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Amiga Update (1994-05-09)
940509 more info {This line added when newsletter was archived}
Here's another group of stories, rumors, etc. I'm sending this morning to my
Editor/Publisher at "Jumpdisk". There's some good information in here, and
some really silly thoughts as well.
Brad
----------------
{{{Richard, some more files concerning C='s death. I've put the more serious
ones first, and indicated the silliest, which I'm mostly sending for "flavor"
about what's going on out there. I've indicated where we found each, though
that may not be the original source. Much was culled by other people from the
Internet.
Brad
PS - late breaking, undocumented rumors, just for fun:
1. "According to a German paper", an un-specified "Asian" company has
already bought Commodore. Both the Commodore and Amiga names will continue,
as will future development of the Amiga product line.
2. Per Harv Laser on Portal, a number of Amiga developers have been spotted
attending meetings in West Chester last week, "NewTek" among them. This
was mentioned in a discussion of the "already bought out" scenario.
This first article one was found on GEnie}}}
=================
Hot off the German press wires...
Commodore computer goes bankrupt, Frankfurt unit says
FRANKFURT (MAY 5) DPA - Commodore International Ltd., the home personal computer
company, faces bankruptcy and has filed for liquidation which will see its units
around the world closed or sold off, Commodore of Germany said Thursday.
A spokeswoman for Commodore Bueromaschinen GmbH in Frankfurt said that the
Nassau, Bahamas-based parent company hoped to continue operations on a smaller
scale, while still keeping the "Commodore" and "Amiga" trade names, with the
help of an Asian investor.
"Only five people here know the name of the investor," said spokeswoman
Karola Bode.
She said that some of the 35 Commodore units worldwide had already been
liquidated. Others stand to be closed while those which were still profitable -
including companies in Scandinavia, Italy, Canada and Germany - would probably
continue operations.
In the 1992-93 year which ended last June 30, Commodore International lost
356 million dollars, on turnover of 591 million. At the time it had some 1,500
employees.
Commodore made its reputation by establishing the personal computer as a home
product. After 1982, some 16 to 17 million of the 64-kilobyte "peoples computer"
C64 were sold worldwide.
But the company ran into problems toward the end of the 1980s in finding a
successor to the C64, at the same time that the competition was developing and
marketing increasingly sophisticated PCs at lower prices, market analysts say.
A further mistake may have been Commodore moving too sluggishly and too late
in entering the market of IBM-compatible computers.
###
{{{ also downloaded from GEnie }}}
This is the full text of the May 2nd Newsbytes story, reprinted here
with permission.
****Commodore Hits the Financial Buffers 05/02/94
WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 1994 MAY 2 (NB) -- After months of
speculation surrounding its financial stability, Commodore
International, one of the personal computer industry's pioneers, has
announced plans to enter into voluntary liquidation.
A month after reporting an $8.2-million second-quarter loss and
admitting it was on the verge of financial collapse, Commodore has
announced it is transferring its assets to trustees for the benefit of
its creditors and placing its major subsidiary, Commodore Electronics
Limited, into voluntary liquidation. Both companies will be
liquidated, officials said.
Repeated attempts to obtain further details from the company
brought no response by Newsbytes' deadline.
Commodore, once a typewriter repair shop and later a maker of
calculators, was among the first entrants into the personal computer
business in the late 1970s. After considerable success with its PET
series of business computers in the late 1970s, the early 1980s saw
the low-priced, eight-bit Commodore 64 computer chalking up
respectable sales volumes in the home computer market.
In 1985, Commodore launched the Amiga, a powerful personal computer
with strong graphics features. By that time, however, IBM and its
imitators had taken the largest share of the personal computer market,
leaving a slice for Apple Computer' Macintosh but not much room for
the Amiga to make its mark.
The Amiga "really was spectacular for manipulating and playing with
video," noted Toronto-based personal computing consultant Richard
Morochove, but it never took a significant market share.
Commodore also tried to get into the home multimedia market, first
with the CD-TV and then with the CD32. Both machines used the same
internal workings as an Amiga, but came with a built-in compact disc
read-only memory (CD-ROM) drive and were meant to play entertainment
and education CD-ROM titles at home.
After the CD32 was launched, Commodore officials admitted the original
CD-TV had been a disappointment. They hoped the more powerful CD32
would do better, but as the company collapsed it was still struggling
to make the device catch on.
Commodore's attempt to grab a piece of the market for PCs compatible
with IBM's met with more success in Europe and Canada than in the
United States, but in recent months that too started to fade.
Early this year, the Canadian subsidiary, Commodore Business Machines
Limited of Toronto, turned over the right to sell Commodore-brand PCs
to most buyers to another company, 3D Microcomputer Wholesale and
Distribution (Canada), keeping for itself only the government,
education, and institutional markets. At the time, Doug MacGregor,
president of Commodore Canada, told Newsbytes that his company was
finding it harder and harder to compete in the DOS PC market.
In early March, the Australian subsidiary, Commodore Business Machines
(Australia), of Sydney, was put into liquidation, with total debts of
about AUS$3 million.
The parent company said in late March that its financial problems were
constraining sales of all its products, while poor economic conditions
and a weak computer game market were further crippling the CD32.
While Commodore was a PC industry pioneer, the company had faded into
relative obscurity in recent years, to the point where few but the
minority of Amiga users will notice it is gone, Morochove told
Newsbytes.
"Somehow they lost their leadership and weren't able to regain it," he
said. "For the last few years they haven't been a major player in the
PC market."
(Grant Buckler/19940502/Press Contact: Commodore International,
215-431-9100/AMIGA940502/PHOTO)
{{{ an interesting Danish report found on GEnie }}}
A4030/30Mhz POWER - 3 TIME 16.8 DUAL - 700 MB
_____.___________________________________._________________.________.
\__ | _/\__ .___/\__ . _/\__ .___/\_ |\ _/\__ .___/\__ | _/\__ |
/ \_/ \ / ._/__ / |\ \ / | ___ _\_._ \ / ._/ / |\ \ / | ___
/ | _// |/ _// | _// |/ _// |/ _// | / |/ _// |/ _/
\ |___\\ .___\\ |___\\ .___\\ .___\\ | \ .___\\ .___\
===\___|=====\__|=====\__|=====\__|=====\__|=====\__|=====\__|=====\__|======
wE dEaL wItH: aMiGa / VhS / PC-GaMeS / CoNsOlEs dEnMaRk's nUmBeR oNe! nO dOuBt
AMIGA-FILELISTING FROM 01-01-1990 FOR ZIPPY SEARCE AND FAKE SEARCH.
____________________________________
bLaCkHaWk/pDx \__ .___/\__ ._ _/\___ .__/\__ .___/ 3nOdEsrInGdOwN:
/ ._/ / |/ \ / | / ._/__ +45-4916-2110(RD)
MeTaL fOrCe/AtX / | / ._ _/ / | / |/ _/ +45-4916-2111
\ | \ |/__\ \ | \ .___\ +45-4916-2113
---------------=======\__|=====\__|======\__|====\__|[C!]=====---------------
As of this date, Commodore Business Machines sits on the
edge of its death. Although diehard Amiga owners will
try to persuade people otherwise, the simple fact is that
CBM stock today hit a historic low of 45 cents on the
New York stock exchange. To rub salt in a wound, let me
just point out that the miserable loser of a company known
as ATARI was trading on the NASDAQ that same day at $4.75
per share.
Commodore Business Machines who enjoyed life in the fast
lane during its wild dayz of the C64 enjoyed stock values
ranging in the $10.00 to $20.00 range.
With the introduction of more and more Amiga models that
failed to maintain easy compatibility between each new model
Commodores stock began the spiral downward to its present
near death level of 45 cents per share.
Commodore had long been the focus of irate owners who were
particularly annoyed at the mismanagement they saw in the
marketing of the Amiga. It looks like the Amiga owners were
right as Chairman Gould has lost hundreds of millions of
dollars as a result of the collapse of the company.
In a last ditch effort to find money, CBM commenced on
March 15th to liquidate all stock held in their inventory
at firesale prices. Amiga 2000's with 100 meg hard drives
are being liquidated at $250 (US). Amiga 3000's with 100
meg hard drives are being liquidated at $350 (US). Various
models of monitors for the Amiga are being liquidated at $100
per unit.
The death of the Amiga was recognized to have begun occurring
in January 1993 with the ongoing introduction of new Amiga models
that failed to share compatibility with previous models. Diehard
fans of the Amiga began abandoning this superior product and began
purchasing IBM compatible computers - a product which has always
maintained compatibility with each new introduction of faster and
more powerful models.
It is predicted that Commodore will cease all North American and
European operations as of 1 June 1994. The Commodore CD32, a new
CD Rom equipped game console is expected to be acquired by Sinclair
Computer Products (SCP) of Great Britain. SCP gained fame in the
computer gaming world when it introduced the Timex Sinclair micro-
computer at revolutionary low prices in the early 1980's.
News of the demise of CBM did not take many of the major software
houses by surprise. Andrew Dickerson of Psygnosis Software related
how his company had slowly redeployed its game programmers to work
primarily on the IBM compatible games. Dennis Coorst of Origin
Systems, also noted that their company had followed a similar path
and had all but abandoned the Amiga computer market. Many of the
software industry representatives expressed surprise at the arrival
of Sinclair Computer Products as the new home of the CBM CD32 game
console, but all agreed it was a worthwhile platform to continue
further software development, albeit at a much reduced deployment of
person hours than had previously been enjoyed by the Amiga.
{{{ Downloaded from Portal }}}
-: NewTek Inc.
-: May 5, 1994
-: Dear Friend of the Toaster,
-: I'm sure you're aware of Commodore's recent announcement of their
-: liquidation, as it is obviously an issue of concern to everyone connected
with
-: the Video Toaster. Rumors have been rampant for weeks about what would
-: happen, but getting the facts has been a little more difficult.
-: We want you to know that we weren't caught by surprise. Events over the
-: past nine months made it very clear that something would have to change and
-: that Commodore's liquidation was a possibility. It didn't take a mind
-: reader to see Commodore's troubles.
-: Liquidation certainly wasn't the only possibility, however. Even as late as
-: last week we were aware that other options were being pursued. While no
one
-: could know exactly what would happen, or when, we did know that something
-: would happen and made plans for that eventually. For reasons that we hope
-: you will understand, we cannot talk about all of these things at the
moment.
-: What we can say unequivically is that we are committed to the Video Toaster
-: and our customers. We are taking the following steps in support of this
-: goal:
-: 1) Development on the Flyer is on schedule for shipment of demo units to
-: dealers in July and shipment to end users early fall. Of course, the
-: Flyer provides capabilities highly sought after by the existing Toaster
-: user base.
-: 2) We are monitoring product availability in the channel and will provide
you
-: with all the information we can gather. At this point, it appears that
-: there are Amiga 4000's availabile worldwide to meet demand for the next
-: several months.
-: 3) We will continue to market the Video Toaster and Video Toaster Flyer as
-: always.
-: 4) We are investigating an Amiga refurbishment program.
-: 5) We are continuing our ongoing Toaster development program.
-: We realize that there are still a number of questions left unanswered,
-: but know that as answers become available, we will pass the information on
-: to you. A great deal of exciting development continues in Topeka and I
-: believe that you will be happy with the news coming from here as the year
-: progresses.
-: Sincerely,
-: Tim Jenison
-: President
{{{ We've already ordered some of the T-shirts ;-) This is also from Portal,
but it's available many places. }}}
Path: news.uni-c.dk!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!headwall.Stanford.EDU!rutgers!bryce
From: bryce@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: First Annual Commodore Deathbed Vigil Party T-Shirts Available
Message-ID: <Cp3qz6.Cu@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com>
Date: 1 May 94 02:30:41 GMT
Reply-To: bryce@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (Bryce Nesbitt)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 69
First Annual Commodore Deathbed Vigil Party T-Shirts Available
We're writing to you from the site of the Commodore Deathbed Vigil
party, April 30, 1994. People are driving in from all over the east
coast, some are flying in, AmigaWorld is sending a reporter, Dave
Haynie, Gail Wellington, Intuition Guru Peter Cherna, Carolyn Scheppner,
Jeff Porter, Andy Finkel, Bryce Nesbitt and dozens more are all here.
The flag at the Commodore plant is flying at half-mast.
We ask you to dim your monitors to half-brightness in respect for
the passing of Commodore. Today is a day of world-wide
mourning for the Amiga, and a day for prayers for a quick sale
of the Amiga technology to one of the several interested bidders.
As hard as this is for all of us, we realize that only by cycling
through bankruptcy could the technology be sold.
In the spirit of the great Amiga wake parties of the past we've just
designed a Deathbed Vigil T-Shirt. It plays on the NewTek spin-off
"Play" button, and Scala's "Fast Forward" shirt. Ours has an eject
button with the words "Commodore Deathbed Vigil April 30, 1994." The
back will be signed by members of the Commodore development team, most
of the original Amiga design team, Commodore employees as of the last
week and people of the party.
The shirt is $15 for partygoers, and $19 for anyone else. $4 shipping
in the USA and Canada, $8 international. We're using Obvious
Implementation's order processing facilities (OIC is also offering a
discount on the brand new DICE compiler 3.0, just released last week).
Call 1-800-761-2042 to order by phone. Send email to "info@oic.COM"
for an electronic mail order form. Or send check or money order to:
Obvious Implementations Corporation
PO Box 4487
Cary, NC 27519-4487
Bryce Nesbitt
Andy Finkel
John Toebes
And the remaining staff of Commodore-Amiga
Writing to you from the Commodore Deathbed Vigil, April 30 1994.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also: The all-new DICE C-Compiler, designed by leading Amiga experts,
is available for a discount this week only, and includes a free
Deathbed T-Shirt and rare Amiga "boing" or "checkmark" medalion from the
first production run of the Amiga 1000. Prices are:
Regular $145 (Normally $150)
Student (any school) $90 (Normally $95)
Owner of registered DICE $70 (Normally $75)
DICE is a complete compiler, suitable for beginners and experts. DICE
includes a complete visial environment, a large manual, and many examples
to get you started. Runs on any Amiga, including A500 floppy systems.
Shipping is free.
--
|\_/| . "ACK!, NAK!, EOT!, SOH!" "Lawyers: America's untapped export market."
{X o} . Bryce Nesbitt, former head of the Operating Systems Group,
(') Commodore-Amiga, Inc. No longer affiliated with Commodore.
U BIX: bnesbitt USENET: bryce@commodore.COM -or- uunet!cbmvax!bryce
{{{ From Portal, the word (?) from GVP }}}
From wright@merlin.etsu.edu Sat Apr 30 18:15:16 1994
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Date: Sat, 30 Apr 1994 17:06:48 -0500
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From: "gnush" <gvpi!gnush@uunet.UU.NET>
To: Multiple recipients of list <egs@darkside.osrhe.edu>
Subject: Re: Commodore...
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0b -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Although Commodore International has filed for voluntary liquidation
and production of new Amiga's has essentially stopped, that does not
mean the entire installed base will disappear overnight.
GVP will continue to support the Amiga market, it's products, and even
one or two new releases. It is natural to expect a decline in the
third-party Amiga market, but it would be foolish to ignore the
potential market that exists in the installed base.
It's been a rough road, and it will get rougher, but it's not time to
jump ship just yet...
Gary Nush
Product Manager
Great Valley Products, Inc.
{{{ This is actually pretty interesting. From Portal. }}}
{{{ One more silly/interesting one from Portal. }}}
Article 49872 of comp.sys.amiga.misc:
Path: news.iastate.edu!newsrelay.iastate.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!news.hal.COM!olivea!decwrl!portal.com!traveler
From: traveler@shell.portal.com (Traveler Ltd.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: C='s situation as it stands now
Date: 29 Apr 1994 06:42:43 GMT
Organization: BS Busters, Inc.
Lines: 179
Message-ID: <2pqa93$is@news1.svc.portal.com>
References: <110282@cup.portal.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: jobe.shell.portal.com
A few things need to be sorted out re: several misconceptions regarding
Commodore, it's structure, it's demise, the layoffs and the like. I realize
that trying to inject reality into the .misc and .advocacy groups is a
short, true path to insanity but here it goes...
First, the layoffs ...
1. Last Friday (April 22) approx 15 people were let go from West Chester.
These included the person doing the payroll.
2. Last Friday Commodore Semiconductor Group was (finally) closed and
the approx 15 people there were let go.
3. Last Friday, the "rumor" (it turned out to be fact) was that this week
("tuesday or wednesday" was the common wisdom) engineering would follow
in their footsteps.
4. On Tuesday (April 26, the engineers who would not be there the next
day (for whatever reasons) were told that they were history and not to
worry about coming back.
5. On Tuesday, plans were laid for a big "lunch party" at Margarita's (the
semi-official CBM watering hold where many "after layoffs" and "going
away" parties have been held over the years.)
5. On Wednesday the expected layoffs occurred. Over 50 people were at the
party (including yours truly) and much was said about what is and
isn't real about the current situation. More on that later.
6. Remaining at CBM are :
Software :
Allan Havemose (department head)
David Junod
Eric Cotton
Hardware :
Jeff Frank (department head)
Dave Haynie
Greg Berlin
Fred Bowen
CATS
Carolyn Scheppner
Wayne Lutz
(John Campbell, head of CATS, was let go)
LSI
Ted Lenthe (department head)
Jeff Dean
Rich Llewellyn
(and two more I can't remember - sorry guys)
Other engineering folks remaining:
Ian Kirschemann (assistant to Jeff Frank)
Dan Faust (lab tech)
Lew Eggebrecht
('m sure I'm missing a couple.)
There are also a couple of non-engineering folks remaining like one person
in personnel, etc. The total is about 22 according to those at the lunch.
Now Commodore...
There is no difference between the US operations and the UK or German
operations. None. They all get machines designed and engineeried by the
folks at West Chester. The phrase "U.S. Operations" refers to the US sales
and mareting departments, just as "U.K. operations" refers to the sales
and marketing departments in the UK. It does _not_ refer to engineering
nor Commodore Internation Ltd. (CIL) which was "the business". CIL was
nuked completely last Friday.
The notion that "the U.S. company is going down the tubes but the U.K. will
save things" is a total, complete fantasy. Won't happen. In fact, the U.S.
sales company has been history for some time now. I guess no one bothered
to consult with the net about it (G) .
At the Wednesday lunch the information came out that
1. There are only 3 people remaining in the U.K. operation.
2. There are only 2 people remaining in the German operation.
3. There are only 3 people at the Phillipines manufacturing plant
(which is closed, by the way)
4. All the other companies, world wide, have been, or are being,
"liquidated".
4. The subject of the Canadian company never came up but I would have
to assume that it's no better off than the UK company.
The remaining staff (almost all engineering) believes that they are being
kept till the last possible minute in order to keep the sale of the
technology as attractive as possible to prospective buyers. There would
still be people available to hand off the technology. However, one of the
(remaining) managers, when asked point blank "how much longer does it
really have?" replied "oh, two to three weeks." The problem with this
proposed sale of the technologies is that it's hard to them to separate out
parts of the company to sell because so many creditors want their share.
Mariott is still owed approx $350,000 for last year's Devcon, for example.
These notions that "the UK will become the base of the new operations" and
that "CBM is moving there" is complete BS. As Mr. Barrett correctly pointed
out, few, if any, of the remaining staff would move there - especially not
to work for Mehdi (would you???). Also, the company can't afford to make
ONE machine, much less move people to England and make enough to support
the staff. They are not paying severance pay to those they lay off.
In reference to several things said over the past couple of days :
>I just ping'd Dave Haynie's workstation, and it was alive as of 10 minutes
>ago.
Pinging machines inside CBM doesn't mean a thing. The hardware could be
left on for weeks with no one there to use them. Also, whenever there are
layoffs like this, the systems are shut down for a period of time to
prevent reprisals from unhappy employees. Once the ex-employees' accounts
are fixed to kill their access, the machines come back on-line.
>The company intends to continue operations overseas with the UK becoming
>the primary office.
If this is so, was the office always just three people? Does this represent
a _growing_ number? (g)
>Are the various C=s (eg UK, US the defunct C= Australia) all separate
>companies?
Only in the sense that they all operate(d) under different legal rules.
But they all took their cues from West Chester. Cut off the head and the
snake dies.
>Even the Amiga, if it survives, is going down the Microsoft path (Windows
>NT for example)
The Windows NT Amiga thing was _never_ more than a pipe dream of Misters
Eggebrecht and Pleasance. None of the engineers ever believed it. Nor was
it ever even proposed as a real project.
>Commodore UK will ride the wave for another year or so, marketing the
>current stock, but then it too will go down - it has no real engineers of
>its own.
What current stock?
>Please understand this: CBM USA might be dead, but the Amiga is _VERY_ well
>alive!!!!!!!!!! It will continue selling just like before, and we have
>nothing to worry about support because in the first place we never got any
>from C=.
>
>So, don't panic, Amiga has a long way to go, and the upcoming AAA Amigas
>will make a big splah when they come out (they'll give SGI a run for the
>money).
You've been into the weed again, haven't you? Or just spending too much
time with Jim Drew. Man, oh man. Who the hell do you think MAKES Amigas?
Geez.
Harv's posting about his phone conversation with the CBM employees paints
an accurate picture (which I must admit surprised me a bit :))
I will be attending the "death vigil party" (as Randell calls it - he
called to invite me yesterday) this weekend. It should be interesting.
Quite a few ex engineering folks are going to be there (Bryce, Lauren
Brown, Andy ...)
Anyway, all you folks out there who desire to cling to your hopes, dreams
and fantasies, well ...
Brian Jackson - ex Amiga engineer
{{{ This one is mostly silly, but not as much so as some. }}}
From root Sun May 1 02:12:44 1994
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Date: Sun, 1 May 1994 05:03:23 GMT
Reply-To: Info-Amiga List <I-AMIGA@UTARLVM1.UTA.EDU>
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From: David Lyall <devoid@NETCOM.COM>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Subject: Re: CNN Headline News...
To: Multiple recipients of list I-AMIGA <I-AMIGA@UTARLVM1.UTA.EDU>
Status: RO
Dan Szkola <amiszk!amiszk@MP.CS.NIU.EDU> writes:
>In <MAILQUEUE-102.940430124941.448@noc.niu.edu> on Apr 30 , Scott Weeks wrote:
>> Since C= is liquidating, does this not mean that most of the
>> technology will probably go to either Sony, Phillips, or HP?
>>
>> Scott Weeks
>> invey@plains.uwyo.edu
>>
> The consensus seems to be that anyone who buys the technology,
>also buys the debt that C= had. Any of these companies could afford
>that, but why? Sony now seems uninterested, because they already
>have a game machine design. HP would not use the technology to make
>Amigas, and Phillips would buy it only to keep someone else from
>picking up on CD32.
What consensus? Liquidation means that the debtors sell off the
assetts for whatever they can get towards what they are owed. It is
possible for someone to buy the intellectual assetts (even the physical
assetts) out of a liquidation sale and start business again with all
the debts erased. This has happened before.
As a matter of fact, Gould (oh no!) is a SECURED creditor of
Commodore International Limited. What is his security? I don't know,
but he is personally a creditor of the corporate entity. (Adam Smith
was opposed to incorporation of companies, by the way) Gould could
easily bid for the intellectual and some tangible assetts of the
company in a liquidation sale. So could anyone else who is interested.
Newtek/Scala are the only ones who come to mind who would find the
intellectual assetts of interest.
This is quite possibly a manuever by Gould to wipe out the
debts and start again.
Then again.....
> I look at the C= Commodore label on my 3000 and I have to sigh.
>I have been using some type of C= computer for the past 13 years.
> I sure hope either OS/2 or (yeah right) AmigaDOS gets ported to
>the PowerPC.
--
// David Lyall > devoid@netcom.com
\X/
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
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From: ad089@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Mark Habinski)
Subject: Commodore's Demise, A Dealer's Response
Message-ID: <Cp407u.8Mu@freenet.carleton.ca>
Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca
Reply-To: ad089@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Mark Habinski)
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet
Date: Sun, 1 May 1994 05:50:18 GMT
Lines: 125
{{{ I suppose this guy may really be a dealer. From Portal. }}}
Commodore's Liquidation
An Amiga Dealer's response:
Well, a sad day has come to pass for all who love the Amiga platform. As
you probably know by now, Commodore International has commenced a
"Voluntary Liquidation" under Bahamian law, and the manufacturer of the
Machine millions have come to know and love, will soon cease to exist.
The Doom-Sayers are telling people to sell their Amigas, and buy Macs or
PC's. The M. B. 's of the world are rubbing their hands in glee and shout
ing "I told you so" to anyone who will listen; and even some of the most
loyal Amigans are starting to consider options outside of the platform
they
have loved so well, and for so long.
I realize that things look bleak, but I wanted to take a moment to discuss
why the future is not quite so bad as it may currently appear; why it is
that
the M.B's of the world will still have a platform to complain about for
years
to come.
I've been a dedicated Amiga owner and user for 7 years now. During that
period I, like many fellow Amigans, have helped literally hundreds of
people
to see the advantages our platform has to offer, and to take the
appropriate
steps to meet their own computing needs. I follow the state of the Amiga
the world over through electronic channels, and the vast array of
excellent
magazines around the world that cover it.
I am also an Amiga dealer. Wonder Computers in Ottawa Canada is one
of a small number of North American stores dedicated entirely to the Amiga
Platform. We don't just cater to the existing user base either. We
actively
bring new people to the platform, be it for Video, Multi-media, Music,
Animation, Desktop-Publishing, cross-platform compatibility, or any one of
the many other areas in which our Machines excel. In the last year,
almost
30 percent of our business has come from new users enticed to the plat
form. Many of these people have been converts from rival platforms: Mac
Owners, excited by the prospect of something "better than Quick-Time",
and still able to run all of their existing software thanks to Jim Drew's
excel
lent Emplant; PC owners amazed by the incredible multi-tasking and flex
ible OS. Many first time computer buyers have been enticed by the Amiga
1200, with its low price tag, and remarkable out-of-the-box sound and
graphics. Through it all, Wonder has remained committed to providing its
customers with the best possible service and support.
We use Amigas ourselves in every aspect of our business, (Thanks Best
Business Management, Gold Disk, Inovatronics, New Horizons, Scala, Soft
Logik, SoftWood, and the untold other tremendous software companies
that have provided us with such excellent tools, with which to conduct our
business). Then there are the many magnificent hardware companies that
have contributed to our daily operations, and of course the countless au
thors of FreeWare and Shareware, without whom the Amiga wouldn't be
nearly as powerful, flexible, or enjoyable as it is today.
The Amiga is an Incredible computer. Nothing else has such versatility,
power, and performance. Nothing else has such a loyal user-base. And as
another recently wrote, it is the ONLY computer with a Soul.
There are over five million of us Amiga users on this planet. We live on ev
ery major continent, speak every major language, and span a vast array of
cultures and life-styles. Our computers are used in Schools, Churches,
Video Studios, Recording Studios, Advertizing Agencies, Colleges and Uni
versities, Broadcasting Companies, Governments, Shopping Malls, Re
search Centers, Theatres, and Sports Facilities.
We Amigans are Entrepreneurial, Creative, Talented, and full of Gusto.
Most importantly, our choice of computer indicates that we are not "Sheep"
buying a machine just because everyone else is. Without us, the Amiga,
good as it is, would have died off years ago.
So, Commodore is gone or going. Does that mean that we should pack up
our machines? I say, NO! Even without a Commodore, there are hun
dreds of other companies that will continue to support we 5 million and
our
Billions of purchasing dollars. NewTek, Utilities Unlimitted, GVP, CSA,
DKB, Power Computing, Macro Systems, Centaur, and the host of other
hardware manufacturers are certain to continue producing new and excit
ing products for us for years to come.
Wonder Computers and dealers like it will continue to support their dedi
cated users, and try to provide the product and service required by an ac
tive and flourishing platform.
And this is just the beginning. It is likely that another company or
group of
investors will pick up the Amiga torch from the falling hands of Commodore
and continue producing existing machines, and designing new and better
ones. The Engineers let go by Commodore may still be interested in
pursuing new development of the platform, and if not, others can be found
who will.
Some Dealers will leave the platform, some users will sell their machines,
and some software/hardware companies may well stop supporting the
Amiga as well, but as I see it, this is simply the separating of wheat
from
chaff. The dedicated Amigans in all aspects of the system will stay true
to
their platform, and continue to stride towards that all-elusive goal of com
puting perfection.
We have already survived against adversity, we are used to being in the
minority, we are at ease with our role as computing missionaries; and
best
of all we are not SHEEP!
Here's to the Amiga 5000, by whomever makes it!
And here's a promise that Wonder Computers, at least, will continue sup
porting the Amiga and its users for years to come!!
--
_____ _
( \ \ \ /__/ ) |
\ \ \ark_/ /abinski |
|
{{{ I wouldn't put too much faith in this next one, also from Portal. }}}
From MustangVR@cup.portal.com Sat Apr 30 19:06:07 CDT 1994
Article: 75229 of comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
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From: MustangVR@cup.portal.com (Aaron Mustang Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: C= Dead but the Amiga is picked up?
Message-ID: <110431@cup.portal.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 94 00:20:24 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world
Lines: 72
Take this for what you will. This is the information I have
collected form sources including: The CSM, Scala, MicroPace (C= distributor)
, CEI (C= distributor) and MicroTech (C= distributor as well)
First off, I called Micropace and spoke with my Rep.
I asked him if he had foudn out about the people they had liad
off and he didn't really know as of then, I asked him if his
customers were unhappy about not getting anymore A4000's. He
then told me that they were recieving a new shipment of the
A4000 line today. This could have included the new A4000LC
and the under $1400 A4000CR (cost reduced) that CEI had in
stock. ( I can varify this sence my friend now owns one from them,
it's only difference is that the 030 is on the motherboard, but
you can still upgrade with a 060 Modual later, it's SIMM ram sockets
are on the motherboard as well.) So they are still in stock of
A4000's for now.
CSM told me that the phillipeans plant has indeed closed
down for now and the CD32 isn't being produced, but they had made
a large amount of them in the past 9+ months and have enough
for the mean time, CEI is the main USA distributor for the CD32
is paying for several ads in several Magazines. Also the Plant in
ScotLand is shutting down for one reason, seems C= didn't pay them
for thier last batch of Amiga's.. so no more production untill
somone can front the money for the new Amiga's to be produced.
in other words, don't expect the A1200's to be very available
anymore.
Scala is trying to grab quite a fw A4000's to Run
Info-Channel on until something can be done to make more.
They are working on a IBM version that will not run quite
as well (obviously) but in other words, they are covering
thier butts.. I was told that the IBM support wouldn't
ruin the amiga support tho...There are MANY Amiga's out
there and they still need software. even if another
Amiga was sold from this day, there is still a very large
consumer Market out there.
and this you can take for what you will, a person
from MicroTech said it, not me, so you can believe it or not
I quote:
Today MicroTech, an Amiga distributor, said
that several US distributors had signed
agreements with C= Canada to get CPU/parts
and peripherals. They also said that Most
of C= USA's staff went to work for another
which is actually a new C= organiation but
with another name.
Cirtianly is interesting... C= USA is more or less taken apart
and being sold off... but Thhe AGA chipset doesn't nessasarily
have to go with them, it does belong to the creditors yes,
but, it belonged to C= before this and perhaps this was the
plan to save the Amiga.. who knows what will happen in the
next 3 months... CD32 is doing well.. to bad C= is
all but dead and CEI has to take it all over... Oh wait,
CEI is advertising, marketing, selling, getting reviews,
you know, all those things that C= didn't do? hmm maybe this
is all good news???
to end this off, I can't take any responcibility
for the accuracy of this, I do give my word that nothing here
I made up or just pulled out of the air.. all info was givin
to me by other people, those people are trustable too even!
see ya on the net.. with my A4000CR/future Cyberstorm 66Mhz 060
(that's right kids, let the 060 breath new power into that old
amiga of yours)
{{{ This is probably the siliest of the ones we bothered to download.
Enjoy! }}}
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From: meikled@kralizec.zeta.org.au (David Meiklejohn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: SAGE TEchnologies?
Date: 24 Apr 1994 00:40:35 +1000
Organization: Kralizec Dialup Unix Sydney: +61-2-837-1183 V.32bis
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <2pbc13$d2v@kralizec.zeta.org.au>
References: <2p3jcd$3f4@ysics.physics.sunysb.edu> <CoL3rM.B7E@dorsai.org>
NNTP-Posting-Host: kralizec.zeta.org.au
In <CoL3rM.B7E@dorsai.org> einstein@dorsai.org (Barry Einstein) writes:
>David Tiberio (dtiberio@ic.sunysb.edu) wrote:
>: This is only speculation, but rumor has it that SAGE Technologies
>: may have bought Commodore.
>SAGE is (or was) the name of an abandoned graphics standard being
>promoted by Progressive (the Rambrandt) and Digital Micronics (the
>Resolver) for their proprietory graphics cards for the Amiga.
Go back about ten years and you'll find what were then extremely highend
"micros", based on the 68000, made by a company called "Sage".
I just pulled out a benchmark comparison from Australian Personal Computer,
February 1986, where they compare all the machines they benchmarked in 1985.
Top of the table was the "Sage II". They say, "For all the advances of the
year, nobody has been able to better the Sage II for speed". In case anyone
is interested, the top five micros of the time were (speedwise):
Sage II
HP Vectra
Compaq Deskpro 286
Commodore Amiga
Kaypro 286i
In reference to the Amiga, they say "Also beating [the IBM AT] was the
great Commodore hope, the Amiga. This is as much a home as a business
micro, so takes the prize from Challenger in the home category, being
over twice as fast. It is a good deal faster than other business micros
too. Note that it runs a 68000 processor".
Fascinating, eh? How times have changed, and all that... :-(
Anyway, the point is that Sage used to be a name associated with 68k
systems, so it's not inconceivable that they have been laying low these
last eight years and now for some strange reason want to buy Commodore.
Who knows?
--
David Meiklejohn // Home: (02) 708 1007
- playing with Unix, networks and Amigas \X/ Work: (02) 516 3833
