WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.000 ♪♪ 00:07.000 --> 00:17.000 Two of the hottest new computers on the market are this 520ST from Atari and the Amiga from Commodore. 00:17.000 --> 00:19.000 What can they do and which one may be right for you? 00:19.000 --> 00:24.000 We'll help you find out today as we take a look at two new computers with a lot of power for the price 00:24.000 --> 00:27.000 on this edition of the Computer Chronicles. 00:27.000 --> 00:48.000 ♪♪ 00:48.000 --> 00:52.000 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by grants from AFIPS, 00:52.000 --> 00:55.000 the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 00:55.000 --> 01:00.000 a non-profit federation of 11 national societies for computer professionals. 01:00.000 --> 01:04.000 AFIPS, leadership and service in computer and information technology. 01:04.000 --> 01:09.000 Additional funding is provided by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte. 01:09.000 --> 01:13.000 Byte's detailed technical articles on new hardware, software, and languages 01:13.000 --> 01:17.000 cover the latest in microcomputer technology worldwide. 01:17.000 --> 01:20.000 Byte, the international standard. 01:20.000 --> 01:27.000 ♪♪ 01:27.000 --> 01:28.000 Welcome to the Computer Chronicles. 01:28.000 --> 01:31.000 I'm Stuart Shafae and this is Gary Kildall. 01:31.000 --> 01:34.000 Gary, these two rather old-looking computers are really just about a year old here, 01:34.000 --> 01:36.000 the Commodore 64 and the Atari 800. 01:36.000 --> 01:40.000 These represented the battle between the low-end manufacturers just about a year ago. 01:40.000 --> 01:42.000 The 64, very successful. 01:42.000 --> 01:45.000 The 800, really the last machine before Jack Tramiel took over Atari. 01:45.000 --> 01:46.000 Today, the battle is different. 01:46.000 --> 01:51.000 There's the Commodore Amiga, the Atari 520ST, very sophisticated machines. 01:51.000 --> 01:53.000 Both have received lots of critical praise, 01:53.000 --> 01:55.000 but people are trying to figure out what you do with them. 01:55.000 --> 01:58.000 Is this another case of computer technology in search of a market? 01:58.000 --> 02:01.000 Well, Stuart, the 64 and the 800 really took us through the first generation of home computers, 02:01.000 --> 02:04.000 but people have gone back to their VCRs and TV sets now. 02:04.000 --> 02:08.000 And to get the consumer attention, the second generation machines have to have 02:08.000 --> 02:11.000 higher resolution, more color, faster animation, better sound capability. 02:11.000 --> 02:14.000 That means higher performance processors and more memory. 02:14.000 --> 02:18.000 Now, these new machines, the 520 and the Amiga, give us that hardware capability, 02:18.000 --> 02:20.000 and it's really up to the software developers to make it happen. 02:20.000 --> 02:25.000 Today, we're going to get up close and personal with the Commodore Amiga and the Atari 520ST 02:25.000 --> 02:27.000 to see if one of these machines is just right for you. 02:27.000 --> 02:30.000 Now, before the computer manufacturer can sell you on a computer, 02:30.000 --> 02:32.000 he's got to sell the retailer first. 02:32.000 --> 02:36.000 So we're going to begin by going to Comdex in Las Vegas, the computer dealers' expo, 02:36.000 --> 02:39.000 to see how Commodore and Atari are pitching the middlemen. 02:39.000 --> 02:43.000 Comdex, Las Vegas, 1985. 02:43.000 --> 02:45.000 At the world's largest computer show, 02:45.000 --> 02:49.000 Atari held court at one of the biggest booths on the floor, 02:49.000 --> 02:55.000 and at the centerpiece of the display was the star of Atari's computer lineup, the 520ST. 02:55.000 --> 03:00.000 Nestled inside Atari's sprawling booth were dozens of software vendors, 03:00.000 --> 03:04.000 each with a sign and just enough space for a chair and a computer. 03:04.000 --> 03:07.000 Atari seemed to have at least two goals in mind. 03:07.000 --> 03:11.000 A highly visible presence at the show, and a message to dealers 03:11.000 --> 03:15.000 that this was one computer company that didn't forget about software. 03:15.000 --> 03:19.000 From business to education to sophisticated graphics, 03:19.000 --> 03:24.000 the substance of Atari's show was the extensive variety of its software. 03:24.000 --> 03:28.000 Atari's most likely competition, the Commodore Amiga, 03:28.000 --> 03:31.000 was conspicuously absent from the Comdex show, 03:31.000 --> 03:35.000 although Commodore did hold private meetings with potential dealers. 03:35.000 --> 03:41.000 But in spite of its low key sales pitch, Amiga has successfully wooed some unlikely dealers. 03:41.000 --> 03:47.000 Our focus as a store has primarily been on business software, business computers, business users, 03:47.000 --> 03:53.000 so this is a little bit breaking new ground for us in that this machine has certainly a lot more of a 03:53.000 --> 03:56.000 home kind of focus than what we normally deal with. 03:56.000 --> 04:00.000 The Amiga's dazzling graphics and advanced hardware 04:00.000 --> 04:05.000 has attracted equally sophisticated retail buyers. 04:05.000 --> 04:11.000 So far it's kind of been half and half between people who are just kind of anxious to have the latest and greatest 04:11.000 --> 04:14.000 and people who are interested in writing software for it. 04:14.000 --> 04:18.000 There are a lot of people who are extremely interested in writing software who haven't got into it yet 04:18.000 --> 04:23.000 because they're just kind of hanging in there waiting to see what the consumer response is going to be 04:23.000 --> 04:26.000 and the consumer response has been great. 04:26.000 --> 04:38.000 ♪♪♪ 04:38.000 --> 04:42.000 Joining us now in the studio is Rick Geiger, General Manager of Commodore Amiga, 04:42.000 --> 04:45.000 and next to Rick is Tim Mott, Vice President for Product Development 04:45.000 --> 04:50.000 and a co-founder of Electronic Arts, a software company which is writing for the Amiga. Gary? 04:50.000 --> 04:54.000 Rick, I think everybody would like to see what the Amiga does and I would like to go right into the demo. 04:54.000 --> 04:59.000 Okay, fine. What we see here is what we call the workbench, 04:59.000 --> 05:03.000 which is the graphic user interface of the Amiga 05:03.000 --> 05:07.000 and it works in a fashion like other graphics user interfaces. 05:07.000 --> 05:11.000 In addition, we also supply a command line interface down here 05:11.000 --> 05:16.000 so that people who are more familiar or have applications for command type interfaces 05:16.000 --> 05:18.000 can deal with something familiar. 05:18.000 --> 05:24.000 Now, of course, I'm sure that you've heard about the famous graphics and sound of the Amiga 05:24.000 --> 05:29.000 and here's one of our classic demos we call the bouncing ball. 05:29.000 --> 05:31.000 It's really impressive. 05:31.000 --> 05:35.000 Now, Rick, this is an impressive demo, but I want you to tell me why it's impressive. 05:35.000 --> 05:37.000 What are we seeing that the computer can do? 05:37.000 --> 05:44.000 Well, what you're seeing is synchronized moving color graphics with the sound all at the same time. 05:44.000 --> 05:56.000 In addition to this, we still have down here below an application running. 05:56.000 --> 06:05.000 So you're running a word processor while you're carrying on this sound graphics demo. 06:05.000 --> 06:15.000 Yep, and I can correct my typos. 06:15.000 --> 06:20.000 Now, Rick, we've heard a lot about special graphics hardware that's available on the Amiga. 06:20.000 --> 06:22.000 What basically is behind this? 06:22.000 --> 06:25.000 Well, what's behind this is 25 DMA channels that provide... 06:25.000 --> 06:29.000 You may want to lower the bouncing ball, Rick, so we can hear you, but the sound... 06:29.000 --> 06:30.000 Thank you. 06:30.000 --> 06:36.000 ...that provides for all of the graphics rendering functions, the hardware bit blit, 06:36.000 --> 06:40.000 all of these controlled by DMA channels so that they don't load down to 68,000. 06:40.000 --> 06:46.000 And, in fact, in my office I frequently run telecommunications application along with word processing 06:46.000 --> 06:49.000 while simultaneously doing printing. 06:49.000 --> 06:53.000 So I'm sure you're familiar with the popularity of the sidekick type programs 06:53.000 --> 06:59.000 and with the multitasking features of the Amiga, this makes those kinds of things very simple to do. 06:59.000 --> 07:02.000 Yeah, Tim, I want to get you in this. 07:02.000 --> 07:06.000 Electronic Arts is kind of going heavily into writing for Amiga, as I understand it. 07:06.000 --> 07:09.000 Tell me, number one, why you're excited about writing for a machine like that. 07:09.000 --> 07:13.000 Well, the first reason is when we started the company three years ago, 07:13.000 --> 07:20.000 we envisioned a home computer of the future that would support much higher quality audio visual effects 07:20.000 --> 07:23.000 than was possible three years ago. 07:23.000 --> 07:27.000 And we knew enough about the technology and custom VLSI technology 07:27.000 --> 07:32.000 to realize that that was something that was going to happen around this time frame. 07:32.000 --> 07:36.000 And when we first saw the Amiga, which was in prototype form about two years ago, 07:36.000 --> 07:40.000 it was real clear that that was a machine that had this kind of potential. 07:40.000 --> 07:43.000 Okay, it looks like Deluxe Paint is up here and running. 07:43.000 --> 07:45.000 Is that one of EA's new products for Amiga? 07:45.000 --> 07:50.000 Right, Deluxe Paint is the first in a series of creativity products for the Amiga. 07:50.000 --> 07:53.000 Deluxe Paint is a painting program. 07:53.000 --> 07:56.000 In addition to all the usual features that you find in a painting program, 07:56.000 --> 07:58.000 it's got some unique features like... 07:58.000 --> 08:01.000 Rick, are you going to show us what goes on here while Tim talks? 08:01.000 --> 08:02.000 Is that what's happening? 08:02.000 --> 08:07.000 Yeah, we're still loading up some disk files up, so they'll be up in a moment. 08:07.000 --> 08:09.000 How do you see someone using Deluxe Paint? 08:09.000 --> 08:11.000 This is, you say, a creativity tool? 08:11.000 --> 08:12.000 It's a creativity tool. 08:12.000 --> 08:17.000 It's unusual in that it has enough features and powerful enough features for a professional user, 08:17.000 --> 08:20.000 but also has a lot of simplicity in the way you use it 08:20.000 --> 08:25.000 such that it will be usable by consumers and people in the home. 08:25.000 --> 08:28.000 What other kind of tools would you be coming out with? 08:28.000 --> 08:34.000 As I said, this is the first in a series, all of which will enable data to be exchanged between them. 08:34.000 --> 08:40.000 There's a Deluxe printing program, which will make it very easy to create banners and meeting notices, 08:40.000 --> 08:42.000 greeting cards, things like that. 08:42.000 --> 08:44.000 There's a Deluxe music construction set, 08:44.000 --> 08:51.000 which is a version of a product that we currently have available on the Macintosh for music composition. 08:51.000 --> 08:56.000 And the last one in this series is Deluxe video construction set, 08:56.000 --> 08:59.000 which will make use of the unique video features of the machine 08:59.000 --> 09:04.000 to enable someone to very simply put together video special effects. 09:04.000 --> 09:09.000 Okay, what we see here is a rendering of Botticelli's Venus. 09:09.000 --> 09:13.000 Now, is that an original piece of art done on the Amiga or a digitized version of the painting? 09:13.000 --> 09:17.000 No, that was done from scratch on the Amiga using this paint program. 09:17.000 --> 09:20.000 Someone knew how to use the program. 09:20.000 --> 09:23.000 This was done by a graphic designer. 09:23.000 --> 09:26.000 Here's another piece that was done. 09:26.000 --> 09:29.000 This is a picture of King Tut. 09:29.000 --> 09:38.000 You'll see here that what Rick's doing is using the menu features of the Amiga to bring in additional drawings. 09:38.000 --> 09:40.000 Here's a waterfall that was done, 09:40.000 --> 09:45.000 and this actually shows the color cycle animation capabilities in this software. 09:45.000 --> 09:50.000 You'll see that when he turns cycle on that the water's now cycling, creating the effect of a moving waterfall. 09:50.000 --> 09:53.000 And you're doing this by changing the palette colors? 09:53.000 --> 09:56.000 Doing this by changing the color map registers in the hardware. 09:56.000 --> 09:58.000 Rick, briefly, this is very impressive stuff. 09:58.000 --> 10:01.000 What people are asking the question, as Gary and I talked about at the beginning of the show, 10:01.000 --> 10:03.000 of who do you think is going to buy the Amiga? 10:03.000 --> 10:05.000 Where do you see it being used? 10:05.000 --> 10:08.000 Well, I think the major strong point of the Amiga is that, first and foremost, 10:08.000 --> 10:10.000 it's a powerful general-purpose computer. 10:10.000 --> 10:14.000 Added onto that is multitasking built in from the beginning. 10:14.000 --> 10:17.000 Then we took a look at what are the kinds of constraints that people bump into 10:17.000 --> 10:20.000 in trying to get their personal computers to do different things. 10:20.000 --> 10:24.000 And those are typically anytime they start to do any graphics, the performance goes away. 10:24.000 --> 10:27.000 Anytime they try and do any sound, the performance goes away. 10:27.000 --> 10:30.000 So if you want to design a friendly graphics user interface, 10:30.000 --> 10:33.000 then the very first thing you start having is performance problems. 10:33.000 --> 10:37.000 And with the custom hardware, we've been able to take care of all of that. 10:37.000 --> 10:39.000 Okay, gentlemen, thank you very much. 10:39.000 --> 10:41.000 So we've gotten an introduction to the Commodore Amiga. 10:41.000 --> 10:45.000 In just a minute, we'll look at the Atari 520ST, so stay with us. 10:45.000 --> 10:56.000 [♪ music playing ♪ 10:56.000 --> 11:00.000 Joining us now are Brian Kerr, the marketing manager for Atari, 11:00.000 --> 11:05.000 and next to Brian, Jim Tetzler, a hardware engineer at Atari who helped develop the ST. 11:05.000 --> 11:07.000 Brian, we've seen what the Commodore Amiga can do. 11:07.000 --> 11:09.000 How about showing us the 520ST? 11:09.000 --> 11:12.000 Okay, well, the 520ST has been out for about four months now. 11:12.000 --> 11:17.000 And as you can see, it's a very graphics-based system as well. 11:17.000 --> 11:20.000 The desktop that you're looking at here now is based on the GEM technology. 11:20.000 --> 11:25.000 And Jim will show you one feature that we like here, 11:25.000 --> 11:27.000 which allows each user to customize their own interface. 11:27.000 --> 11:29.000 This is what we refer to as the control panel. 11:29.000 --> 11:34.000 It allows you to set your own color palettes, the speed of click for the mouse, the keyboard, 11:34.000 --> 11:39.000 bells and keyboard clicks on and off, that type of thing. 11:39.000 --> 11:44.000 From there, I'd like to show you some of the sound capability of this product. 11:44.000 --> 11:50.000 The 520ST has a built-in MIDI interface, and I'll let Jim describe this a little fuller. 11:50.000 --> 11:53.000 MIDI is an emerging industry standard. 11:53.000 --> 11:56.000 It's the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, 11:56.000 --> 12:01.000 and it allows a computer to sequence a series of notes going to a synthesizer. 12:01.000 --> 12:04.000 For instance, here we have it connected to a rather elaborate synthesizer 12:04.000 --> 12:09.000 that allows us to either play music through the synthesizer 12:09.000 --> 12:12.000 or to actually record an artist playing at the keyboard 12:12.000 --> 12:16.000 and do the same sorts of things with music that you would do with a word processor. 12:16.000 --> 12:19.000 You can time sync the music or transpose it playback. 12:19.000 --> 12:22.000 You probably ought to mention that there is a synthesizer down on the table here 12:22.000 --> 12:24.000 that is actually producing music. 12:24.000 --> 12:28.000 And you're just picking a song file from here, which is going through the synthesizer. 12:28.000 --> 12:29.000 Exactly. 12:29.000 --> 12:32.000 We also, internal to the machine, have a three-voice sound chip, 12:32.000 --> 12:34.000 so we can do some sound synthesis. 12:34.000 --> 12:37.000 But by building the MIDI interface into the machine, 12:37.000 --> 12:40.000 that gives you the ability to spend as much on music as you like. 12:40.000 --> 12:44.000 If you're really serious about music, that path for expansion is readily available. 12:44.000 --> 12:48.000 And Jim, that graphic representation we saw was in fact synced to what we're hearing coming out of the synthesizer. 12:48.000 --> 12:54.000 Exactly. One of the colors was associated with each of the voices that was being played on MIDI. 12:54.000 --> 12:58.000 We will stress graphics a little bit with the machine. 12:58.000 --> 13:05.000 And one of the paint programs that we've developed internally is a program called NEO. 13:05.000 --> 13:12.000 And it allows some very elaborate graphic capability like we saw earlier. 13:12.000 --> 13:14.000 And you're pulling that up now, Jim? 13:14.000 --> 13:15.000 Yes. 13:15.000 --> 13:19.000 This is a collection of some of the images that was created with NEO. 13:19.000 --> 13:23.000 NEO is a very powerful drawing package that really takes advantage of the machine, 13:23.000 --> 13:27.000 lets you play with the colors and create very nice images. 13:27.000 --> 13:30.000 Jim, you're transferring those images from the hard disk, right? 13:30.000 --> 13:31.000 Right. Directly from the hard disk. 13:31.000 --> 13:36.000 Each one of those images is 32,000 bytes, and that was coming directly from the hard disk. 13:36.000 --> 13:40.000 That shows off a feature of the ST, which is the DMA port, 13:40.000 --> 13:43.000 which transmits information at 10 megabits per second. 13:43.000 --> 13:50.000 That's very high speed, and it's typical of the local area networking speeds of many, many computers. 13:50.000 --> 13:56.000 This is NEO in its implementation with one particular picture. 13:56.000 --> 14:01.000 We're just rotating the color palette here. 14:01.000 --> 14:04.000 What is the price of this machine, basically? 14:04.000 --> 14:07.000 If you were to buy this configuration right here? 14:07.000 --> 14:12.000 The base configuration is with a monochrome monitor, which has a resolution of 640 by 400, 14:12.000 --> 14:15.000 which is a little higher than what people are typically used to seeing. 14:15.000 --> 14:17.000 Very crisp and solid. 14:17.000 --> 14:24.000 That configuration with the 520 ST and one single-sided 3.5-inch drive is retail-suggested $799.95. 14:24.000 --> 14:29.000 How about this whole configuration with the hard disk, two disk drives, and we've got a color monitor. 14:29.000 --> 14:31.000 This is sort of the top-end system. 14:31.000 --> 14:37.000 I've had difficulty configuring systems up to the $2,000 range, 14:37.000 --> 14:43.000 because even with the color monitor, that system is $999. 14:43.000 --> 14:46.000 The hard disk is not out yet, so I can't really speak about price, 14:46.000 --> 14:50.000 but it will be in the same affordability level that all the other products from Atari are. 14:50.000 --> 14:54.000 How do you see the 520 ST getting into the home? 14:54.000 --> 14:56.000 What's going to cause people to buy a 520? 14:56.000 --> 14:58.000 First, I'd like to just make a distinction. 14:58.000 --> 15:01.000 We refer to the 520 ST as a personal computer. 15:01.000 --> 15:07.000 We, as a general rule, believe that people determine what computers are used for, 15:07.000 --> 15:11.000 whether they're in the home, in the office, in the field, or in business. 15:11.000 --> 15:17.000 The 520 ST is a computer system that is as powerful, if not more powerful, 15:17.000 --> 15:19.000 than any other personal computer on the marketplace, 15:19.000 --> 15:21.000 but yet it is priced in a consumer level. 15:21.000 --> 15:25.000 I think therein lies the reason for owning a 520 ST. 15:25.000 --> 15:28.000 Jim, what are you up to right now? 15:28.000 --> 15:31.000 I was just demonstrating some of the ease of use, 15:31.000 --> 15:35.000 the fact that I can hop from one program to another quite readily using the GEM user interface. 15:35.000 --> 15:38.000 If we take this idea of you can use it in the home, you can use it in business, 15:38.000 --> 15:41.000 what have you got here that would show us how to use it in business? 15:41.000 --> 15:45.000 One example is we have a spreadsheet demonstration, 15:45.000 --> 15:50.000 and it's very similar in function to some of the popular programs that are available today. 15:50.000 --> 15:54.000 It gives us, however, the advantage that we've got the GEM user interface 15:54.000 --> 15:58.000 so that it's very easy for a user to, for instance, plot a graph. 15:58.000 --> 16:01.000 You don't have to remember a cryptic sequence of commands. 16:01.000 --> 16:03.000 You can just get there directly using the mouse. 16:03.000 --> 16:05.000 Is the spreadsheet on the market, Jim? 16:05.000 --> 16:07.000 It's supposed to be shipping very shortly. 16:07.000 --> 16:11.000 It'll be shipping next week, and it also is a Lotus work-alike, 16:11.000 --> 16:14.000 so anyone that has worked with Lotus can move directly over here, 16:14.000 --> 16:17.000 so you have the additional screen capability with the machine. 16:17.000 --> 16:19.000 Now, Gary's asked you about the business applications. 16:19.000 --> 16:22.000 I want to know if you can show a red and white soccer ball bouncing. 16:22.000 --> 16:24.000 Oh, that's easy. 16:24.000 --> 16:27.000 That's easy. 16:27.000 --> 16:30.000 This seems to be the standard demonstration, though. 16:30.000 --> 16:34.000 Well, it's a good example of graphic animation for the products. 16:34.000 --> 16:38.000 This machine has four custom chips that were designed by Atari, 16:38.000 --> 16:40.000 and it has a great deal of graphics power, 16:40.000 --> 16:45.000 but it was designed in such a way that the 68000 still has a great deal of the processor's bus bandwidth, 16:45.000 --> 16:50.000 and so the 68000 is capable of doing a great deal of calculation all the time. 16:50.000 --> 16:53.000 Okay, one final question. How many have you sold so far? 16:53.000 --> 16:57.000 We released numbers at the end of the third quarter that we had shipped over 50,000 units. 16:57.000 --> 17:01.000 Now, you have to understand the ST is shipping and has been introduced worldwide, 17:01.000 --> 17:04.000 and we are marketing the product in over 30 countries around the world. 17:04.000 --> 17:06.000 Gentlemen, we've got to go. 17:06.000 --> 17:07.000 Both machines very impressive. 17:07.000 --> 17:09.000 Of course, one of the questions is where is the software? 17:09.000 --> 17:12.000 We went out and talked to a software developer about that question. 17:12.000 --> 17:15.000 Wendy Woods has the report. 17:15.000 --> 17:20.000 When new hardware enters the market, software companies have to make a tough choice. 17:20.000 --> 17:22.000 Will they write programs for it? 17:22.000 --> 17:28.000 Stoneware, famous for DB Master, had to choose between the Amiga and the Atari ST. 17:28.000 --> 17:30.000 They chose the Atari. 17:30.000 --> 17:34.000 Truth is, our decision was not to develop for the Amiga right away, in part, 17:34.000 --> 17:43.000 because the Amiga, when you develop for it, it's very hard to use your development investment for other machines. 17:43.000 --> 17:45.000 With the ST, it's much easier. 17:45.000 --> 17:51.000 The success of Stoneware's filing program, which will be marketed under the Atari Soft label, 17:51.000 --> 17:54.000 of course depends on the success of the Atari ST. 17:54.000 --> 18:00.000 They're betting that the low-cost machine will sell, and the company's management will sell it. 18:00.000 --> 18:05.000 And if you're out on the streets in a very competitive market in a tough business situation, 18:05.000 --> 18:08.000 I'd probably bet on those guys. I certainly wouldn't bet against them. 18:08.000 --> 18:13.000 Stoneware realizes there are big risks, but the company is known as a risk-taker. 18:13.000 --> 18:18.000 Stoneware wrote the first serious business software for the Apple and the Macintosh. 18:18.000 --> 18:24.000 The hundreds of thousands of programs they've already shipped are testimony that they made the right choice. 18:24.000 --> 18:31.000 In the case of the ST, Stoneware expects the machine's revolutionary low price will make it a big seller. 18:31.000 --> 18:34.000 Stoneware eventually plans to make software for the Commodore Amiga, 18:34.000 --> 18:38.000 but for the moment, they'll concentrate on more Atari ST products, 18:38.000 --> 18:45.000 certain that getting in there first with low-price software for a low-priced machine will pay off. 18:45.000 --> 19:00.000 For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods. 19:00.000 --> 19:05.000 Joining us now is Lewis Moore, president of Home Computing Centers, a chain of retail computer stores, 19:05.000 --> 19:10.000 and Tim Beharin, vice president for microcomputer research at Creative Strategies. 19:10.000 --> 19:14.000 Lewis, I understand that you sell both the 520ST and the Commodore Amiga. 19:14.000 --> 19:21.000 We've seen a price that goes from $800 on up to $2,000, I think that's what Brian said, for configurations of the 520. 19:21.000 --> 19:24.000 What is a comparable price, say, for an Amiga? 19:24.000 --> 19:29.000 Well, the basic system for the Amiga is $1,295, but you have to put a monitor on it. 19:29.000 --> 19:34.000 And to take it up to $512K, with those two things, you're at $1,985. 19:34.000 --> 19:37.000 Now, what is the customer response on this? 19:37.000 --> 19:40.000 Do they see these two different computers because of the price range, or are they comparing them directly, or what? 19:40.000 --> 19:46.000 Well, there's a lot of comparison, but we're also seeing people seeing them as two different systems. 19:46.000 --> 19:48.000 I think they're both going to do fine. 19:48.000 --> 19:51.000 What do you hear from the consumers when they walk in and look at the two side by side? 19:51.000 --> 19:54.000 You're one of the few dealers that has both of them in your store. 19:54.000 --> 19:56.000 Well, we hear a range of comments. 19:56.000 --> 20:04.000 One is that the Amiga has a lot more features, but it's not worth twice the price to most people. 20:04.000 --> 20:10.000 We're also seeing quite a few customers who came in intending to buy a less expensive system 20:10.000 --> 20:16.000 or one that's comparably priced, like a Commodore 128, switching to the ST. 20:16.000 --> 20:20.000 Tim, one of the questions people have is trying to define the market for these two machines. 20:20.000 --> 20:23.000 I mean, is it a classy game machine? Is it really a business computer? 20:23.000 --> 20:25.000 Where do you see these machines being sold? 20:25.000 --> 20:29.000 Well, in the Atari category, because of the Atari name and image in the past, 20:29.000 --> 20:36.000 the Amiga is looking more towards a home game entertainment market rather than a business crossover. 20:36.000 --> 20:41.000 Whereas the Commodore, though Commodore has had a strong background in the same area, 20:41.000 --> 20:46.000 the Amiga, with its PC compatibility and the emulation as it does, 20:46.000 --> 20:51.000 has the possibility of crossing over both the high-end home specifically because of its price 20:51.000 --> 20:55.000 and possibly even getting that small, small business market that we're just beginning to see emerge. 20:55.000 --> 20:58.000 Tim, you brought up the point of the IBM emulation. Could you tell us a little bit about that? 20:58.000 --> 21:02.000 Well, my understanding, and watching the demonstrations on it, 21:02.000 --> 21:11.000 is that it makes the 68000 chip believe it's an 8088, and it does it through an emulation process in software. 21:11.000 --> 21:14.000 Unfortunately, by doing it that way, it is very, very slow. 21:14.000 --> 21:19.000 And it is our assumption that the best way, of course, to do that would be to go to a hardware interface, 21:19.000 --> 21:23.000 and perhaps someday Commodore Amiga will do that as well. 21:23.000 --> 21:29.000 Lew, apart from the Amiga versus the ST, how are they positioned versus the other machines? 21:29.000 --> 21:33.000 I mean, is Amiga really going up against Mac? Is that how buyers are perceiving this? 21:33.000 --> 21:41.000 Quite a bit, yeah. But also we're seeing new buyers, really, who haven't purchased computers before 21:41.000 --> 21:44.000 and have been thinking about it and thinking about it. 21:44.000 --> 21:47.000 And now that it's here, they're coming in to look. 21:47.000 --> 21:49.000 There's a lot of interest. There's been a lot of press on the machine. 21:49.000 --> 21:55.000 And so we get 20 or 30 calls a day on it. We have waiting lists for it. 21:55.000 --> 22:00.000 And it's gotten a great deal of attention from people who weren't in the market. 22:00.000 --> 22:05.000 Now, if you could kind of characterize a consumer of a computer system like this, 22:05.000 --> 22:07.000 what is it that they really want when they walk in the store? 22:07.000 --> 22:11.000 They look at this and they say, well, we'd really like to have... what is it? 22:11.000 --> 22:15.000 Well, in the early life cycle of this product and the ST as well, 22:15.000 --> 22:18.000 you're getting mostly people right now who are enamored of the hardware. 22:18.000 --> 22:21.000 Because there's not much you can do with it as of today. 22:21.000 --> 22:26.000 And then we're getting people who know the software that's coming out and are interested in it. 22:26.000 --> 22:30.000 And the MS-DOS part is important to people too. 22:30.000 --> 22:32.000 Tim, we have just about a half a minute left. 22:32.000 --> 22:35.000 What about the software? Do you think it's going to be there for both these machines? 22:35.000 --> 22:40.000 Well, our survey right now with the software dealers is that there's a wait-and-see attitude. 22:40.000 --> 22:42.000 They see that both machines have potential. 22:42.000 --> 22:48.000 They are looking at both companies' financial positions, which have been somewhat rocky over the last year. 22:48.000 --> 22:51.000 And they're waiting to see what will happen after the first of the year. 22:51.000 --> 22:56.000 And if the channels begin to open up and they begin to see the distributors having a demand, 22:56.000 --> 23:01.000 the machines can be delivered on a timely basis, then the software guys will start following suit. 23:01.000 --> 23:03.000 But it's still a wait-and-see game from that standpoint. 23:03.000 --> 23:04.000 Gentlemen, thank you very much. 23:04.000 --> 23:06.000 Well, we've seen two very impressive machines today. 23:06.000 --> 23:09.000 Of course, the question is, will they make it in the marketplace? 23:09.000 --> 23:13.000 We'll turn to our commentator, George Morrow, for his thoughts. 23:13.000 --> 23:16.000 Will either or both of these innovative machines be successful? 23:16.000 --> 23:21.000 Well, the Mindset computer was also innovative and had excellent graphics, but fell flat in its face. 23:21.000 --> 23:26.000 However, these machines are linked with one of the magic names in this business, Jack Tramiel. 23:26.000 --> 23:29.000 He started Commodore and salvaged Atari. 23:29.000 --> 23:35.000 The mention of Tramiel stirs strong emotions within the industry, and his power in the marketplace is legion. 23:35.000 --> 23:39.000 He is a beacon only to IBM in the ability to establish de facto standards, 23:39.000 --> 23:44.000 and he is the major reason the press and public is willing to give these two machines a chance. 23:44.000 --> 23:49.000 But a computer is never more successful than the software written, which exploits its potential. 23:49.000 --> 23:52.000 And while much of the existing software can be ported to these machines, 23:52.000 --> 23:55.000 that in itself is no reason to go out and buy either. 23:55.000 --> 24:00.000 There is today three major operating environments occupying the energies of programmers, 24:00.000 --> 24:03.000 two from Apple and one from IBM. 24:03.000 --> 24:07.000 It seems unlikely the available pool of software developers is expanding rapidly enough 24:07.000 --> 24:11.000 to support even one more operating system, let alone two. 24:11.000 --> 24:14.000 That's how I see it. I'm George Morrow. 24:14.000 --> 24:22.000 [♪ music playing ♪ 24:22.000 --> 24:26.000 In the Random Access file this week, an encouraging report, 24:26.000 --> 24:30.000 if you're a consumer, that software prices are going to fall. 24:30.000 --> 24:34.000 Federal industry executives and analysts are predicting price cuts for all kinds of software, 24:34.000 --> 24:37.000 from games to business packages. 24:37.000 --> 24:41.000 A DataQuest report says there are now 27,000 software programs on the market, 24:41.000 --> 24:44.000 with a new product being introduced every 11 minutes. 24:44.000 --> 24:50.000 One New York analyst predicted that software prices could fall by as much as 50% by next year. 24:50.000 --> 24:55.000 A company called Kozen Systems of Connecticut has introduced a new product called SoftStrip, 24:55.000 --> 24:59.000 which encodes data or program information on ordinary paper. 24:59.000 --> 25:03.000 These strips can then be read by a scanner directly into a computer. 25:03.000 --> 25:09.000 Kozen says 17 magazines and text publishers will soon be including the SoftStrips in their publications. 25:09.000 --> 25:15.000 That means you can just slip the page into a scanner and enter the data or program directly into your computer. 25:15.000 --> 25:19.000 Desktop publishing was one of the hot topics at the recent Comdex show. 25:19.000 --> 25:23.000 Some vendors were showing complete personal publishing systems for under $10,000, 25:23.000 --> 25:27.000 and there were also new laser printers for under $2,000. 25:27.000 --> 25:30.000 Although PC publishing must be hot when in today's climate, 25:30.000 --> 25:33.000 two new magazines have just been introduced on the subject, 25:33.000 --> 25:36.000 Desktop Publishing and Personal Publishing. 25:36.000 --> 25:40.000 Time now for this week's software pick, and here's our reviewer, Paul Schindler. 25:40.000 --> 25:45.000 When I was a kid, if you wanted to buy and sell things, you did it on a Monopoly board. 25:45.000 --> 25:47.000 We used to play for days on end. 25:47.000 --> 25:50.000 Eventually, it got a little dull because you always knew the prices, 25:50.000 --> 25:53.000 and eventually you got to know community chest and chance pretty well, too. 25:53.000 --> 25:57.000 Well, since greed is such a fundamental human emotion, it was only a matter of time 25:57.000 --> 26:00.000 before a trading game came to the world of personal computing. 26:00.000 --> 26:04.000 It's here. Its name is Wizard of Wall Street. 26:04.000 --> 26:07.000 This program has a great opening screen. 26:07.000 --> 26:10.000 You begin each month of trading with research and a review of your net worth. 26:10.000 --> 26:15.000 It's interesting that new research costs money, but old research reports are free. 26:15.000 --> 26:20.000 You can buy and sell, or, for the esoteric, there are puts, calls, and options. 26:20.000 --> 26:23.000 This is a real-time game with a news ticker and a stock ticker. 26:23.000 --> 26:29.000 If you don't execute your trade fast enough, prices change, and you make or lose money pretty fast. 26:29.000 --> 26:33.000 If you panic, you can freeze the trading day to give yourself time to think about things. 26:33.000 --> 26:37.000 Wizard of Wall Street was written by Multisoft of San Rafael, California, 26:37.000 --> 26:40.000 and is distributed by Synapse Software. 26:40.000 --> 26:43.000 The program offers a lot of fun for $45. 26:43.000 --> 26:45.000 For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Paul Schindler. 26:45.000 --> 26:50.000 The Japanese company Ricoh has introduced a fascinating new product called the Write Board. 26:50.000 --> 26:53.000 It's an electronic blackboard, it's actually white, 26:53.000 --> 26:57.000 that automatically captures whatever is written on the board and saves it in a computer. 26:57.000 --> 27:01.000 You can then display the blackboard's contents on CRTs at other locations 27:01.000 --> 27:05.000 or get hard copy printouts to keep a record of what was on the board. 27:05.000 --> 27:09.000 The Ricoh Write Board can handle graphics as well as text. 27:09.000 --> 27:12.000 In our legislative update file, the United States, Japan, and Canada 27:12.000 --> 27:16.000 have agreed to eliminate most tariffs on computer parts and peripherals. 27:16.000 --> 27:21.000 The American trade representative to the negotiations said the agreement would lower costs in the U.S. 27:21.000 --> 27:25.000 and save the industry about $172 million a year. 27:25.000 --> 27:29.000 A major computer problem at the Bank of New York last week 27:29.000 --> 27:33.000 held up the delivery of $25 billion in government securities. 27:33.000 --> 27:37.000 The computer problem forced a large overnight loan from the Federal Reserve Bank 27:37.000 --> 27:40.000 and temporarily drove federal fund interest rates down 27:40.000 --> 27:43.000 when reserves rose after securities were not delivered. 27:43.000 --> 27:47.000 The transfer of government securities is done almost exclusively by computer 27:47.000 --> 27:49.000 with no actual paper transactions. 27:49.000 --> 27:54.000 This was reported to be the biggest computer snafu ever in the federal banking system. 27:54.000 --> 27:56.000 Finally, if you own a new Buick Riviera, 27:56.000 --> 28:00.000 you are the proud owner of 10 computer systems hidden inside your car. 28:00.000 --> 28:05.000 The 1986 Riviera's computer system takes over the functions of 91 controls 28:05.000 --> 28:07.000 and gauges found on conventional cars. 28:07.000 --> 28:11.000 All the computer controls are represented on a touch-sensitive computer screen, 28:11.000 --> 28:13.000 and when you take the car in for servicing, 28:13.000 --> 28:17.000 the mechanic simply plugs your computer into his computer 28:17.000 --> 28:20.000 and the car's systems report out on what's wrong. 28:20.000 --> 28:21.000 Maybe. 28:21.000 --> 28:24.000 That's it for this week's Chronicles. We'll see you next time. 28:24.000 --> 28:28.000 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by grants from AFIPS, 28:28.000 --> 28:31.000 the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, 28:31.000 --> 28:36.000 a non-profit federation of 11 national societies for computer professionals. 28:36.000 --> 28:41.000 AFIPS, leadership and service in computer and information technology. 28:41.000 --> 28:45.000 Additional funding is provided by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte. 28:45.000 --> 28:49.000 Byte's detailed technical articles on new hardware, software, and languages 28:49.000 --> 28:53.000 cover the latest in microcomputer technology worldwide. 28:53.000 --> 29:18.000 Byte, the international standard.