Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: upgrading graphics on only the HIGH END machines
Message-ID: <58591@sun.uucp>
Date: 30 Jun 88 18:14:34 GMT
References: <3174@louie.udel.EDU>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 62

In a previous article I wrote :
>The original suggestion though bears repeating, lets get more colors
>even if it is only in the 'high end' machines.

In article <3174@louie.udel.EDU> jedi@clark-emh.arpa commented:
> Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the amiga??  Have all these nice
> capibilities in a 'LOW END' machine???  That's one of the reasons that 
> I'm sure many people picked it.  I know that I did.

And the answer in my opinion is no. 

There is a fundamental tradeoff in the industry between features/price. You
or I can easily name a computer and a price that are impossible to meet.
Unfortunately, many computer users don't realize when they have done this.
If had a nickel for every time someone said "All I want is 16 colors on a
1K by 1K screen for under $2000." not realizing that 19" monitors that 
can do 16 colors in a 1K by 1K format *cost* $2000, I could buy an A500
by now. Add the computer and you are looking at another two to four kilobucks.

Amigas are the same way. Commodore puts the most it can into an Amiga
500 and sells it for the least it can and still provide enough income
to fund a relatively small amount of R&D. (Relative to most other
computer companies) If they were a 'PC clone' maker they wouldn't need
*any* software people because all of the software R&D is "free" from
IBM and others. They could beef up their R&D staff if they had some high
margin products generating the income, yet they can't get away with 
charging the prices that Apple charges so they are kind of stuck no?

So the basis for my original statement above is as follows. Commodore is
driven by low-end users. That is their big market and they cannot ignore
it. But they also have a small base of "high end" users who are willing
to pay $2,000 to $4,000 for a system if it provides the power they need
to stay with the Amiga. So take the following senario; Commodore develops
a 'dual Denise' that is part original Denise and part RAMDAC. This pair
of chips can be plugged into an Amiga and give it 256 out of 16,000,000
colors (THIS IS ALL HYPOTHETICAL). The cost of this chipset to the end
user will be $300. "Acack! Pthpft!" you say, because you only paid $600
for the entire computer ! "I'd never pay that!" you say. Well that seems
to be the way Commodore thinks, but they don't take into account that
*I WILL* pay that to get more colors. I'm not a starving college student
and will continue to invest in my Amiga(s) as long as Commodore is willing
to carry them to where I want them to go. (At least one branch of them)
So my plea to Commodore to not ignore us high-end users who aren't cheap
and are willing to pay the price (within reason) to make our systems
as powerful as possible. 

If I were to guess, I would say this is the *only* thing holding back the
Commodore 68020 board. Or more succinctly, Commodore saying to itself
"Gee, we're going to need to sell this board for $2000 for it to be any
sort of success, and yet most of what we are selling are Amiga 500's for
under $1000. Who's going to buy this thing?" And the answer is the power
users out there, those people who want to show the Mac II folks what an
Amiga can do when similarly equipped, and wipe the smug look clean off
their face. This is of course a product marketing issue and Commodore
has been rather poor in doing any sort of product marketing. Hopefully,
that will improve. Something must be working as their stock was over
$13 a share yesterday.


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.