Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!ll-xn!adelie!morgoth!steve
From: steve@morgoth.UUCP (Steven G. Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Article in Electronic Engineering Times
Keywords: CBM Amiga C-A Comdex Electronic Engineering Times Max Toy
Message-ID: <495@morgoth.UUCP>
Date: 8 Dec 88 14:24:55 GMT
Organization: Goldberg-Zoino and Assoc., Newton, MA
Lines: 93

Hello everyone!
	The following article was is the December 5, 1988 issue of
Electronic Engineering Times, page 63.  It has been copied here
without permission.

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				BIG COMDEX SPLASH
		           COMMODORE ON THE MOVE AGAIN
 			     		                By Richard Doherty

West Chester, Pa. - Commodore Computer demonstrated its commitment to
the latest technology by showing off its 68020- and 68030-based
multi-operating-system Amigas, as well as a forth-coming
Transputer-based Amiga, at last month's Comdex/Fall.

     This aggressiveness can be attributed to none other than Max Toy,
who became Commodore's president just over a year ago.

     Toy assumed the reins at Commodore after stints at IBM Corp. and
Compaq Computer.  Two of his predecessors as company president, Jack
Tramiel and Thomas Rattigan, left troubled staffs in the wake of their
departures.

     That is a heritage Toy doesn't plan to repeat.  Rattigan's
contract is still in legal dispute after his abrupt dismissal last year.

     "I told Irving Gould [Commodore's chairman and founder] that the
day we needed a contract was the day I wasn't doing my job here," Toy said.

     Under his leadership, Commodore recently trotted out the
68020-based Amiga 2500 and a new hard-disk version of the Amiga 2000,
the 40-Mbyte 2000HD.  Commodore also took the covers off it's first
80286-based machine, the PC-40 III, a 12-MHz small-footprint addition
to its bread-and-butter PC line.

     The high-end PC-40 III will offer VGA graphics and 13-ms access
times for a hard disk, Toy said.  He added that he expects the machine
to be tough competition for IBM's new PS/2 Model 30 286 system.

     The Amiga 2500 comes with 3 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 9
Mbytes.  Commodore has just added new Kickstart ROM protocols to the
Amiga operating system, along with printing and multitasking
enhancements.  These enable to Amiga 500 and 2000 systems to be booted
from either hard disk or RAM disk.

     Commodore took the opportunity at Comdex to show prototypes of a
Transputer-based Amiga system.  It also displayed - to selected
parties - a 68030 powered system.

     Aside from the doings at Comdex, Toy has other reasons for good
cheer.  Commodore netted $56 million on revenue of $861 million for
the fiscal year-up slightly over 1987 performance.

     More than 9 million Commodore 64 systems have been shipped.  The
company's 8088-based PCs are selling well, while the 68000-based Amiga
is taking on more and more professional tasks.

     Most of Commodore's product pizzazz comes from the three-year-old
Amiga series.  The Amiga 500, a low end (under $1,000) color computer
version, is selling well.  That machine helps attract major software
developers to a growing base of consumer software (including
educational, productivity and entertainment titles).

     On the other end of the performance spectrum, the Amiga 2000 is
presently the undisputed champion in the fledgling desktop video market.

     Toy used Comdex as the forum for demonstrating the power of Amiga
desktop video.  Using the machine's interlaced video and high-resolution 
graphics, users can translate their computer graphics directly to
conventional TV screens, or to videotape.  With the aid of third-party
video digitizers, users can grab conventional video screens for
editing and embellishment.

     Toy said the company's new TV commercials promoting the Amiga
series, running on the MTV cable network, were created using the
Amiga's own video graphics and video overlay capabilities.

     He said the commercials would have normally cost more than
$500,000 to produce.  Using the Amiga gear, however, the cost was
trimmed down to about $75,000.
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The above article was reproduced without the expressed, written
consent of anyone.
						-= Steve =-




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