Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site spice.cs.cmu.edu Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!ucbvax!ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!spice.cs.cmu.edu!tdn From: tdn@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Thomas Newton) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: Re: task whacking, developer's kit Message-ID: <471@spice.cs.cmu.edu> Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 19:10:18 EDT Article-I.D.: spice.471 Posted: Wed Oct 23 19:10:18 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 05:14:13 EDT Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 69 ] Well, the reasoning behind this goes as follows: Amiga wants to best support ] those who will help the Amiga. The best way to help the Amiga, being a ] softwareless machine, is to put more software on the market. The developer's ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Why is only commercial software important? What about public-domain software and shareware (commercial software sold through non-traditional channels)? If you take a look at the Mac, you'll see quite a few public-domain, copyrighted- but-free, and shareware programs that are in common use -- BinHex 4.0, PACKIT, FreeTerm, Red Ryder, MockWrite, MultiScrap, and SkipFinder 5.1 among them. It is my opinion that SkipFinder is one of the most useful programs on the Mac -- even though it is not sold through commercial channels (early versions didn't ask for money; the latest version asks you to send what you think its worth, and the message is cleverly placed in a dialog box that you will eventually see if you use the program but which doesn't hit you in the face every time). And in fact, the Amiga is not a softwareless machine. It has a C compiler and other development software which end users obviously want to obtain. It seems to me that Commodore should be rushing to sell developers kits through retail outlets. If cost is a problem, perhaps a slightly different arrangement could be worked out for end users, such as charging a nominal fee (the cost of disks, photocopying, and postage) for updates or distributing updates through dealers for free the way that Apple did with MacWrite and MacPaint. ] kit is NOT just a bundle of information: it is a commitment on Amiga's part ] to give future support on a personalized basis, in the form of updates and ] information as they become available. Amiga does NOT make money on these ] kits: they are an expense! It costs considerably more to research, publish, ] and distribute this information than they charge for it. Documenting the operating system and hardware is a necessary expense for ANY machine -- whether or not the documentation is available to end users. ] It is also a one-time fee- as more stuff comes out, new releases of ] development software, etc. they will NOT charge more for it. Don't be so sure that Commodore will supply you with all of the promised updates. Apple is still updating the programs in the Software Supplement, but they are not sending the updates to purchasers of the Supplement. To get the updates, one must download them from Compuserve (at $12.75/hour), and each of the Supplement files is labeled with a notice that would seem to prohibit giving copies to other people to save them the download costs. Fortunately, it looks as if the situation is getting better -- I saw a message on net.micro.mac today that suggested that all future Supplement updates will be posted to USENET as well as to Compuserve, with Apple's blessings. On the other hand, although my copy of the Megamax C compiler doesn't promise FREE updates forever, the $15 fee for updating to the latest version is low enough to make it worthwhile for major updates and high enough so that Megamax isn't losing money with each update shipped (especially since they reuse the disks). ] The "casual" user who isn't planning to ] put anything on the market should get this information from developers on ] his own, or from users groups, documentation on the market, etc. Keep in ] mind Amiga is NOT trying to keep its information to a select few, they are ] trying to keep the cost of supporting developers to a minimum. (And ask ] Apple, that cost is HIGH!) How many developers in the business of producing commercial software will be willing to provide information to end users? Let's see, I'll just call up EA and ask them for a copy of the Hardware Manual. . . As far as documentation on the market goes, I haven't yet seen any documentation for the ATARI 800 that is as complete as the "Operating System Reference Manual and Hardware Manual" published by ATARI or any documentation published for the Macintosh that is as complete as "Inside Mac". And I wouldn't want to depend upon the existence and quality of a users group for basic system documentation, even assuming that Commodore allowed wholesale copying of the manuals/software in their development kit. -- Thomas Newton Thomas.Newton@spice.cs.cmu.edu