compt.sys.editor.desk

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    compt.sys.editor.desk                          By:  Jason Compton 
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We can make all the noises we want.  I've made them all myself, and I'm
hearing them daily.  The Amiga acquisition by VIScorp hasn't gone as
quickly as everybody would have liked, and it's frustrating to people.

Yes, machines are still available.  There's certainly enough 4000Ts to
satisfy demand, and there's enough A1200s in storage (although the
inventory numbers themselves are to some degree a point of discussion) to
last for a while.  In that sense, then, there's nothing "wrong" with the
Amiga market.

But a lot of Amiga users are tired of not having a strong owner to tell
them that things are fine.  Amiga Technologies was actually doing a decent
job of it for a while.  Whether you thought it was a silly case or not,
whether you liked the specs or not, the Walker was a sign that SOMETHING
was happening.  That AT cared enough to contract out development of a new
machine.  In that, at least, people felt like there was work being done.

But of course, Escom's PC and UK interests meant that AT wouldn't have a
long and prosperous future as a division of Escom, and has been in
bankruptcy for some time now.

I made it my job years ago to bring news to Amiga users, and more recently,
VIScorp made it my job as well.  And it's frustrating for me when I don't
have more to report, but international technology purchases are not exactly
cash-and-carry operations.  If anything, we all should have learned that
from the Commodore liquidation.

So, what's news?  Lots.  Jim Drew of Emplant fame is back in business, with
a sordid tale of the misdeeds of Utilities Unlimited which were all not his
fault.  DirOpus 5.5 is out and we've got a preliminary review.  We also
have an opening article and review in what will hopefully be increased
support by Amiga Report for the fascinating genre of interactive fiction
gaming.  Other software and hardware packages are arriving weekly at AR,
and it will hopefully be soon that my schedule opens up enough to allow me
to fit everything in.

Of interest is that Dale Larson's IAM company, which recently added a book
of Internet erotica (stories from a respected author) has run into some
snags in printing and advertising--specifically, that the only US-based
Amiga print magazine will not run an ad for the book.

There are also rumblings that Oregon Research, the US based developer of
Termite, TermiteTCP, GameSmith and others, as well as distributor for
HiSoft products, has run into overwhelmingly high order volume paired with
severe understaffing--so if you can't get a hold of them, don't panic.

The ex-Portal Amiga Zone is running again in beta on CalWeb, and should be
running again soon.  A good number of Portalities seem to have made the
transition, as evidenced by the long CC: list I get in my e-mails from Harv
Laser, Zone maintainer.

Stay tuned.  We'll be back.

-Jason

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