------------------------- 3]West Coast Computer Faire By CHERYL PETERSON 1]------------------------- The 13th Annual West Coast Computer Faire held few surprises this year. No great and/or innovative products were announced and for the most part it was just more of the same. The big emphasis was on IBM, and Amiga users who attended were probably disappointed that the Amiga took a back seat at what has traditionally been the "hackers" show. The Amiga was not completely ignored, as there were a group of special demonstrations called Master's presentations that featured the more powerful 68000 microprocessor-based computers. Of course the Amiga shared the spotlight with the Atari and Macintosh, but at least no one tried to maintain that an IBM was a first-rate artist's tool. The Amiga shined at the Demonstration for Special Effects, Screening for Desktop Video and the Exhibition for Computer Aided Art. The Amiga was also featured in a panel on "Unparalleled Platforms - Amiga, Atari and More." This panel discussion featured Richard McIntyre, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Commodore. Neil Harris, who holds a similar position with Atari, represented the ST machines and Bruce Webster added a third and certainly well-informed voice to the group. Webster has been a consulting editor for Byte magazine for several years and uses all three of the MAST (Macintosh, Amiga and Atari ST) machines. It's interesting to note that though representatives of A-squared, Aegis, New Tek, Prism Computer Graphics and the Lewis Research Group all participated on panels, none of these companies was represented on the convention floor. Most of the few companies showing Amiga products were also demoing software and hardware add-ons that run with other computers. The only other Commodore representation was a booth which gave away copies of the Commodore magazine produced in West Chester. Editor Sue West and others of her staff managed to give away all of the magazines by mid-day Saturday, so there was certainly Commodore interest at the show. The headline article in the issue being passed out was "Word Processors for the Amiga." Supra Corp. was showing its line of Amiga add-ons, including a new 2400 baud modem. The modem costs $220-240 including cables depending on the computer with which it is to be used. They were also showing their Macintosh and Atari ST add-ons. For the Amiga computers, they had 20-250 Megabyte hard disk drives and a couple RAM expansion products. Games software manufacturers were not in evidence at all. Only a couple booths sported games software and the packages being shown were mostly adult oriented. Some third-party vendors (stores and shops that took booths at the show) were selling games and entertainment products, but few if any had Amiga software on sale. Spectrum Holobyte was there -- showing all of their wonderful games, none of which currently runs on the Amiga. According to the brochure they were handing out, Amiga owners can look forward to versions of Solitaire Royale and Bermuda Project. One of the highlights of the show had to be when the "star" of the game Dondra showed up in full costume of bright red boots, skimpy green tunic and gold armbands. A sword completed her highly authentic outfit. If you get a look at the advertisements for this one or the picture on the cover of the package, a little imagination will tell you what you missed. She had quite a crowd gathered to watch her sign posters. One of the other Amiga highlights was the demonstration of Air Warrior in the GEnie booth. This online multiplayer flight simulator was being demoed by its creators, Kelton Flinn and John Taylor III. One was flying on an Atari ST and the other was flying on an Amiga 1000. Both were connected to GEnie's online network and were flying with other users from around the country. Though they were flying with other users, they limited their attacks to downing each other. As authors of the game and long-time players of Air Warrior, they refused to take unfair advantage of less experienced players. To play the game, Macintosh, Atari ST or Amiga owners must download the complimentary software for their machine. A practice mode is provided, so users can learn to use the simulator and fly the planes without incurring GEnie connect time. At $5 an hour, being able to learn to fly off-line is a valuable consideration. The real-time graphics are equal to any flight simulator program available. Air Warrior is much more than just a flight simulator, though. There are three rival countries battling in a great World War. As a pilot for one of three air forces, you fly missions with other pilots and go head-on against the pilots from the other two countries. You can choose from among almost a dozen airplanes; everything from old German Fokker's to modern-day jets. If you are really feeling like a team player, you can sign-on aboard a B-17 bomber as one of the crew members or its pilot. The number of successful missions you fly determines your rank and ranking in the game. Flying a successful mission entails accomplishing certain goals and returning to tell about it. Other online networks were also represented. CompuServe's booth featured a variety of computers. Sales reps were giving tours of the system all day. Free posters were also being distributed sometimes by forum administrators invited to help people the booth. The Trintex project, Prodigy, was being demoed, though the actual online network will not be available until the fall. The IBM/Sears product plans to offer online access for a flat fee of less than $10 per month. On-screen advertisers will help absorb much of the cost of using the system. Advertising fees paid by those members of the online shopping center are supposed to offset the cost of running the system, thereby allowing the low monthly user fee. According to the sales person on duty in the booth, the system will support 1200 and 2400 baud access through software provided by Trintex. IBM, Apple II and Apple Macintosh users will be able to access the system. At this time, Commodore and Amiga access is not planned. The only disk magazine present was Uptime for the IBM. When asked why they brought only the IBM version with them, editor John Bayes said that the show had been presented to them as being an IBM show. He indicated that had they known differently, UPtime would have probably brought literature for their other disk magazines as well. UPtime publishes monthly disks for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64 and IBM computers. One corner of the convention floor was home to the user groups that had booths. They ran the gamut from FOG International User Group (CP/M and MSDOS) to Augment (a California Amiga Group.) Computers represented included the TI99, the TRS-80s, the TRS Model 100 and other laptops, IBM, Kaypro, Atari ST and even the 8-bit Commodore and Atari computers. Many of these groups were offering public domain software and looking for new members. Word Perfect was showing their full line, including the latest for the Amiga, the Word Perfect Library. Including many utilities that can be used in conjunction with Word Perfect, the sales reps were promising early May delivery -- approximate price $150. The gimmick feature of the show was a DWIM key that could be attached to any computer. DWIM is an acronym for "Do What I Mean" and while it doesn't really help your computer's performance, it does at least remind you that you must keep your sense of humor when using many computer programs. Complete with a 16-page user guide that product sells for $3. Quantity discount price is 2 for $5. The single biggest topic of conversation was clearly the Apple lawsuit brought against Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. Apple claims that windowing environment used by these two companies infringes on their copyright. Protesters were passing out buttons showing a snake eating a depiction of the Apple logo and sporting the message "Keep your lawyers off my computer." The big question seemed to be how much of a delay this tactic would force on the production schedule for the Presentation Manager -- an integral part of the IBM PS/2 marketing plan. APS 26020 Auberry Clovis CA 93612 (209) 297-1211 Augment Amiga Users Group 1572 Los Padres Blvd., Ste. 209 Santa Clara CA 95050 Commodore Magazine 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester PA 19380 (215) 431-9100 CompuServe, Inc. 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. Columbus OH 43220 (614) 457-8600 GEnie GE Information Services 401 North Washington St. MS-MC02B Rockville MD 20850 Spectrum HoloByte 2061 Challenger Drive Alameda Ca 94501 (415) 522-3584 Supra Corp. 1133 Commercial Way Albany OR 97321 (503) 967-8233 Trintex 445 Hamilton Ave. White Plains NY 10601 (914) 993-8740 UPtime, the Disk Magazine Viking Technologies 174 Bellevue Ave. Newport RI 02840 (401) 847-2455 Word Perfect Corp. 288 W. Center St. Orem Ut 84057 (801) 227-5900 3]END OF TEXT