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      /  early users were exposed to computers at work
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hardwaretech 
early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 4-Dec-2021 22:47:05
#1 ]
Member
Joined: 5-May-2010
Posts: 60
From: blaine minnesota usa

I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at a Sears store in 1987-88. I overheard a shopper ask the salesperson " I want a computer as easy to use as the one at work that ran a Dos version of 123." People were being exposed to computers at work. It did not matter that the interface was shit. They did not know any better. Basically, Commodore screwed up by not paying MS to port Office to an Amiga interface. In the mid to late '80s, the Amiga could do a far better easy-use interface. The only other computer that would compete was the Mac costing a lot more.

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OldFart 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 12:04:19
#2 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 12-Sep-2004
Posts: 3059
From: Stad; en d'r is moar ain stad en da's Stad. Makkelk zat!

@hardwaretech

Don't forget that IBM came into a corporation through management, so from top down. Others came from bottom up by coming into the workplaces through the users, who were often early adapters of 8-bit micro's.
But management decided to go with IBM (remember: "No one ever got fired for advising an IBM") and so the PC won.
At that time IBM could (and would!) sell management a bucket full of shit for far to much money and management would be very gratefull to be allowed by IBM to be able to buy it. I know, for I was there when it all happened. From say 1975 to 2000 I've seen quite a lot of misautomations purely because management bought a computersystem (toys for the boys) because of its brand, not because of what software would run on it.
And sure, CBM screwed up on the whole scene as its management was absolutely not aware of the potential of its products.

OldFart

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pavlor 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 13:02:31
#3 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 10-Jul-2005
Posts: 9578
From: Unknown

@hardwaretech

Quote:
The only other computer that would compete was the Mac costing a lot more.


Don´t forget the ST: high monochrome resolution (640x400) and even lower price than Amiga. Far better suited for low cost office.

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Troels 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 13:59:16
#4 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 8-Mar-2003
Posts: 2004
From: Unknown

@OldFart

We did get Wordperfect at some point. Not very advanced as I remember but available.
MS office would not have changed Commodores fate as their HW development after the A500 was all to little too late.

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Nonefornow 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 17:01:03
#5 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 29-Jul-2013
Posts: 339
From: Greater Los Angeles Area

And let's not forget that Commodore was also trying to push the XT and AT bridgeboards.

The A500 was underpowered to use any real software applications, and for the A2000 those bridgeboards were offering IBM compatibility.

As such there was very little incentive to port DOS software to the Amiga.

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BigD 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 17:15:28
#6 ]
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Joined: 11-Aug-2005
Posts: 7307
From: UK

@Nonefornow

We had our own software. For home use it was fine. We didn't need Lotus, Word Perfect or MS Office because we had our own software.

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OldAmigan 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 17:33:55
#7 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 25-Dec-2003
Posts: 681
From: Dumfries, Scotland

@BigD

We did indeed.

I still have a version of MiniOffice and Wordworth. And of course, we had lots of other office suites too.

If you look at Kindwords (wordprocessor) and compare it's interface with Word from Windows 3 era, they are very similar.

Alas, the way Commodore was run and marketed was a complete disaster.

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matthey 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 5-Dec-2021 19:58:44
#8 ]
Super Member
Joined: 14-Mar-2007
Posts: 1968
From: Kansas

pavlor Quote:

Don´t forget the ST: high monochrome resolution (640x400) and even lower price than Amiga. Far better suited for low cost office.


Yet the ST also failed at business. I believe a big part of the problem was reputation. CBM had an improper loan investigation saving it from bankruptcy and leading to the rise of Irving Gould to power, it was incorporated in the Bahamas and Jack Tramiel had developed a poor reputation with resellers, distributors, suppliers, etc. Jack took the bad reputation with him to Atari. His attempt to buy the Amiga Corporation hardware is a good example of his negotiating tactics where he lowered the offer when negotiating. Irving Gould was domineering and corrupt kicking out good people he couldn't control, paying high salaries at the top and using the corporate jet for personal use. CBM changing management and goals often and having no cohesive business plan was also viewed as unprofessional. If IBM, HP, TI or Apple had bought out Amiga Corporation instead of CBM then the Amiga would have been viewed as a more professional platform for business.

Like CBM but on a much smaller scale, Hyperion has a very poor reputation. It will be difficult for them to continue as an Amiga business even if they survive the lawsuits. Anyone in the Amiga community who deals with Hyperion knows to expect shenanigans. Either Ben will have to give up power or they will become more and more isolated until they are replaced.

Nonefornow Quote:

And let's not forget that Commodore was also trying to push the XT and AT bridgeboards.

The A500 was underpowered to use any real software applications, and for the A2000 those bridgeboards were offering IBM compatibility.

As such there was very little incentive to port DOS software to the Amiga.


Resources were wasted developing the bridgeboards and even the high end Amiga 2000 hardware was wasted to support the bridgeboards instead of making a better high end Amiga. Instead of the large Amiga 2000 with many passive IDE slots, the high end Amiga could have added a 68020, fast memory and an enhanced Amiga chipset like Ranger with, for example, VRAM supporting more performance and higher resolutions for business. A 68020 likely could have emulated an IBM PC and perhaps even XT in software at full speed.

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agami 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 6-Dec-2021 3:25:01
#9 ]
Super Member
Joined: 30-Jun-2008
Posts: 1637
From: Melbourne, Australia

@hardwaretech

The trend of using a computer at work before buying one for the home continued well into the mid-to-late '90s. I lost count of how many times I helped people put together their first Windows PC and from 1995, connect it to the internet.

For me, the journey was the other trend: Most kids learn to use new technologies way before most adults. I started with a C64 because of games, but of course I told my parents it would help with homework ;)

Though there were two different trends happening in the '80s and in the '90s, yet there was something very similar in the hardware dynamics of each decade.

Through the '80s there were the hardware "format" wars. Interoperability was the last thing anyone was concerned with. The goal was to have the largest user-base. The computer with the largest user-base was the one most likely to get new users.

From a hardware perspective, since it was relatively easy to make an IBM compatible PC, many companies sprung up around this concept, and many established companies produced IBM compatibles, even Commodore. Many companies equals competition, which often expresses itself in terms of consumer choice.

Compaq or HP couldn't build and market an Apple compatible, Atari compatible, or an Amiga compatible. So by IBM being late to the micro-computer game and therefore not having a proprietary hardware platform, they serendipitously created a market that would have options inevitably appealing to the home office, and then the general home user.

Throughout the '90s, we still had a lot of different hardware options, but the "format" wars were defined by domains and platforms/operating environments. Domain specific software was the differentiator, and general interoperability became important.

Sun was not trying to have a computer in every classroom, and Silicon Graphics was not trying to make a sub-$1,000 home multi-media PC. So, during the '90s, those that used a Sun SPARCstation or Silicon Graphics Indigo workstation at work, rarely bought one for the home.

The weird trend that did emerge in the 2000s and is fairly pronounced today, though not all that surprising, is that most people have a better computer at home than the one provided to them at work.

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amigang 
Re: early users were exposed to computers at work
Posted on 6-Dec-2021 8:56:40
#10 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 12-Jan-2005
Posts: 2018
From: Cheshire, England

I think commodore was aware it was going to tough to break though that why they made the emulator

https://youtu.be/o3x00Pbs2K8 At 10min 30sec in at the Amiga launch.

I think ibm did have too many old boys contact to keep big business using there machine and Microsoft got early deals with schools as well to teach there programs in class.

Apple irc only just about survived thanks to the printing and dtp programs it had a good support for print standard and laser printing in the 80s/90s. Then kinda did the perfect Internet all in one ready computer with the iMac.

Amiga on the high end should of played more on it strength at multimedia, they should of either bought newtek or did a huge deal with them and really push/targeted that industry more. Plus the low end I think commodore uk had the right idea, do bundles aimed at kids and get the price down as much as you can, the A600 should of been a simpler machine, A300 with maybe even just 512kb ram, ocs, for sub £250 back in 1991/2 might of done really well, and more you sell the bigger the market, the more software / games it might of gotten.



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