English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Some thoughts on why the Amiga didn't thrive

Jope · 04 March 2021, 14:46

In addition to a quick-to-update/scroll and sharp text mode, looking at what software was available in the year 1985 is also very important. For example here in Finland we didn't really get any Amigas until early 1987. Lots of software development had happened between 1985-1987. So naturally an early adopter here in the nordics had a different experience than a 1985 early adopter in USA.

Here's the price catalogue for the official importer in .fi. The ones who got hardware and software first.
http://amiga.unikko.org/PCI-Data/Com..._1986_1990.pdf

Page 1 has the available titles. Textcraft, graphicraft, dpaint/print/mcs, instant music.

Out of these, what do people remember? I'm guessing DPaint and DMCS.

DPaint was quite a good pixel art tool from day 1, DMCS was a passable music program. No-one remembers textcraft. I don't believe I ever used it myself, as the superior ProWrite was out by the time I got my first Amiga by 1989. No spreadsheet/database in the price list. This was in the 2nd half of 1986, a year after Frogs' dad had gotten his A1000.

I know for a fact that proper shipments didn't really begin at all in 1986 in Finland, they just couldn't get any hardware shipped over here.
The big launch in Finland was in the end of the year 3.10.1986, but I wonder if anyone outside of the importer had an Amiga over here before the next year. http://amiga.unikko.org/PCI-Data/Com...03.10.1986.pdf
Looking at the example pictures, we see WB dealer demos (colour splotches, bar chart), Sonix, DPaint and I guess VizaWrite. DPaint is featured on four pages, dealer demos on two. In the end of 1986. There obviously was not a lot of exciting software to show for the grand launch in Finland.

I doubt we in the PAL world really get to say much about what it was to own an A1000 in the NTSC world near launch. Stuff picked up a lot in 1986-1987 software wise, but we didn't see how little if anything was available in 1985.

But sure, keep on fighting.

04 March 2021, 14:46	#102
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,877	In addition to a quick-to-update/scroll and sharp text mode, looking at what software was available in the year 1985 is also very important. For example here in Finland we didn't really get any Amigas until early 1987. Lots of software development had happened between 1985-1987. So naturally an early adopter here in the nordics had a different experience than a 1985 early adopter in USA. Here's the price catalogue for the official importer in .fi. The ones who got hardware and software first. http://amiga.unikko.org/PCI-Data/Com..._1986_1990.pdf Page 1 has the available titles. Textcraft, graphicraft, dpaint/print/mcs, instant music. Out of these, what do people remember? I'm guessing DPaint and DMCS. DPaint was quite a good pixel art tool from day 1, DMCS was a passable music program. No-one remembers textcraft. I don't believe I ever used it myself, as the superior ProWrite was out by the time I got my first Amiga by 1989. No spreadsheet/database in the price list. This was in the 2nd half of 1986, a year after Frogs' dad had gotten his A1000. I know for a fact that proper shipments didn't really begin at all in 1986 in Finland, they just couldn't get any hardware shipped over here. The big launch in Finland was in the end of the year 3.10.1986, but I wonder if anyone outside of the importer had an Amiga over here before the next year. http://amiga.unikko.org/PCI-Data/Com...03.10.1986.pdf Looking at the example pictures, we see WB dealer demos (colour splotches, bar chart), Sonix, DPaint and I guess VizaWrite. DPaint is featured on four pages, dealer demos on two. In the end of 1986. There obviously was not a lot of exciting software to show for the grand launch in Finland. I doubt we in the PAL world really get to say much about what it was to own an A1000 in the NTSC world near launch. Stuff picked up a lot in 1986-1987 software wise, but we didn't see how little if anything was available in 1985. But sure, keep on fighting. Last edited by Jope; 04 March 2021 at 14:55.