Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!gatech!rutgers!apple!well!ewhac From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Original Demos Message-ID: <7204@well.UUCP> Date: 25 Sep 88 09:07:44 GMT References: <692@zehntel.UUCP> Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) Organization: Slow-Witted Weapons Experts, Ltd. Lines: 53 Quote: "Yesterday, I was.... No, that wasn't me." -- Steve Wright In article <692@zehntel.UUCP> donw@zehntel (Don White) writes: > I would like to SECOND Kurt Lidls' request for upgrading the original >demos. > Let it not be said that the WorkBench 1.0 demos were unforgettably great. I still have a copy of the disk, and surprisingly, a lot of them still work. Boing! sold me on the Amiga. However, I'd have to say that, today, those demos are probably passe'. Boing! has been copied so much that I can't think of any computer that doesn't have a version available for it (this is obviously a testament to the impact that the demo had). But I fear that they're a wee bit old for a public that constantly insists on being totally blown away in new ways. This is what we hoped to accomplish with the Killer Demo Contest last year, and which we achieved with some success. I have yet to see this year's entries, but I suspect we'll achieve roughly the same level of success, which to me isn't good enough. What we really need is someone or some team whose sole purpose in life for a time is to create a demo that *will* Blow Everyone's Mind. Our best bet right now would probably be to rip-off the NeXT demos. :-) NewTek has served well as a creator of demos for the Amiga. Demo Reel 1 has enjoyed enormous popularity, even though it hardly does anything. Demo Reel 2, from what I saw at FAUG, will be even more popular. However, we can't expect NewTek to keep cranking them out. While it's good P.R. for them, it consumes a great deal of their resources. We also can't expect Commodore to develop demos, as they already have a shortage of personnel (the number of people directly involved in Amiga hardware and software development can be counted on your fingers). I'd be inclined to nominate myself, but I'm already busy (at the moment) and would have difficulty taking out the two or three months I would deem necessary to create a worthy demo, a project which I probably wouldn't be paid for. (And don't suggest that Commodore should hire me to do this. If they had that kind of money, they'd hire another full-time tech whom they'd get a lot more value out of.) Therefore, I sumbit that the best demos we can produce are solid, reliable, and useful commercial products. Macintosh sells on the strength of the products you can buy for it, not for the demos you can get for it. We should try to emulate this; impressive, solid products will sell the Amiga. Of course, writing the odd display hack won't hurt.... _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU \_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack") "Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor