🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Stephen Bowie wrote:

> : Scala, like so many other Amiga developers, has gotten too full of 
> : themselves. They believe it was them, and not the Amiga, that was 
> : responsible for their success. If you ask me, they are trying really hard 
> : to go out of business by ignoring their roots and trying for the illusive 
> : and non-existant PC pot of gold. The PC community will respond by doing 
> : what it always does. It will almost completely ignore Scala because the 
> : PC community only buys what everyone else already has. New companies to
> : that platform rarely survive for long. It's a shame that we, the Amiga 
> : community will have to suffer the loss from yet another ego and greed 
> : based business decision.
> 
> : Commodore is Dead,                                                        
> : Long Live the Amiga.                                         Joe Rothman
> 
> 
> I'm sorry guys, but while I sympathize with your discouragement, and 
> even frustration at the state of "things Amiga" over the last few years, 
> this attitude towards Scala is way over the top and I can't let it pass 
> without rebuttal.
> 
> First, if you think you are dissappointed/annoyed/frustrated/out-of-pocket
> by the damage done to our beloved platform over the last few years, just 
> put yourselves in the shoes of guys like Dave Haynie and company who put 
> heart, soul and career options into the Amiga for at least a decade!  I 
> beleive it's still true that the majority of Scala N.American empoyees 
> are ex-Amiga people...maybe 'ex' is the wrong adjective, as many are 
> still working for the advancement of the platform in very real ways.

Although I don't wear Dave Haynie's shows I am in worse shows than his. I 
too have been involved with the Amiga market for more than ten years. The 
difference is that I have never made anywhere near what Dave must have 
made in his hayday, nor have I switched platforms. I have always said 
that I would rather starve than to switch switch to the PC or the Mac and 
I've come pretty darn close to doing so. Dave isn't the only one who has 
had car and money problems you know. I respect everyone right to choose 
their future employment path, what computer they own etc., but I don't 
agree with those who give up on the Amiga no matter how compelling their 
reasons. I especially disagree with those who have purchased Macs or PC's 
because they perceive them as HIP computers. It's one thing to be forced 
to work with those piles of junk, and quite another to bring one into 
your home. In my opinion, multi-platformer who claim to be Amiga 
loyalists are just plain full of crap. You can devide your attention 
between two or more platforms and still claim to be supporting the Amiga. 
Every penny spent on another platform is a penny taken out of the pocket 
of a deserving Amiga developer. Scala's problems, are not necessarily 
Scala's fault, but quitters deserve what they get. You can't _BE_ an Amiga
developer if you think the future is elsewhere. Also, Scala did some 
pretty dumb things when it came to their dealer base. Like so many other 
companies, they placed their trust in the wrong people and got screwed. 
I'm hoping they survive, but experience tells me that thay have given up 
on the Amiga. Like so many other former Amiga developers, the 
perception of greener grass on the other side of the fence is just too 
much form them to resist. Someone will step up to the plate while they 
are distracted and destroy whatever chance they had to survive the hard 
times. If you want your local grocery store to survive, you don't go 
shopping at the supermarket ten miles away. If you do, and the 
neighborhood guy goes out of business, you have no one to blame but 
yourself. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

> Guys like this have put more on the line and suffered far more for it 
> than the sum total of a dozen user-groups.  But they still speak well of 
> and support the Amiga at every opportunity.  As well, they continue to 
> express publicly and privately their optimistic view of the Amiga future.
> 
> Scala -the company- itself (aside from providing astonishing software which 
> allows even antique Amiga hardware to hold it's own with the most up to date PC)
> has recently released ScalaMM400 for NTSC at a very reasonable price, and 
> has stated in this forum that the new BackBone code used for the Intel 
> version is specifically designed with 'portability' in mind and that if 
> the Power Amiga debut is reasonably succesful we can hope for a version 
> which will make the PA shine above it's peers (my very rough paraphrase).

How can you even say the phrase Antique Amiga Hardware with a straight face?
PC's are just Volkswagen Beetles with big engines. The OS sucks and 
everone knows it. The basic architecture is ten years older than the 
Amiga's. Look how long it too Scala to make MM100PC into a product. I'm 
pretty sick of guys like you who claim to be Amiga people just to 
distract others from the truth. Just because Scala put more effort into 
the PC version than the Amiga version does not mean the Amiga isn't 
worthy of the effort. It doesn't mean the Amiga can't do better than 
Scala is capable of making it do. i.e. Scala still doesn't support text 
over HAM mode graphics, even though others have solved the flaging 
problem. All it means is that Scala didn't care enough to fix it.

> Scala has demonstrated their continued interest in the Amiga by
> being involved in some of the A1200 software packs, even producing a
> 'dongle-less' version for that purpose, and their continued
> contacts/consultations with AT.

They didn't release a dongle-less version because they are nice guys, 
they did it because they needed the money to continue their PC development.
It's pretty obvious that they didn't sink that money into further Amiga 
development.

> They can hardly be blamed for wanting to enter a profitable market at the
> same time...possibly they'd like to feed their children, who knows. And,
> while PC MM100 may be a lovely product it still takes massive hardware 
> resources to run as compared to MM400.  Thus we still have some market 
> edge.  As well, when the PowerAmi and appropriate version of Scala become
> available, there will certainly be no harm to the Amiga in having cross 
> platform compatabiltiy of scripts. The lack of this in other software has
> been a very real problem in selling Amigas in the past.

Not having principles or selling them out might keep the children fed, 
but so will driving a taxicab, so that's no excuse. Cross platform 
compatibility is what killed the Amiga gaming industry. Programing for the 
lesser platform is what you really mean. Applying the same principals to 
the presentation market will undoubtably lead to the same results. 

> I don't (obviously) share your view that the PC market will ignore
> Scala.....like LW it's just too fine a program, and is a testament to
> those that worked on it.  It seriously outshines it's competitors.  I
> hope it does very well, that everyone at Scala prospers, and that they be
> alive and well fiscally to be there when the Power Ami comes to be!

So I take it that you believe the PC market isn't ignoring Lightwave?
If they weren't NewTek would be in good financial shape, but they aren't. 
How do you explain that?

> Long live Scala, long live the Amiga!

Scala is already dead unless they start to build their market instead of 
tearing it down, which is what they have been doing for the last several 
years.

Amiga lives on, you can't kill it with a stick. 

Commodore is Dead,                                                        
Long Live the Amiga.                                         Joe Rothman

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