From mdesk@netcom.com Tue May 3 11:58:44 1994 Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy From: mdesk@netcom.com (Jorg Schmidt) Subject: We must be crazy...NOT!!! Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Date: Sun, 1 May 1994 10:05:33 GMT Commodore going out of business A software company's response In the last few weeks, there has been much talk about what would happen if C= dies. Now it *HAS* happend. And many people will panic. They will sell their hardware, they will switch the platform or whatever. But I say: There's no need for that. There's no need to throw away thousands of dollars in hardware and software investments. Why? Because of market economy! Some of you may know MAXON, one of the biggest software vendors for the Amiga on the German market. And almost at the same day Commodore is going out of business, we - MediaDesk in Campbell, California - start to introduce at least two of their products to the U.S. market. And even after this sad day we stick to our plan. Why is this so? How can anybody who is in his right mind start selling software for this platform, when the manufacturer has just filed for bankruptcy? There are three reasons: 1.) The Amiga Market IS a market. It has been a market yesterday, and it will be the same market tomorrow. The machines are not going up in smoke. People USE the Amiga. They need software. They need hardware. They need support. And they will continue to do so. For years to come. The German Atari market is almost in the same situation. A market almost without participation of Atari. But the magazines are still there, software is still being written and thousands of copies have been sold and will continue to sell. Because not everybody cares if he has the first, second or third best selling computer system of all times. They care just about their own machine, their everyday work. And because there are so many loyal Amiga users out there, even the not-so-loyal should *AT LEAST* wait and see what happens. 2.) The Amiga market has the "right" size. Many developers think that publishing software for Mac or Windows is like paradise on earth. As if having a Windows or Mac application is like a blank check. But this is not so - in fact, to enter a mainstream market like those you make money on volume. It is as if you would start selling toothpaste. Ok, buying toothpaste is just a $1.49-decision. But to get it into people's heads that your product is in the shelf at all, you may need a $20 Million advertising campaign. And that's the way the Windows and Mac market work. And the Amiga market is not too small, either. Maybe 500,000 active Amiga users in the U.S. & Canada. Maybe more, maybe less. Imagine they would all live in one city. And imgine you had a retail store there, selling two or three unique Amiga software products. Wouldn't you do pretty well? And in some sense the Amiga community IS like this city. There's just a few publications, but everybody reads them. Amiga users think alike. Amiga users know each other. Mac users *MAY* know each other. Windows users hate each other (well, sometimes also Amiga users in this newsgroup hate each other, but this is a different story :-) Or let's just assume this for a minute: You were an entrepreneur specializing in mousetraps. For some technical reason, your mousetrap works only on hardwood floors. Now somebody would tell you about a multi- million-dollar market with hundrets of thousands of potential customers in need for a better mousetrap. They all read "HardwoodWorld" and they really love their floor. Wouldn't you be interested? We certainly would! And for marketing this mousetrap, would you care if this market gains or loses a few thousand potential customers a year? We wouldn't. So the Amiga market *IS* still attractive. Not because of technical features. Not out of emotional reasons. But simply for its economics. And other companies know that as well. Software/Hardware support will not stop on monday. Most companies could not even afford to stop Amiga support. And they don't have to, if you, the users and developers, don't panic. 3.) The Amiga technology will probably be sold to some other company without being linked to Commodore's debts. This is how we interpret the recent posting from West Chester in this group. If - whoever buys it - is smart, they realize that the most important asset the Amiga has is the loyal user base rather than the technology (IMHO). As far as we are concerned, we continue localizing and marketing our products, literally as if nothing had happened. Because *IN FACT* nothing has happened, at least not to existing Amiga users. Simillar to the German Atari market, we may really feel the impact of this day's event one or two years from now. Now you have to decide for yourself: Should you, the user or developer, trash your Amiga and start from scratch on a new platform spending big amounts of time and money on an unclear future on new terrain? We won't. Because we're better off the other way. And I think, that's true for most of us. What do you think? E-mail us or post here! Thanks in advance for your comments! -- Take it easy, Jorg -------------------------------------------------------------------- MediaDesk - Computer Graphic Software (800) 30-MDESK Info & Sales 1875 S. Bascom Ave., Suite 204 (408) 374-7595 Tech Hotline Campbell, California 95008-2359 (408) 374-7596 Tech Fax Save your Screen the MAGIC way... DesktopMAGIC is coming soon! --------------------------------------------------------------------