should be ads in either every issue or every other
issue. That would be a campaign blitz. And the ads could stand for
some improvement.
For example, the Computer Graphics World ad has been reused a few
times. That is the one with the director's chair and the Amiga 3000,
along with 6 or 8 pictures of applications or clip art. First of all,
put more color into those mostly black and white ads. Second, use
three dimensional pictures instead of two dimensional clip art, such
as the trumpet used in that ad. Next, get rid of that blocky Old West
font and use something more like Cooper or even some color fonts. And
add more three dimensional graphics such as a 3d logo similar to the
one I made and uploaded to larc.nasa.gov before the great meltdown.
It is called cbm_logo.lzh, and should be on a mirror site. Simply
put, open up the same magazine you put the ad in, and flip around the
pages and look at ads for other companies. You will notice a difference.
I did. I even ran a test once. I knew that a certain PC magazine had
a CBM ad in it. I decided to read the magazine as I normally would
scan it when I first get it. I went through the whole magazine and
missed the CBM ad. When I went back and found it, I was not too
impressed by the lack of color and three dimensional images. For heavens
sake, get NewTek or GVP to do some ads for you! And check out the
recent Digital Creations ads for DCTV...they put some very hot
pictures in there...even better than the NewTek screen shots. NewTek
has focused more on video shots rather than three dimensional graphics,
but some of their ads have been good. I don't like the current ones,
but I like their logo, along with the GVP ImpactVision logo of the
eyeball. And check out some NeXT ads...also done in good taste. The
Pagestream HotLink ads with the old car on them also look nice.
Remember the CDTV ads with the Groucho Marx eyeglasses? They look
bad...no color at all, no perspective in the CDTV view, poor choice of
fonts, and poor arrangement on the page. All CBM ads have those
wierd borders around them...they are not that bad, but you could use
a little variation once in a while. That is valuable space that you are
using. The CDTV Demo Tape ads are done well, although still not in
color...and I think they also have the Old West boxy font. But it is
good that a CDTV demo does exist...hopefully CBM showed some animations
similar to the NewTek Revolution demo tape. Along with the Amiga line
of computers. And remeber, it should be easy for customers to get the
tape; otherwise, they won't even bother. Provide an 800 toll-free
number where names and shipping addresses can be taken down, ship tapes
out for free, and put as much on the tape as you can...don't wimp out
with a 15 minute tape when you can make it an hour. And don't be afraid
to use long play vcr modes or update the tape regularly. I have yet
to see the CDTV demo tape. I hope you're working on an Amiga demo tape.
UNIX ads were so long ago I don't remember much about them. But
here are some more tips:
don't advertise 4096 colors;
say 12bit graphics upgradeable to 24 bits since IBM users
are getting used to numbers like 262,000
don't advertise IBM compatibility as if it is a feature;
say the Amiga offers an IBM 386 Bridgeboard for
Windows 3.1 applications and MS-DOS, on an expansion
card - there is no need to mention that it is available
separately because you did not mention the cost of the
Amiga in the ad, which makes the Amiga a base unit
don't use a mostly black and white page;
use lots of colors with three dimensional images,
complex floorplans, ray-traced images, a three dimensional
CBM logo, a perspective view of the Amiga with both
floppy bays exposed instead of just df0:, no more
borders in the edges, and stack VCR's and laser disk
players next to the Amiga, along with high end stereo
equipment and large speakers (not the Amiga detachable
speakers)
don't show external Amiga peripherals;
it looks kludgy to see an external modem or floppy
drive...people want those things inside the computer,
but of course CDTV peripherals are the exception.
Show a nice layout of the custom chips, and next
to each chip explain the name of the chip (big letters)
along with a nice description of what it does...and
make sure the photos of the custom chips are perspective
views and not side views or bird's eye views...take
a look at the current July 1992 Amiga World ad for
SunRize Industries audio card to see how they displayed
their logic chip.
the new Amiga mouse is very good; don't put the old one
in the ads...redo the ads that recirculate with the old
mouse and old monitors...use 1960 or 1950 monitors
don't print specifications in paragraph form (use outlines);
: built in custom audio chip
stereo sound in four voices
8 octaves for digitized sound samples
sampling rate of 55 kHz
compatible with home stereo systems
numerous audio digitizers available
upgradeable to 12 bit and 16 bit with expansion board
: built in custom graphics chip
supports NTSC and PAL video modes
special 1280x544 and 640x960 interlaced video modes
12 bit Hold and Modify mode in overscan mode
upgradeable to 24 bits with expansion board
genlock and chromakey compatible
video titling mode with scalable fonts
supports simultaneous multiple resolutions onscreen
special half bright mode for half intensity colors
: built in custom memory chip
supports 32 bit 70ns fast ram
supports 16 megabytes fast ram with 2 megabtes video ram
supports static column memory units
supports up to 1 gigabyte with expansion boards
built in dynamic fast ram disk for a pseudo hard drive
built in static recoverable ram disk for pseudo floppy
supports ram disk for pseudo high density floppy drive
built in memory management through other custom chips
built in blitter
: built in custom operating system chip
built in dos libraries
graphics library
memory management library
gadget/widget library
hardware libraries
support for custom libraries
support for IBM file systems (forthcoming Workbench 2.1)
support for ARexx application scripting language
support for AmigaDOS Shell and scripting language
: true multitasking operating system
all OS software and applications multitask
real task priorities
multitasking custom chip set
multiple shells
support for multiple multitasking operating systems
multiple screens with multiple screen resolutions
fully multitasking GUI
faster GUI than Macintosh System7 or Windows 3.1
0011 How should CBM promote the Amiga at low cost?
Yesterday I called a local shopping mall here in Long Island.
HER: SmithHaven Mall...
ME: I would like information on holding an exhibit at the mall.
HER: What kind of product do you have?
ME: Electronics equipment.
HER: Oh, that would be the Energy Show in August.
ME: How much would it cost to lease a site?
HER: It depends on where it is located; the main galley costs
more.
ME: What might I expect to pay?
HER: Eight hundred dollars.
ME: Eight hundred a day?
HER: No, eight hundred for the whole show.
ME: And how long is the show?
HER: About two weeks long, starting the last weekend
in August into early September.
ME: (Not clear if she meant two weekends or two weeks)
Okay, thankyou.
Well, $800 isn't that bad of a price to pay to lease a site
where you could potentially reach a few thousand potential
consumers. Plus the cost of hired help...but is that really a
considerable cost? CBM only has to send down one representative!
They don't even have to send any equipment if they can get local
Amiga delears and video businesses to donate time and equipment.
I would surely donate my equipment and time to demonstrate Amiga
equipment for two weeks! I am sure that many other people would
love to also. And it is important that all staff members actually
know something about the computer that they are demonstrating.
And they should have lots of demos, such as Eurodemos, the
Revolution tape, local cable TV projects, and graphics slideshows
(I have 20 megs of pictures even though I deleted lots of them),
along with lots of good Soundtracker modules (again I have 30 megs
of compressed modules, of which 10 megs or so are very good).
I often suggested similar ideas to CBM via their USENET email
address, suggestions@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com. I told them that
it would be cost effective and very productive to send out one
representative on a tour of the US. All he needs is a van, some
demo machines, and lots of demo software that he knows how to use,
such as pictures, music, 3d programs, business programs, and
multimedia programs. Appointments should be made with schools,
small businesses, and corporations to view the product. I can
imagine 4 or so demonstrations a day, 5 days a week in major
cities across the US. Hotel accomidations? Sleep in the van or
use a camper! Or look for budget motels. I slept in my van with
2 or 3 other people for two weeks, and I have a mini van. It wasn't
crowded because we each had our own cars and jobs during the day.
But of course we just recently moved into our house, so it isn't
going to happen until we go on vacation...but it wasn't that bad
if you know where to find utilities such as a shower. There are
showers on beaches and in gymnasiums (we parked on campus). We
also occasionally stopped by friend's apartments who invited us
to use their utilities.
This week on the USENET I heard something like my above idea.
To paraphrase, I read:
"The plan to sell Amigas via home demonstrations has
been scrapped."
At least someone considered the idea. But it is a good way to
reach customers.
What next? The Home Shopping Network! Where any item is
top of the line! Even people who won't buy it will at least
see it and hear about it, and it doesn't cost CBM any money
to market them!
How about local cable TV classified ads? Many of those
places are cheap for advertising especially if you make a long
term agreement. And many of them are even running on the Amiga!
And how about TV commercials in the Preview Guide on some cable
networks? Ours diplays TV listing on the bottom half of the screen
and has TV ads in the top half...I usually watch the TV ads and
miss reading the TV listings! And make new commercials with lots
of graphics...I'd rather see the Revolution tape than the Stevie
ads...but none the less, the Stevie ads are somewhat entertaining,
I must agree, and they do have recognition from TV personalities
such as Tip O'Neill.
Make a wham bang TV multimedia ad, showing the Amiga in
action. Show how easy it is to make a presentation. And put that
commercial on CNN or Headline News. Keep on using these key words
often in the ad:
multimedia
multitasking
high resolution graphics
Super VGA compatible
custom chips
24 bit graphics (don't mention additional hardware
I'll explain this better later)
IBM 386, UNIX, and Macintosh compatible
Motorola 68030 and 68040
cd quality sound
virtual reality
interactive media
cd rom compatible
laserdisc compatible
kiosk
interlaced video
business applications
word processing
data bases
spreadsheets
Video Toaster
"The leader in multimedia"
"Fully multitasking system"
"Integrated custom chip set"
"One gigabyte ram address space - no 640k limit"
"Thousands of software applications"
"Large user installed base"
"Leader in interactive media"
"Video Toaster compatible"
"Three dimensional graphics"
"CD quality sound"
Why is it not necessary to keep mentioning additonal
hardware is necessary? After all, CBM has yet to announce a
68040 processor for the Amiga (25 June 1992)...but they are
available from third party sources. And why not mention that
a 24 bit board is necessary even though the University of Lowell
Board does not work with AmigaDOS? Because 24 bit boards are
available from third party sources. Think of it this way. When
you buy an IBM clone, they put in game cards, SVGA cards, Sound
Blasters, and Windows 3.1, but the clone manufacturer itself does
not in fact manufacturer them...they are third party peripherals.
Just don't say in the ads that 24 bits and IBM emulation comes
standard with the Amiga and you'll do fine!
CBM should make their print ads (good ones) into posters, and
distribute them freely to schools and businesses. I see lots of
Macintosh and IBM posters although they all look boring anyway,
but they are there, and people know what an IBM is and what a
Macintosh is. And put nice 3d logos, such as the CDTV logo, on the
ad. How about Amiga t-shirts? I would buy one other than the one
I bought at the World of Amiga in NYC. I admit that the shirt sucks,
but that was the only one they had in the April 1991 show. It says
AMIGA in different colors on a collared shirt, right where you
would expect to find an alligator. The AMIGA is way to small. People
don't see it. It is too subtle. CBM should start making Amiga shirts
with AMIGA in big black bold print on the front and back, along
with "The Multimedia Computer" and "The Computer for the Creative
Mind". And last of all, make Amiga bumper stickers! As soon as I
get one, I am putting it on my van (but my van is another story).
Hell, I'd put a huge Amiga logo on that thing if I could get my
hands on one.
Offer Amiga and CDTV units as prizes for TV game shows such
as Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc. Advertise on TV for children's
shows, such as cartoons on Saturday. Nothing sells itself more than
a 10 year old saying 'Mommy, Daddy, I want an Amiga 500'. Have
commercials with kids using the computer to play games, saying
things like 'way cool', 'to the max', 'radical', and 'awesome' a lot.
You have to emplant it into their minds. Have the parents later
standing next to each other (with their arms around each other - family
stuff), say something like, "Look Harv, our Jimmy drew a picture!",
and the mother laysher hand on the head of the boy in a gentle way.
"But David, we have been telling that to CBM for years. And also,
David, if I had been on USENET recently I would know what you were
talking about in the second half of the last paragraph! It was a good
joke!"
Right. And has CBM listened? Sure they have. But there are some
people somewhere in CBM who think that everything is a failure just
because one magazine ad didn't increase sales 200% over the last
quarter. I knew that CDTV wouldn't sell well...it cost $1200! When
it gets down to $500 it will sell...when it gets down to $300 it will
be a sales boom!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0012 What can we do to help out CBM?
Wear an Amiga t-shirt everywhere you go in public. Put an Amiga
bumper sticker on your car. Stop in at computer stores and ask if they
sell Amiga computers - you heard it was a great computer. Argue with
your IBM friends about how great your computer is. Hang up signs that
have IBM with a big X crossing it out. Make pictures of apples with
worms coming out of them. Put an Amiga checkmark in your USENET
.signature file. Join a users group and talk constantly about the
Amiga. Bring demo disks to stores that sell the Amiga and give them
to the salesperson. Eurodemos are good. Write letters to magazines
such as Videomaker, Video Review, CD, Audio Review, Byte, Computer
Shopper, etc, and mention that the Amiga is perfect for your work
and that you hope to see more coverage. Write an article about the
CDTV and about how bad the CD-I is and send it to magazines for
publishing. Make sure you look up the specificatiosn on both machines
first so you can be fair when you bash the other machine. Send in
pictures you drew or raytraced into CBM and give them rights to use
your work for advertising and demos. Also send CBM music modules
that you personally have written. Make a full page ad with PageStream
or ProPage and send it in to CBM and tell them they are free to use
it. Make animations and put them on VHS tape or floppy disk, and also
send those to CBM. Think of ways to improve the operating system
and send them to CBM. Buy Commodore stock (currently at $10 per share
down from $14 in recent months and $11 in recent weeks). Hope that
IBM clone makers will start making IBM Bridgeboards for the Amiga.
What can CBM do to help CBM?
CBM ought to make an Amiga demo tape. How should they get demos
for this tape? Hold a contest like the Amiga World contest. Prizes
should be a choice of certain CBM products or gift certificates, and
consolation prizes of t-shirts and bumper stickers. Commodore doesn't
even need to advertise that the contest exists; just post details on
USENET, GEnie, BIX, and Portal. Word will get around. Give four
months until the contest ends. No wait, make it a super long contest
where a new demo tape is made every four month period.
CBM's loss: a few Amiga units and staff time,
plus a few thousand VHS tapes.
CBM's gain: sales up the wazoo.
CBM ought to hold a desktop publishing contest for the best print
ads. I know people who have offered to do things for CBM for free, so
I am sure they could receive lots of good ads this way. Then publish
the ads in magazines.
CBM's loss: a few Amiga units and staff time,
plus printing and advertising space.
CBM's gain: national recognition.
CBM ought to make an infomercial that seems like a news report
about a grounds breaking new multimedia machine, and send it through
the Associated Press or whatever news feeds. And don't forget to also
put your address and contact number in the infomercial.
CBM's loss: staff time, video editing costs.
CBM's gain: free advertising.
CBM ought to give free A500's to be raffled off by local groups,
such as little league baseball teams, boy and girl scout troops,
enemy user groups (clones, macs, and generic groups), and small shops
such as a pizza shop or a local restaurant. Or even for school fund
raising (marching band, sports, chess club, Amiga club, etc).
CBM's loss: some staff time, long distance phone bills,
a few hundred A500 units, raffle ticket printing.
CBM's gain: lots of kids will learn of the machine, and will go
door to door selling raffle tickets to win an Amiga.
CBM ought to send demo tapes to specific places, including but
not limited to:
TV station news departments
CNN and Headline News
local cable TV operators
small businesses
libraries
school districts
museums
colleges and universities
art schools
small video shops
MTV and other music video production houses
politicians who are running for president (H Ross Perot)
local governemt officials (they have lots of spending power)
big software houses
big hardware houses
Amiga developers, such as GVP, Supra, etc.
photo shops, video stores, IBM clone dealers
university computer centers
foreign ex-communist governments - for TV production
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0013 What hardware should CBM develop to better itself?
Sell the cheapest Amiga you can (currently Amiga 500) to
developing nations at super low prices...once they are hooked on
a machine they will stick to it...and buy high end models...and buy
software. Move in the Amiga 600 as soon as possible so that you
can bring lower prices (through the surface mounted design) and the
highly valuable PCMIA slot. Give a few free ones and encourage them
to buy more at regular prices or whatever. But if you take a loss
now, you will earn much more money in the future.
We need a 25 mHz 486 Bridgeboard or a 50 mHz 386 Bridgeboard, and
we need it yesterday. So get moving, CBM! And offer a SVGA card for
under $200...you don't have to make it yourself, just OEM one, okay?
We need a CD ROM drive that works with an external SCSI port.
Imagine if instantly all Amiga users started buying CDTV applications,
hence boosting CDTV development. The A570 is still not available even
though it is long overdue. And it only works with the A500.
Get some cheap networking on the new Amigas, or at least make
an expansion card. Schools won't buy anything now days unless it is
networked.
Get working on releasing the new chip set. And release the new
Workbench as soon as the software is ready; I am not going to read
the manuals anyway. Why can't I be entitled to a new operating system
any sooner? I know that the manual publishing causes much delay.
Release a 68040 board, and do another A2500 thingy with an A3000
and a 68040 in the co-processor slot. If you can't make your own
Bridgeboard, OEM one from Progressive or GVP!
If all it takes to make an A3000 50 mHz is to exchange the old
68030 and 68882 with faster ones, then do it now and stop wasting
time!
Start selling a reduced cost version of the A3000 so we can fill
the gap in the mid range systems...or did the price of the A2000 drop
to realistic levels recently?
How about a laptop, eh?
We need a 24 bit CDTV before CD-I sales pick up! Remember that
CD-I has a large backbone so crack it before it gets into swing. And
get CDXL finished if it isn't already, and fight for Photo CD licensing
from Kodak. Make CDTV ads that tell the truth about how it was out
before CD-I and about how it can be made Photo CD compatible with the
DCTV trick, if it is even available.
How about CDTV II? Here are some more ideas:
upgrade the PCMIA to the latest version
put in an internal floppy drive
get rid of the disk caddies
get a better style for the case
put in real mouse ports and joystick ports
add a bay for an internal hard disk
add some more expansion slots so multiple devices can be used
add 24 bit graphics
add ECS chips or whatever new things you have
add 16 mHz or 25 mHz 68030's
make it Video Toaster compatible
hey, while your at it, how about a few Bridgeboard slots too?
We need a new low end Amiga. How low? I'll tell you. An Amiga 300
with no keyboard. Just a PCMIA slot, an external floppy drive port,
an internal IDE port for those dinky little 2.5 inch drives, a keyboard
port (but no keyboard) and two mouse ports. Call it the Amiga games
console. It would sell like wildfire in Europe and markets where the
Commodore 64 is still selling hundreds of thousands of units a year.
Remember that those markets have yet to catch on to games consoles.
In a few years Sega and Nintendo will be blitzing over there...they
have already announced plans to hit the European market. Don't lose
it, okay?
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0014 Private Message to CBM Marketing Department
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hi. I was wondering why it is so hard to advertise something. I
don't understand what is so complicated about picking up a phone
and reserving space in a magazine issue, and then sending over the
print that they would use. Remember when I emailed cbmvax with some
magazine addresses and phone numbers? Well, try calling them. And
for each magazine, focus on the topic. Put educational ads in the
educational magazines. Put video related ads in video magazines. And
start publishing your own magazine with CBM products, uses, and third
party support. Obviously it would help if you got third party companies
to advertise too.
I strongly urge you to hold a publishing contest for the best ad.
It is cheap labor and you are more likely to find ads that have been
professionally done by Amiga enthusiasts. So give it a try. Remember,
people don't buy things if they don't know it exists.
Why do you bother advertising in Amiga magazines? Isn't that kind of
stupid? Amiga owners already know that the Amiga exists, and they will
hear about new Amigas as they are released or sooner (remember how Amiga
World had a premature release of the A3000T and the CDTV). Don't advertise
in Amiga magazines!
Is is better to advertise every other month for a year than every month
for six months. You will reach a larger time span, albeit with a few
possible omissions.
I saw a quick glimse of a CDTV ad on the Prevue Guide today. I am
waiting for the next run and have been taping the Prevue Guide for the
past three hours. I have seen other ads repeated, but not the CDTV ad yet.
I wonder why.
A funny thing just happened. My new housemate just walked in and
asked me what I was doing. I explained. He then asked what kind of
computer I have. When I said an Amiga, he said he never heard of it.
Funny to hear that coming from an Information Systems major.
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0015 Private Message to CBM Finance Department
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hello. I was wondering something. Did you ever hear that in order
to make money you have to make an investment first? Well, usually, the
more you invest, the more you earn. And the more you invest, the
better your product becomes. And the better your product becomes, the
more sales you have. And sales now make sales later as the product line
expands.
I hear that you only invest 2.5% of your total sales on research
and development. That is funny, because most computer companies spend
three or four times as much on research and development. And many of
these companies are constantly releasing hot new products in limited
time. I was thinking that maybe CBM should invest more in research
and development.
You might think that it is not necessary. But I disagree. CBM has
yet to market a laptop Amiga. There is no 486 Bridgeboard. There is
no CD ROM drive for any Amiga, although the A570 is supposedly
imminent. In Europe. There is no true mid-range Amiga system. The
CDTV has not been upgraded since its release, and improvements are
direly needed for such a new product. There seem to be great lags
in software development. There is no 68040 Amiga. There is no new
chip set. Research should be increased; there are many people out
there looking for jobs with a large company. I see a perfect match.
Most companies that do not develop new products merely die away.
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0016 Private Message to Irving Gould and Mehdi Ali
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
With my luck there will be a hundred Irving Goulds in the world,
so I hope this gets to the real one. Basically, I noticed that you
seem to own a small portion of CBM stock. One thing about that stock
that you may not have known; the value of it changes depending on the
performance of the company that it represents. For example, if you
buy $11 shares for $1 each, and you buy one million shares, you have
earned ten million dollars. But if that stock value decreases to
five dollars per share, you have gained only four million dollars.
Ten million is greater than four million. Likewise, if the value of
that stock grows to $21 per share, you have earned twenty million
dollars, which is more than four million and ten million. Therefor
you make more money. And believe me, that stock value is dependant
on the value of the company. If a company does not do well, you lose.
If it does do well, you win. I understand that you may need to make
two million dollars per year in salary in order to put food on the
table, just like I who make a cool six thousand a year at Burger King.
But maybe if some of that two million you make every year went towards
improving the company stock value, you might make that twenty million
I was talking about before. Actually, you could still be the fifth
highest paid CEO of a computer company and increase the research and
development budget, which increases your sales and market share, which
increases your stock value and hence increaes your salary. Kind of
like some investments I made. I bought a pair of black shoes for $30
so I could work at Burger King, and have turned that $30 a year
investment into a whoppering six thousand dollar investment, which is
a two hundred percent increase on my initial investment.
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0017 Private Message to All CBM Companies In Each Respective Country
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hi. I just wanted to let you know that there are some things in
your country that people wanted to buy but cannot because you do not
sell them. For example, Amiga UNIX exists in the United States. But
does it exist in your country? Same with the 386 Bridgeboard. And the
Amiga 600. And the 2.04 roms, which should be easy to provide on
floppy disks. And the A570 CD ROM drive. And rumor has it that in
some countries it is hard to find an Amiga 3000. Or a tower A3000.
And worst of all, I hear that some Amiga 3000's cost up to three times
more than in the US. I also hear people claim that they have to
actually leave the country in order to buy Amiga computers or hardware.
Very interesting. If you want to make the world a better place, take
a look at yourself and make that change. You got to get it right while
you get the chance. You might end up losing your mind and plastic
surgery won't help that. Hurry up before some enemy computer company
moonwalks all up and down you.
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0018 Private Message to Non-Amiga Enthusiasts
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hi. I have an Amiga. And lately I have seen many improvements
in other computer systems that have yet to arrive on the Amiga
platform. Many people are abandoning their Amigas in favor of these
other systems. They know that things are becoming cost effective over
there, and that the competition has caught up to and in some ways
surpassed the Amiga development.
You argue that the SoundBlaster has better audio support than
the Amiga. Sure the specs are great, but I have yet to hear that a
SoundBlaster has the proper quality. But it definitely has an
advantage, even though the majority of music development has been
popularized on the Amiga.
You also claim that SVGA is the best graphics standard. I have
heard this also, since it is very nice. But I have heard that some
SVGA cards do lack in quality, but you still can't beat the price
for the performance.
Ah, and you like your Windows 3.1 software, even though it
doesn't have true multitasking and is extremely slow. It does not
run on the slower IBM machines. But software support is steadily
growing. Yes, another reason to abandon the Amiga. But the Amiga
can still catch up. It has potential, and it has one of the cleanest
designed operating systems of all the personal computers.
The SVGA and audio is nice, but it is still not user friendly
enough for me. Nor is it productive enough. You must not have seen
multiple screens on the Amiga before. It is great, especially with
a fast 16 mHz 68030 processor. I am not yet ready to abandon the
Amiga. It still has potential, and it is very fun. Maybe in a few
more months I will be ready to dump it, but that would only be if
CBM doesn't get it's act together once and for all.
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0019 Private Message to Someone Who Cares
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hi. My name is David Tiberio. I live in Long Island, New York,
which is in the United States of America, on a small bit plane called
6 Lodge Lane. I want to tell you that since you care about your Amiga
I would like for you to take on a mission of gathering information.
And of being productive. And of having fun and enjoying your Amiga.
Because it may not be around for long. But you can do something about
it without spending a significant amount of money. If you want to
help the Amiga, your investment in a computer, you may want to
consider my proposition.
If you are on USENET, BIX, GEnie, Portal, CompuServe, BITNET,
American People Link (that would be a tough one though), etc, could
you please find out if it offers the following services for me?
Does it have customer support from third party Amiga developers?
Does it have customer support for Commodore?
Are people satisfied with the Amiga?
Are people generally happy or sad with Commodore?
Does the Amiga appear to be a growing platform or a dieing one?
Does Commodore appear to be a growing company or a dieing one?
Do you have access to freely distributable Amiga software?
Do you have access to software updates from Commodore?
Does Commodore update software frequently enough?
After answering these questions, could you do me one simple
favor? All I ask is that you send email to Commodore and tell them
if you are happy or sad with them. And if you have any ideas for
upgrades to the operating system, could you please tell them? Also,
if you have ideas for marketing Amiga hardware, please feel free to
explain away. And last of all, if you would be willing to donate
some artwork that you created yourself, or some sample magazine ads,
or places where CBM could place an advertisement, could you please
let them know? Or if you want, let me know. I can't do much other
than send email to CBM, but maybe someday that will change. My email
address is at the top of this article. Note that for the summer of
1992 I have been having trouble with receiving and sending email...
absolutely nothing has appeared to get through recently, but I am
regularly on usenet in comp.sys.amiga.advocacy, and would be glad to
discuss it there.
[I have now been able to email properly and my correct address
is at the top of this page.]
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0020 Private Message to Amiga Advocates and Commodore Writing Staff (?)
If you are not part of this department, please skip this section.
Hi. Did you ever notice how some magazine reviews are always
tilted towards enemy computers? Such as how a magazine such as MPC
World does not like the CDTV, and never really mentions all of its
strong points that make it so valuable? Ever notice how Byte makes
claims that the Amiga is not the best choice for video? Well, this
can be changed. We need people knowledgable on the Amiga and the
enemy computer systems to write well informed articles that match
the best with the best. All strong points should be mentioned so that
the reader can get an unbiased view. And be very thorough and concise;
don't be too wordy. Give all of the specifications. Write up a storm,
and send them to magazine publishers. We need comparative essays
and not just letters of complaint. Show concern. Show intelligence.
Show rationality. Show something. If I were CBM, I would have hired
a group of people to do this a long time ago. CBM should publish its
own magazine and distribute it. They should have bought Info magazine,
which was entirely produced on Amigas, and was very critical to the
welfare of the Amiga. Yes they gave CBM bad press. But maybe that
was an appropriate action.
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0021 The Amiga Petition
Send any correspondance to the CBM VAX through their INTERNET
email address, suggestions@cbmvax.commodore.com.
Commodore Business Machines
1200 Wilson Drive
Westchester, PA 19380
FAX (215) 431-9465
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Thankyou for reading this file, created on the 25th of June 1992.
If you wish, feel free to add any commentaries before redistributing
this file, and kindly leave your name and contact address, email, or
phone number. Maybe if we are lucky we'll have helped some people out
there who need encouragement. People need that once in a while.
Oh, and if anyone happens to see an Amiga logo decal suitable for
adhering to an acrylic eurathane surface, please let me know . I'd stick
it right on the back door of my Chevrolet Astro van.
The next dashed line denotes the end of the file.
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