Title : Amiga in the Business World | Electronic Arcs By : Ron Schultz | Volume 1, Number 2 Filename : Articles1 | (c) 1987, Brad Grier & Authors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Amiga. To many the name is synonymous with magic. And we all remember the beginning. Ecstatic high hopes, assured statements about the success of this all-encompassing super-computer-on-a-desk. How it was going to storm the business world, be a success. Wizen comparisons to the IBM and Macintosh computers abounded. Then came the first AmigaWorld. It was a sign for some of the impending success of this wunder-machine. Some well-established companies looked up from the beaten IBM path! Borland International was one of those many who advertised in the now historic (undated) AmigaWorld premiere. Yes, even IBM's PC System/2, long awaited by many insiders, was suddenly postponed for two years. Even the giants bowed to Amiga. But then, first one company, and then another, either went under or pulled out. How come? TIME magazine, one of the most respected and most read news magazines in the United States reported more than once on Commodore's financial status, with such embarrassing headlines as 'Adios, Amiga?' (and many couldn't believe it, it was to them, after all, 'just a passing thought', or "growing pains" as others explained it.) But alas, it was all too true. Just as the growing giant of a computer had scared off the financial interest of the 3 doctors that caused its inception, so was the now adolescent computer scaring off even more financially-oriented interestees. All this was helped by a massive ATARI misinformation campaign. Business is (dirty) war, alright. Mac owners didn't like to talk of Amiga. Then came the first trickle of software that actually put something besides a bouncing ball on the Amiga's 1080. More companies were going under, some that had greedily thought to ride a wave were now being dragged back 'out to sea' by it. Scribble, Analyze, MaxiPlan (made by a company that had a Maxi-volume of name-changes) appeared, among others. But Amiga just wasn't taking off. People were wowed alright, but were they willing to shell out $2,000 US for an expensive home computer? The vaporware caused the storm clouds to rumble even nearer as Commodore underwent massive lay-offs, organizational changes, and parties. Then one morning just a few months ago, I awoke bright and early, and lo and behold, found v1.2 of AmigaDos entrancing! Here was something to play with! It actually wasn't crashing every 30 seconds! (Alright, so it is hyperbole, but just barely...) Hey! The people that had talked most adamantly against the Amiga were suddenly purchasing Amigas! (They were, in most cases, Atari owners, or couldn't afford Amigas beforehand.) An avid assembly-language programmer who had fashioned an entire BBS out of ML in Indiana with his Commodore-64, and whom I had befriended during the development period, suddenly took (tore) down the bbs and sold his whole system. What? He had bought an Amiga. As long as he had his Lattice C he didn't care if Commodore went out of business. No wonder executives still weren't looking at the Amiga. Then there's now. (I'll be quoted on that one!) That incredible (by all accounts) MaxiPlan Plus is here. Analyze v2.0. Scribble v2.0. VIP professional with nice graphing capabilities for the die-hard (headed) 1-2-3 'addict'. WordPerfect on the horizon, with its very programmers proud of their achievements on the Amiga. Hard-drives and memory expansion add-ons flourishing (and competition finally bringing the prices down.) Networking boards that let you connect to most major IBM token-rings and whatnot are here. (At least their being advertised!). Amazing Computing is steadily becoming still more useful, new 'programming' magazines are coming out. There are wonderful rumors (probably unfounded since the introduction of the Mac II and SE) of AST Research having several Amigas in their labs, and actually thinking about... Things are looking up, especially since the Amiga 2000 and 500 have been introduced, and GenLock has been released (really!), and Commodore is reporting profits, and the 128 is outselling the ST, and... (Actually, public-opinion and computer-store support is much better here in Canada than in the United States. Computer stores don't really 'go' in the U.S., everyone does mail-order. But it also shows the concern for quality that Canadians have...) Commodore is finally getting some none- druggies to do development in West Germany (ah, good old GERMAN engineering...) And --A moment of silence for the original Los Gatos Amiga team. They are now in bliss and cash at Apple, Inc. THEY haven't lost their JOBS! (ahem, excuse me.) OK. Let's get down to hard-nosed facts. The Amiga crashes. It has slow disk-access times and virtually non-existent hard disk support. It's virtually non- expandable (I mean, REALLY expandable) and the software just isn't here yet (will it ever be here?) A business at this stage in just cannot afford to shell out $buck$ for an Amiga when the big guys aren't supporting it. Parkland ColorPress of College Heights, near Red Deer, Alberta, was considering a MAJOR computer/typesetting machine upgrade. The author moved to Canada from the United States just in time to stumble upon this merry scene. Well, I took my boss right away to the computer store, and wowed him with the Amiga. He was excited, I was happy. But I had to tell him not to get the Amiga. The power-software we needed (we just got the $10,000 SuperPage desktop publishing software from BestInfo) is just NOT here. He liked the IBM compatibility, but at 4 Mhz, my friend, a worm can out do you. (Transformer running on a 68020 must be the only way to go faster!) We needed good software to do computer art (Deluxe Paint and DPaint II are unbeatable) but we are having to get a Macintosh to run Adobe Illustrator -we need PostScript output for the Linotron Postscript output machine we are in the process of purchasing. An IBM System/50 will host our network, tying in to the current clones and doing the paste-up with SuperPage, and a System/30 will assist with the typing and proof-reading, etc. If the Amiga had that extra software 'umph' it (I am convinced that it could outperform any computer today in any software type if it only HAD it!) would have flown. I now have to live with all those 'other' features on the new IBM and the MAC when the Amiga is the better system. This is the business community today. Amiga looks nice, but when your head clears, you realize you've got to make a wise investment. Scenario 2: (also true) The author works for Curry Copy Center in Indiana, as programmer. They've invested heavily into a number of Kaypro CP/M machines, and have them all networked together neatly. However, they are running out of hard-disk room, companies supporting the Kaypros are dwindling, and the hard-drives are rip-offs for the Kaypro, also. I off-handedly suggested the Amiga. (All their programs are custom-made, and being in MicroSoft Basic, will run virtually as is on the Amiga.) You should have seen the interest they had. (They knew I swore by Amiga, but then, they had never even seen one!) But then came the logistics problems. We needed to network the Amiga to the Kaypros. No problem, we can get multiuser software from the Conceptual Computing guy in Toronto, get a serial port multiplexer from him, and were off! (This still allows the previous non-serial network to continue normally on the Kaypros.) Now we need IBM compatibility. Fine, SideCar will do nicely (not available in US, some speculate whether ever will be) and it will also allow us to use LOW-COST hard drives with the Amiga. Nice. Now, how about running the programs from the Amiga for the Kaypros (ie., just send them the screen update info, you know, true multiuser) they will run faster, and the programmer will not have to do both Amiga and CP/M versions of every program. Great, we'll need memory expansion, and a speed-up. Oh, really? Sadly we find it just won't work. SideCar won't work with memory expansion, much less with a 68020 in at the same time. OK, chuck IBM compatibility, the 68020 box won't let us very well use IBM hard drives. (CSA has introduced the TurboTower which supposedly can do with the correct controllers) and the static-RAM we'll need for the 68020 to go at full speed is $4000 US for 2 megs! (Rotten banana peels, #(*&@)@&#$!) The situation is hopeless. (Fortunately, no money was invested. Except for me...long distance phone calls from Canada to California and Texas, inquiring.) Amiga 2000. The answer! Not available. Coming soon. Should be here end of April. Uh-huh. We wait and twiddle our thumbs. I may yet lose this job to a baron that totes Mac II or System/2. IF Commodore can come through with it on time, and hopefully get a higher Mhz IBM running on it, and come out with a 68020 with an MMU and UNIX, Amiga will finally begin to reign, to establish the dream. We could network 500's to our system. Pitch the Kaypros. We're waiting for Commodore to do its part. But now it's our (you and my) turn to do ours. With the 2000 expandability problems are solved. We can run 68020, IBM and hard-drive, along with 8 megs no problem at the same time. Who else can do that? We are the only ones that truly know the machine, and we are the only ones that take it for what it is, the best computer around. We'd like to see justice done. We want to see the Amiga succeed -as it deserves! And maybe we'll be known as the pioneers, and be able to tell our grand children "look, we were a part of the Amiga success, the Amiga revolution!" What WE have to do is make the software appear. I propose that we stop making little fractals, and make some decent CAD programs. We should stop making bouncing balls, and make some spread-sheets that help bounce profits (up). We should stop making music, and make MIDI programs that rival the best the industry has to offer. We have to make sure there is an ingenious variety of programs out there that don't just copy IBM, but complement it -do what it can't. Instead of making nice little pictures, get into external robotics control. You know what I mean. "But I don't have the funds!" you cry out. Co- Bull! We have such excellent people as the programmer who has given us DRACO, outperforming Manx Aztec C, combining the best of C and Pascal, and doing it for free! No more excuses now, friends. You CAN do it or your just plain out of it. Let's get this thing going! I know most will doubt that this could ever happen. Apple has the Amiga designers. Atari has power without the price. (There ARE hidden costs, such as that keyboard and junk...but who sees that when they have dollar bills in their eyes?) Unless there is an almost lucky combination of Commodore wits (?) and user community support (PROGRAMS!) we will join the ranks of TI, ADAM, and all the rest of them, the also-rans! So, now to the part of the article from which it is named. IS the Amiga standing up to the needs of our businesses? Not yet.